Identification: Popular novelist, short story writer, and a representative voice of social themes

Iffat Mohani (real name: Syeda Khurshid Sultana) was born on 25 July 1934 in Hyderabad. After completing her early education, she earned her B.A., M.A., and B.Ed. degrees with distinction from Osmania University. She showed literary inclination from a very young age, and at just eight years old her stories began appearing on children’s pages of newspapers.

Moral, social, psychological, and societal issues are prominently reflected in Iffat Mohani’s writings. The central focus of her novels is womanhood—especially women constrained by tradition, family expectations, and social pressure, who are deprived of making their own choices. In her works, women are not portrayed merely as victims but as complex, sensitive, and dignified human beings.

Her first novel, Sitam Ke Sahare (1971), was initially serialized in the monthly magazine Hareem and later published in book form.

Iffat Mohani’s novels present various female roles—courtesans, wives, mothers, stepmothers, and women marginalized by society—with remarkable artistic depth. She supported women’s freedom but did not advocate unrestrained or Westernized liberalism. For her, women’s freedom had to remain within the bounds of morality, decency, and dignity.

Between 1971 and 1995, she wrote more than 85 novels, and the total number of her novels is said to be close to one hundred. Most of her works were published by Naseem Book Depot, Lucknow.

Death: Iffat Mohani passed away on 16 November 2005 in Hyderabad.