FILMMAKER and writer Sadia Dehlvi passed away in New Delhi on Wednesday after a two-year-long battle with breast cancer. Dehlvi was admitted to a hospital recently where she was undergoing treatment. She was 63.

Dehlvi was born on Jume 16, 1957, in New Delhi. A Sufi at heart, she often criticised Islam’s radical interpretations and instead called for an inclusive and liberal understanding of the religion.

Her first book on Sufism, Sufism: The heart of Islam, was published in 2009 by HarperCollins India, which brought her to the limelight.

An important chronicler of Delhi’s culture and Sufism, Dehlvi wrote on a range of issues like minorities, women, Islamic spirituality and the city’s rich heritage in a career spanning four decades.

She was also a filmmaker and her works included the famous series The Sufi Courtyard, Amma and Family featuring Zohra Sehgal and Not a Nice Man to Know with Khushwant Singh.

She wrote columns for Dawn during the 1980s and the`90s. –Courtesy The Times of India

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2020