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Aisha Taymur (عائشة تيمور; full name: Aisha E'ismat Taymur or Aisha 'Esmat al-Taymuriyya, عائشة عصمت تيمور&lrm; or عائشة التيمورية&lrm;; 1840–1902) was a notable Egyptian social activist, poet, novelist, and feminist in the Ottoman era. She was active in the early 19th century in the field of women's rights. Her writings came out in a period of time where women in Egypt were realizing that they were being depraved of some of the rights that Islam granted them.

In the assessment of Mervat Fayez Hatem,


 * Taymur used her work of fiction, social commentary and poetry to expand the definition of the nation-building process to include different social classes, ethnic groups and women of different generations and nationalisties. In this sincere effort, she was able to transform her very narrow social class rootes putting them into the service of the larger community. As such, she deserved, not just her poetry, the title of the "Finest of Her Class", which was one translation of the title of her poetry, Hilyat al-Tiraz.

Taymur is commemorated by having one of the newly discovered craters on the planet Venus named after her.

Early life
Taymur was the daughter of Isma'il Taymur, a member of the Royal Turkish entourage. Her father provided Taymur with an education and when he died she assumed the education of her brother, Ahmed Pasha Taymur. At age 14, Taymur married and moved to Istanbul.

Education
Against Taymur's mother's attempts to teach her embroidery, Taymur's father educated her in the Quran, Islamic Jurisprudence, Arabic, Turkish, and Persian. Her father also taught her composition, where she began her literary career with poetry in all three of her learned languages. Taymur was dedicated to education but because of gender at time in Egypt, she was restricted to only study in her home. Taymur voiced her anger with the segregation in poems when only 13. At age 14 she gave up her studies and writing when she married Mahmud Bey al-Islambuli. After the death of her daugher, father and husband, she returned to Egypt where she studied with female tutors on the subject of poetic composition.

Family
Taymur was born to a literary family; her brother Ahmed Pasha Taymur was a researcher and novelist. She also had two nephews: Mohammad Taymur, a playwright and Mahmoud Taymur, a novelist.

Taymur's father always wanted to provide his daughter with adequate education. Taymur got married in 1854 when she was 14 to Mahmud Bey al-Islambuli, a Turkish notable, and left with her husband to Istanbul. In 1873, Taymur's daughter, Tawhida, died from an unknown illness. Her father died in 1882, followed closely by the death of her husband in 1885, which prompted her to returned to Egypt where she resumed her writing. Her poems mourning her daughter are considered the best in that genre in modern times.

Activism
After the death of her husband and daughter, Taymur started on her writings advocating for women's rights. Her works came out at the time of a socioeconomic transformation of Egypt where women realized they were being deprived of the rights Islam gave them. Taymur is refrenced as the "mother of Egyptian feminism." She worked with other female intellectuals and activists to campaign for education, do charitable work, and challenge colonialism. This was the start of early growth for Egyptian feminism.

Writing
Taymur wrote poetry in Arabic, Turkish and Persian. She arguably had a fundamental influence on the emergence of Arabic women's writing. Her 1892 sixteen-page booklet Mir'at alTa'mulfi al-Umur (A Reflective Mirror on Some Matters or, more eloquently, The Mirror of Contemplation) reinterpreted the Koran to suggest that it was markedly less patriarchal in its requirements of Muslims than was traditionally thought.

Author's Note:
In this wikipedia article I went through and generally added information in every section and created new sections such as education and family. There is still sections that I can add more information too, my only problem is finding sources that have new information. Most of the sources that I have viewed all have the same information in different wordings. Many of the sources I have tried to use cite a source that does not exist anymore and I can't view the information for myself. This wikipedia article still cites the source as the original publisher was able to view the source but since the 2007 creation of the page, the source has been deleted. I believe that the information I've added is useful and is a good way to remember this feminist icon. I wouldn't say I'm proud yet of what I've done here because of how little I've been able to add, but I think by the end I should be able to add a little more information and I will be able to say I'm proud to have updated this wikipedia article. In the peer review edits I hope for my peers to mainly try to cite specific places where they'd like more information. I may not be able to fulfill every spot they identify but it will give me a marker on where I need to improve.