Anwari Begum [Lady Abdul Qadir]

Lady Abdul Qadir, daughter of Shaikh Muhammad Umar, bar-at-law, was born in 1884 and received early education in Urdu, Persian and elementary English at home. While still in her teens she began to write articles for the Tahzib-i-Niswan of Lahore, her theme being the enlightenment welfare of women.

In 1909, she was married to Shaikh (later Sir) Abdul Qadir, bar-at-law, and helped her husband in bringing out successfully the famous Urdu journal, Makhzan. Lady Qadir was the foremost Muslim woman who started social gatherings of Muslim women in the Punjab and arranged several meetings at her own residence. Her interest in the welfare of women led her to form an anjuman, known as the Anjuman-i-Taraqqi-i-Naswan, at Lahore. In early 20s, she was appointed president of women's committee set up by the Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam and is 1925, she was elected President of the All-India Muslim women's Conference session held at Poona.

Lady Abdul Qadir was for many years president of the Ladies Club, Lahore. In 1931, when the All-India Women's Conference held its session at Lahore, she was appointed chairman of the reception committee, and in 1933, she presided over the session of the same organization held at Calcutta. In 1937, she was selected to represent Indian women in the Women and Children Welfare Committee in Geneva.

In 1938, Lady Abdul Qadir was appointed a member of the women's central sub-committee of the All-India Muslim League. She gave a commendable support during the arrangement of the League's annual session held at Lahore in 1940. In 1941, she was again included in the women's central sub-committee. She also remained on the working committee of the Punjab provincial women's sub-committee for a long time and gave active support to the organization throughout the struggle. In 1946, when the suffering refugees from Bihar came to Lahore, she donated a considerable amount for their help and later looked after the refugees in camps at Lahore during the partition period.