Ze Khe Sheen (born Zahida Khatun Sherwani; 18 December 1894 – 2 February 1922; sometimes spelled Zay Khay Sheen) was an Indian poet and writer who wrote in the Urdu language and was also an activist for women's rights. She published her poetry under the pseudonyms Zay Khay Sheen (or Z-Kh-S) and Nuzhat, as her conservative Muslim society did not permit women to write poetry or initiate movements upholding the rights of women. She belonged to a rich family of landholders of the Sherwani tribe. Her poems and ghazals in Urdu, which had a "female touch", had romantic appeal for young people. Biography Zahida Khatun Sherwani was born on 18 December 1894 at Bhikampur in the Aligarh district of North India. Her father was Nawab Sir Muhammad Muzammilullah Khan (1865–1938), a rais (rich man) of Bhikampur who had taken an active part in the Aligarh Movement. The Sherwani clan to which he belonged were scholarly people of high standing in the educational field, who although progressive were conservative in outlook. As Sherwani's mother died young her father took a keen interest in the education of his children – Sherwani, her older sister Ahmadi and her younger brother Ahmadullah. He performed for them the formal Bismillah ceremony which marked an initiation to the teachings of Quran. Sherwani was then four years old. She and her sister were taught Persian as part of an education in rich culture, under a governess, Farkhunda Begam Teherani, an Iranian woman who had migrated to India and who was proficient in reading, writing and teaching poetry to her students. Sherwani learned to write poetry not only in Persian but also in Urdu under her tutelage and also obtained knowledge of life in the world beyond the limits of their home in Aligarh. When Sherwani was 10 years old, she declared her intentions to become a poet in her first poem, which reads: Sherwani's father ensured that she and her siblings learned Islamic theology and expository prose in Urdu. For this purpose, he appointed Muhammad Ya'qub Isra'ilithe, who belonged to the family of the Imam of the Juma Mosque of Aligarh and who had participated in the Ahl-I-Hadith movement. During this period her father was also active in Aligarh in establishing a girls' school and women's normal school and upgrading the Aligarh College into a Muslim University. At this time Sherwani wrote poetry and also other articles