Daniel Majchrowicz, "A Journey to Mecca and London: The Travels of an Indian Muslim Woman, 1909–1910" (Indiana UP, 2025)

Descended from Mughal nobility, Akhtar al-Nisa Begum Nawab Sarbuland Jung grew up in Hyderabad in southern India, where she lived a quiet, private, and privileged life at the heart of the state's royal court. In 1896, at the age of 20, she married Nawab Muhammad Hamidullah Khan Sarbuland Jung, a prominent lawyer and the scion of a leading Muslim reformist movement. In 1909, the wealthy couple embarked on a four-month journey through the Middle East and Europe, performing the hajj in Mecca and sitting for tea with the future king and queen of England.

A Journey to Mecca and London: The Travels of an Indian Muslim Woman, 1909–1910 (Indiana University Press, 2025) provides

the first full English translation of Begum Sarbuland's Urdu travel

diary from this journey, of which only three original copies remain.

Originally intended for circulation among friends and family and later

published, her informal entries not only reveal the everyday practices

of an Indian woman of her time, but also detail her impressions and

reactions as she explored the world alongside her husband. As Begum

Sarbuland encountered other women and Muslims during her travels, those

encounters shaped her reassessment of her own identity as a Muslim

woman. Her observations hold continued significance for readers

interested in critical questions about gender, Islam, and identity.