Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah
Pakistani writer
Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah (Bengali: জেবুন্নেসা হামিদুল্লাহ, Urdu: زیب النساء حمیداللہ; 25 December 1918 – 10 September 2000) was a Pakistani writer and journalist. Begum Hamidullah was a pioneer of Pakistani literature and journalism in English, and also of feminism in Pakistan. She was Pakistan's first female editor and publisher, and the country's first female columnist writing in English. Zaibunnisa Street in Karachi was named after her.
Before independence in 1947, she wrote for many Indian newspapers, and was the first Muslim woman to write a column in an Indian newspaper. After independence, her column in the newspaper Dawn made her the first female political commentator in Pakistan. After she left Dawn, she became the founder and editor-publisher of the Mirror, the first social glossy magazine in Pakistan. Due to her status as Pakistan's first female editor, she became the first woman to be included in press delegations sent to other countries. On one of these delegations, in 1955, she became the first woman to speak at the ancient al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. She also repeatedly represented Pakistan at the United Nations, including by serving as the deputy chief of the Pakistani delegation to the special 1970 session.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah” as pakistani writer. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as pakistani writer. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8064769. VIAF identifies the subject as 13557840. The Library of Congress control number is n50082216. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1918, 2000, 1947 and 1955.
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This entry incorporates text from “Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.