Ze Khe Sheen’s real name was Zahida Khatun Sherwani. She was born on 8 December 1894 in Bhikampur, Aligarh district, and passed away on 2 February 1922 at the age of 27. She was a renowned Urdu poet and writer, as well as an advocate of women’s rights, education, and autonomy. Owing to the conservative social environment of her time, she published her poetry under the pseudonyms Ze Khe Sheen and Nuzhat. Her Urdu poetry and ghazals prominently reflected feminine sensibility and romantic expression, which earned her particular popularity among young readers.

Zahida Khatun Sherwani belonged to the Sherwani family, which was not only a prosperous zamindar family but also distinguished for its educational and intellectual standing. Her father, Nawab Sir Muzammilullah Khan, was a zamindar of Bhikampur and was also associated with the Aligarh Movement. Her mother passed away when she was very young, after which her father paid special attention to the education and upbringing of his children. Zahida Khatun, her elder sister Ahmadi, and her younger brother Ahmadullah received both religious and modern education at home.

At the age of four, her Bismillah ceremony was performed. Persian was given special importance in her education. Her teacher, Farkhanda Begum Tehrani, was an Iranian woman who had settled in India and was proficient in teaching Persian reading, writing, and poetry. Under her guidance, Zahida Khatun began practising poetry not only in Persian but also in Urdu. At the age of ten, through her first nazm, she expressed her resolve to become a poet. Her father also arranged for his children to receive instruction in Islamic studies and Urdu prose. Muhammad Yaqub Israili was appointed for this purpose. During this period, Zahida Khatun wrote essays in addition to poetry, and her writings were published in journals and periodicals such as ‘Khatoon’ Aligarh, ‘Ismat’ Delhi and ‘Sharif Bibi’ Lahore.

She also took part in social activities and played a role in the formation of theYoung Sherwanis' League, an organisation comprising the young members of the Sherwani family. Through this organisation, efforts were made to raise resources for the development of schools for children in Bhikampur and Datauli, as well as for the boarding house of Aligarh Girls School.

Zahida Khatun Sherwani’s poetry was not confined to romantic emotions; it also reflected the social and political circumstances of her time. She wrote nazms on the condition of Muslims and on various political and social events. The Tripoli War, the Balkan Wars, and the Kanpur Mosque incident became subjects of her poetry. In 1913, she wrote a nazm titled “Eid Ki Khushi Mein Gham-Zadgan-e-Kanpur,” which was published under her pseudonym Nuzhat in the Lahore newspaper Zamindar. The poem contained criticism of the government and referred to the political problems faced by Muslims, prompting her father to advise her to exercise caution in her writing.

Another of her nazms was “Moosal Ka Tel,” which dealt with the importance of oil in the global economy and the attempts by Western powers to establish control over the world’s oil reserves. Disheartened by her father’s warnings, she stopped writing for some time, although she later resumed writing poetry secretly.

In 1916, her brother Ahmadullah passed away. He had been an important source of knowledge and information for her and a constant source of encouragement. Following his death, her poetry acquired greater depth and seriousness. In 1918, she wrote “Sipaas-Nama-e-Urdu,” which was presented on the occasion of the inauguration of Osmania University in Hyderabad. At the time, Osmania University was the only institution of higher education in India where Urdu was the medium of instruction. This nazm, too, was published under her pseudonym, and readers at the time were unaware that its author was a woman. The critic Shaan-ul-Haq Haqqi particularly noted the connection established in the poem between the status of Urdu and the position of women in society, as well as its powerful portrayal.

Zahida Khatun Sherwani was also influenced by activities associated with Indian nationalism. She took an interest in Gandhi’s Swadeshi Movement and began wearing khadi in support of Indian nationalism.

Her activities concerning women’s education and rights were also noteworthy. The ideas of women’s freedom, education, and autonomy were central to her poetry and intellectual endeavours. Her celebrated work “Masnavi Aaina-e-Haram” was written on the subject of women’s rights and has been compared with Allama Iqbal’s “Shikwa.” It has also been said that had Ze Khe Sheen lived longer, she would have attained an important place among the leading literary figures of her time.

She passed away on 2 February 1922 at the young age of 27. In an obituary published in the women’s journal Tehzeeb-un-Niswan, she was compared to a nightingale that was born in a cage, lived its life there, and ultimately fell silent within it.
Although Ze Khe Sheen’s life was brief, her literary and social contributions earned her a distinctive place among the early women poets of Urdu. Several research works have also been undertaken on her life and literary contributions, including the doctoral dissertation “Ze Khe Sheen” by Fatima Hasan. Dissertations on her life and ideas have also been written at the M.A. and M.Phil. levels.