Archive · 11 Oct 2026
Razia Sajjad Zaheer’s Stories Explore Fear, Friendship and Everyday Politics
This book gathers stories written by Razia Sajjad Zaheer and translated from Urdu by Saba Mahmood Bashir.
The stories show how people can feel fear and uncertainty in everyday situations.
In one story, Zaheer worries during a train trip, but the men near her turn out to be fans of her writing.
Another story shows a professor discovering that she still has unfair ideas about caste.
Other stories explore friendship and the difficulties of running a home while a loved one is away.
The collection also shows that women wrote about many kinds of experiences, not just politics and social change.
The reviewer says these stories can speak to readers today.
Saba Mahmood Bashir translates Razia Sajjad Zaheer’s Urdu stories in the collection Darkness and Other Stories.
In “Darkness,” Zaheer fears for her safety on a train through Punjab, then learns Sikh men nearby are readers of her work.
“Low Caste” examines how caste prejudice persists in the outlook of a university professor who considers herself progressive.
Stories including “Two Hearts, One Tale” and “Pillar” explore friendship, intimacy and domestic burdens.
The collection highlights women’s contributions to Urdu literature and is presented as relevant to readers and scholars today.
- Who
- Razia Sajjad Zaheer, whose stories are translated by Saba Mahmood Bashir.
- What
- A review of Darkness and Other Stories, a collection of Zaheer’s Urdu fiction in English translation.
- When
- The article gives no publication date for the collection or review.
- Where
- The stories are set in locations including Old Delhi, Punjab and Ludhiana.
- Why
- The collection presents characters’ inner lives and examines fear, prejudice, friendship, domestic burdens and women’s contributions to Urdu literature.
Progressive ideals
Lived contradictions
Personal politics
Progressive ideals
Zaheer’s fiction engages with political and social concerns, including Partition-era fear and caste prejudice.
Lived contradictions
The stories also portray characters’ private anxieties, biases, exhaustion and conflicting feelings rather than presenting them as uncomplicated champions of progress.
Caste and friendship
Progressive ideals
Sultana in “Low Caste” wants to act as a progressive ally to Shamli.
Lived contradictions
Sultana recognizes that casteist assumptions remain within her, while Shamli seeks friendship on equal terms.
- Collection
- Darkness and Other Stories
- Author
- Razia Sajjad Zaheer
- Translator
- Saba Mahmood Bashir
- Original language
- Urdu
- Publisher
- Zubaan Books
- Stories discussed
- “Darkness,” “Low Caste,” “Two Hearts, One Tale” and “Pillar”
- Themes
- Partition and memory, fear, caste, friendship, gender and domestic life