Begum Rokeya was born in 1880 in Bangladesh in what was then British India. Although she was born into an upper class family, she chose to study Bengali as one of her primary languages, which was often looked down upon by upper class Muslims who opted to study Arabic instead. Later in life through, she would adopt Bengali as her principal language for her literary works. When her husband passed away, she opened a high school for Muslim girls, using money he had set aside for her to fulfill her dream of increasing education for young girls. She also founded the Islamic Women’s Association, which held debates and conferences regarding the status and rights of women and their access education. She is considered to be one of the first Islamic feminists and women’s rights leaders in South Asia. Begum Rokeya advocated for traditional Islamic learning by way of the Quran, arguing that modern Islam and its interpretation by predominantly misogynistic scholars in what was then colonized territory had corrupted the religion of equality. In addition to leading her activism and civil engagement work, she also wrote short stories, essays, novels in poems, many which centered around a similar theme - calling upon women to protest injustices and discrimination they faced. Her most famous work, Sultanas Dream, reversed the role of men and women in society, putting women at the head of dominator society. She died of heart problems at the age of 52, in Calcutta, Bengal on 9 December 1932, a day which, along with her birthday are celebrated to each year in Bangladesh to commemorate her legacy.