The fact & fiction of Fatima Sheikh does not just hang around whether she exists or not, but crucially “Can a Muslim woman be a teacher?”. 

There is no denial of Fatima as a  historical actor, although information on her is merely a reference in a letter, oral accounts and an image. A lot of story have been made up later. 

But is Fatima the only Muslim woman teacher around that time? @heenaadelhi who reviewed CM Naim’s works show another prolific woman teacher around that time who wrote more than a dozen books and taught in a school. She was an autodidact.

More anon.