2025 Essays

Undergraduate Library Research Award Essay: "Voices of Hijrat [ہجرت] Tracing Indian Muslim Migration through Faiz Muhammad Khan’s 1920 Journey to Afghanistan”

Ahmad, Fatima

Second-place winning essay in the Capstone Project or Senior Thesis category of the Undergraduate Library Research Award, presented by the Science, Engineering, and Social Sciences Libraries (SESSL).

This work explores the social dimensions of the Hijrat Movement, understanding it to not simply be defined by religion, but also by politics. Tracing the journey of one specific migrant, we also learn that the destinations traveled were not limited to Kabul. These travels expanded borders and regions, as though they were one, from Iran to Turkey to Saudi Arabia.