Begum  first illustrated women's weekly of Bengal. It was founded by mohammad nasiruddin, editor of the saogat, and began publication from calcutta on 20 July 1947. The journal moved to dhaka in 1950. Begum provided an outlet for women writers, though initially some men also used to write for it under female pseudonyms. The founder-editor of the magazine was begum sufia kamal. Subsequently, the journal was edited by Nurjahan Begum, daughter of Mohammad Nasiruddin. The first issue of Begum had a print run of 500 copies; each copy was priced 4 annas or a quarter of an Indian rupee.

The cover of the first issue carried a photograph of roquiah sakhawat hossain. Among those who wrote for the journal during its first decade were Razia Khatun, shamsunnahar mahmud, Selina Panni and Protibha Ganguly. Begum started printing photographs of women writers in 1948. In 1954 Mohammad Nasiruddin opened a Begum Club at the office of the journal to provide a forum for women, especially women writers, to discuss different issues. Its first president was Shamsunnahar Mahmud and secretary Nurjahan Begum. At the beginning the writers used to meet once a month and later once a year. It was active until 1970. Begum has been playing an important role for the last half a century in promoting the cause of women and providing a forum for their literary activities. [Bilkis Rahman]