Known For: Evening wear designer
Country: United States

About

Nzinga Knight is a Muslim American evening wear designer. In 2008, Nzinga launched her own line.¹ Her debut collection draws upon elegant draping and fluid lines to create bold yet sophisticated clothing, and her use of bright, solid colors and silk fabrics reflect a cosmopolitan, modest flair.

As a native of New York, Nzinga aims to create stylish clothing for women like herself – “Women with attitude, style and confidence.”² In one look called “Twareg,” Nzinga asymmetrically draped the front of a dress and created a long shawl in the back that could be also be used as a veil.³ Made out of a silk jersey fabric, the dress is a vivid midnight blue with long, flowing sleeves. In her “Cyndi” dress, Nzinga used a silk jersey in a dark lavender shade to create long, sleek 1930s-inspired look.⁴ With a snakelike gemstone beading at the neckline, the dress is an elegant yet sophisticated vision of the modern Muslim woman.

In an interview with Hijabtrendz, Nzinga said that aims to create eveningwear that does not rely on sex appeal. “With most of eveningwear being about sex appeal as opposed to elegance,” she said. “Women should be beautified, not exposed. So, I am about dignifying and beautifying women and giving them a beautiful option of modest high-end American eveningwear. I’m very pro-women, and pro-femininity.”⁵

Nzinga is a graduate of the Pratt Institute School of Design and is the recipient of Council of Fashion Designers of America Award. She has also been awarded a DCA Grant and was the winner of the 2008 Power UP Business Plan competition sponsored by Citigroup. Before launching her own line, Nzinga worked at Marc Jacobs, ThreeAsFour, Reva Mivasager and Jones NY.⁶ She has also been featured in the film, “Fashioning Faith.”

[1] “About Nzinga Knight,” NzingaKnight.com.
[2] ibid.
[3] “Twareg,” NzingaKnight.com.
[4] “Cyndi,” NzingaKnight.com.
[5] “Nzinga Knight,” Hijabtrendz.com.
[6] “About Nzinga Knight,” NzingaKnight.com.

Known For: Fashion and Jewelry Designer
Country: United States

About

Since its founding in 2003, IslamicGems remains faithful in their commitment to providing the highest quality hijab jewelry to the fashion forward Muslimah. The company has over 8 years experience in producing unparalleled innovative design. Combining functionality and beauty, IslamicGems’ pins provide dual support and quick interchangeability without compromising style. With a loyal fan base in 19 countries, the demand for our pins continues to grow locally and internationally.

About the designer, Nida Mirza:

Self taught custom hijab jewelry designer Nida Mirza, builds on her strong Islamic traditions as well as her interest in design. In 2003, while completing her dual degrees at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in Manhattan, New York; she realized the lack of Islamic inspired accessories. This motivated her to create contemporary hijab jewelry for herself and her friends. Based on the positive response and increased demand for her unique style of hijab jewelry, in 2008 she created an E-boutique called IslamicGems.com. What started as a hobby, making a few pins, grew to being several original collections and a successful online business.

Nida currently lives in Queens, NY and continues to design and inspire Muslim women around the world to feel confident and incorporate fashion in their Islamic attire while still being modest and true to their religious obligations.

Known For: Fashion Designer
Country: Iran

About

Neda, a fashion designer, model, published poet and PhD student moved to Melbourne in 2005 on a scholarship to do her PhD in chemistry at RMIT, after having completed her master’s of textile engineering in Iran. She has also launched a fledgling modeling career, often wearing her own designs.

Neda’s passions are fashion and science - a stereotype-busting combination at a time when the clothing choices of Muslim women, especially the face and body-covering burqa, are the subject of intense debate.

Her latest research paper was featured as a ‘hot paper’ in the prestigious peer reviewed international journal of Royal Society of Chemistry, London. She said enjoyed both her rigorous scientific work and glamorous modeling life.

Known For: "Haute hijab" fashion designer
Country: United States

About

With her sister Tasneem Sabri, Marwa Atik designs handmade headscarves inspired by high fashion trends.¹  Together they started Vela Scarves, an up-and-coming label that specializes in stylish headscarves. Based on Southern California, Marwa sees headscarves as a piece of clothing that demands style, rather than as a mere accessory to outfits. She hopes her designs will show that modest fashion choices do not require women to abandon their sense of style.² 

Vela Scarves are playful yet sophisticated. The scarf, “Victorian Pleat,” features four layers of elegant, handmade pleating, and the “Cat’s Meow” is a fun leopard print wrap scarf.³  Marwa designed another coral pink scarf with a cream bow overlaid by a black velvet paisley print, and it is called the “Blaire” after the Gossip Girl character.⁴  The success of Vela Scarves has encouraged Marwa to launch a new clothing line as well as a bridal hijab line in the coming future.⁵ 

[1] Raja Abdulrahim, “Islamic Head Scarves Take Fashion Cues,” The Los Angeles Times, October 7, 2010.
[2] ibid.
[3] Velascarves.com
[4] Raja Abdulrahim, “Islamic Head Scarves Take Fashion Cues,” The Los Angeles Times, October 7, 2010.
[5] ibid.

Known For: Fashion Designer
Country: United States

About

Based in New Jersey, Brook Samad is a fashion designer who aims to create modest, yet stylish clothing. Using $8,000 she had in savings, Brook launched her fashion line Marabo in 2006.¹ Initially, Brook designed long skirts and sold them at a community bazaar.² Her designs were so successful that she began designing long sleeved shirts, tunics,jackets, and pants. Brook’s clothing balances fun prints with bold colors while always ensuring a modest touch.

After converting to Islam, Brook felt that fashionable Muslimahs were overlooked in the fashion world. As a teenager, Brook had designed her own clothes and wore them to school, so designing outfits came naturally to her. “I remember feeling like I had no idea how to dress once I became Muslim.  I wanted to maintain my identity as a stylish woman while not compromising my religious values.” She said in an interview with Hijabtrendz.  “I thought it would be nice to provide a one-stop shopping outlet for Muslimahs where you know the clothes will be stylish yet you never have to check for slits in the skirts or worry that the shirts in the summer will be sleeveless.”³

[1] “Marabo: New Fashions for Muslim Women,” Seyfettin.
[2] “VIDEO with Muslim Fashion Designer Brook Samad,” ModestFlair.com.
[3] “Maraboo Fashion” Hijabtrendz.com

Known For: Fashion Designer
Country: United States

About

Shifting from a career as a therapist, Bayan Jondy decided to pursue fashion after feeling frustrated with mainstream clothing designs. At first, Bayan began by sketching and designing her own clothing, but after encouragement from family and friends, she started her own clothing company, Zeena, which means “beautiful ornament” in Arabic.¹ 

Bayan’s designs aim to be modest and unique, striving to create “boutique-like” pieces.²  Zeena’s line offers scarves, skirts, tops, and jewelry. Using colorful prints, her clothing is fun yet sophisticated. In one outfit, Bayan designed a loose, ruffled tunic perfect for spring, which comes in forest green, violet, or ocean blue.³  In another, Bayan designed a more casual, comfortable knee-length hoodie that is meant for unwinding at home.⁴ 

In an interview, Bayan recalls the frustration of having to wear numerous layers of clothing, especially in the summer. “I truly wanted Muslim women to feel confident and beautiful wearing modest clothing. Up until we launched, I felt that our options for fashionable clothing in line with my beliefs were very limited. I was frustrated with not being able to find the kind of clothing that reflected my personality and uniqueness …I always knew I wanted to make my own designs, but I never imagined it on this scale.”⁵ 

[1] “Simply Zeena,” Hijabtrendz.com , January 24, 2011.
[2] ibid.
[3] “Ruffle top,” Simplyzeena.com.
[4] “Ribbed Hoodie,” Simplyzeena.com.
[5] Sarah Jawaid, “An Interview with Bayan Jondy,” Altmuslimah.com.

Known For: Fashion Designer
Country: Lebanon

About

Aheda Zanetti is a Lebanese-Australian designer, most famous for her creation of the “burqini/burkini”, a special swimsuit designed for Muslim women in 2003. The burquini was recently under scrutiny due to the French attempted ban on the suits, under the cause that they are not secular. In spite of the controversy, Zanetti’s swimsuit line is flourishing, and she continues to provide opportunities for Muslim women to participate in activities, that they might otherwise be excluded from.

Known For: Culinary
Country: United States

About

Yvonne Maffei, M.A., is a culinary educator and the founder and editor of “My Halal Kitchen,” a halal food and cooking blog. My Halal Kitchen’s mission “is to provide home cooks with the tools to prepare halal meals, including those with the necessary substitutions to make every dish halal. It aims to make the lives of readers better by expanding the list of available recipes that are healthy, delicious, economical and halal.”

Yvonne Maffei is currently working on a cookbook and continues to write and develop recipes for her blog. She lives in Chicago, IL with her husband.

Known For: Culinary
Country: India

About

Nasima Aziz considers herself to be a poet, a playwright, a writer, and a cook. Originally from Lucknow, she seems to incorporate traditional recipes into her cook books. She has written a few cook books including Mughal Flavours and Indian Vegetarian Cuisine.  She also edited a cookbook titled The Original Organic Cookbook: Recipes for Healthy Living.  Aziz commented in an article in “The Economic Times” that she “tried to make the book reader-friendly with cross- references… It was easy to edit because the book had real substance.”

Known For: Head Chef at Günaydın, a chain of meat restaurants in Istanbul, Turkey
Country: Turkey

About

Ebru Akpınar is a head chef at Istanbul’s Günaydın steakhouse chain, responsible for 23 locations. She has been carving a niche for herself in a male-dominated world for 15 years. She readily debunks the traditional idea that girls learn to cook from their mothers in the home.  Her mother “cooks awfully,” she says, and her father, preoccupied with his work in the textile industry had no interest in cooking.¹ 

It was restaurateur Ömer Salur who poached her from her university studies in economics in order to learn the restaurant business. Though she learned the technical side of cooking and restaurant management from Ömer, she believes she also has an innate talent. “I believe God gives everyone a talent.  Some are born to make music, […] I was born to be a chef,” asserts Ebru.² Specializing in Turkish and Mediterranean cuisines, she has traveled to Antep, Urfa, Mardin, Trabzon, and Kayseri to master the nuances in the local cooking that contain different spices and ingredients.

As she has risen through the ranks and has been given more and more authority in the kitchen, Ebru has had to deal with men that were skeptical about being given direction by a woman. She has no tolerance for insubordination and says that the skeptical are soon swayed to her way of seeing things by her dedication to her work as well as her experience.³ 

[1]“Female chef in Turkey takes on male-dominated world,” Hürriyet Daily News.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

Known For: Crafts
Country: United States

About

Sisters Zahiyah and Hadiyah Majeed are the masterminds behind the stunning pieces of Obie K. Jewelry. They are two young American college students who started making handmade beaded jewelry when they were in elementary school. They have honed their craft and launched Obie K. Jewelry in the fall of 2009.

Their jewelry line incorporates semi-precious stones, acrylic, plastic, glass, metal, crystal, and wooden beads. They have said, “We are inspired by almost anything and we love to explore our creativity… We hand make our jewelry to the highest standard with love. We make jewelry for every woman.  We love to see the smiles and beautiful transformations that the jewelry creates when someone tries a piece on.” 

Their jewelry style is a mixture of bohemian chic, American contemporary, urban, and some ethnic elements. They have hopes of selling in high-end stores and they want to expand their business to clothing, shoes, and purses.

Known For: Crafts
Country: Indonesia

About

After noticing that her niece was playing with western Barbie dolls that were dressed in inappropriate clothing, Sukmawati decided that she wanted to create some sort of doll that Muslim girls could play with that maintained cultural values.  She worried that these western Barbie dolls that wore tight clothing and had disproportionately sized bodies might have a negative effect on the development of young girls all over the world.  Thus, she decided to create her own version of a Barbie doll that would be dressed in more appropriate clothing and that also would fit well with Islamic values.

Sukmawati named the doll “Salma,” which originates from the Arabic word that means peace.  She has her dolls imported from China and then she designs their outfits in typical Arab dress.  The dolls have the option of being dressed in the typical black abaya but can also be dressed in white colored prayer dresses.  Little girls who play with Salma can put on headscarves that match the colors of her outfits- all of which are full covering.

Sukmawati’s next plans are to export these dolls to countries such as Brunei and Malaysia, both of which have large Muslim populations.  She hopes that these dolls serve as role models for younger Muslim girls.

Known For: Fine Jewelry Artisan
Country: India

About

Shyama Baskar is a fine jewelry designer. From a young age, Shyama was taught to appreciate beauty and elegance as she grew up in Simla, India, a resort town in the Grand Himalaya Mountains where many festive balls and performances were held for the Indian viceroy and royal court.¹ In an interview with Azizah magazine, Shyama reflected on her childhood, saying, “I was taught to value beauty, grace, and elegance – truth and integrity. All these attributes are essential to design.”² Based out of Los Altos, California, Shyama Baskar now owns her own jewelry design business, Reveti. 

Shyama works with precious and semiprecious metals and gems – diamonds, pearls, rubies, gold, silver, emeralds, among others – in creating intricately luxurious necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. She also worked on designing a silver trophy chest, which was given by Queen Elizabeth to India on the 50th anniversary of India’s independence.³ After travelling at various design schools throughout Europe, she honed her skills under the supervision of Dennis Gardnier, the former master designer for Cartier. She finds inspiration for her work in spirituality. “Your work is an expression of yourself and you must have balance and harmony within before you can create it outside. You have to evolve as a person. Designs have to evolve out of you.”⁴

[1] Nuzalita, “Precious and Unique,” Azizah Magazine, Volume 4, Issue 1.

[2] ibid.

[3] ibid.

[4] ibid.

Known For: Ceramic Artist
Country: United Kingdom

About

Shahida Ahmed first discovered her passion for ceramics as student waiting for her sister’s pottery class to finish. In an interview, Shahida shares how a serendipitous afternoon changed her life. After the instructor of her sister’s pottery class invited her to come in, she fell in love with pottery. “I thoroughly enjoyed the manipulation of clay and the enjoyment I achieved from making sculptural pieces,…Clay related to me and my spirituality. Allah says He made man from clay; each piece of art is unique, handmade and represents various expressions of traditional arts.”¹  From that day on, her accidental foray in ceramics turned into a lifelong passion.

Today, Shahida is an acclaimed ceramic artist who incorporates Islamic calligraphy into her work. Azizah magazine described her work as a “feast for the eye and soul, as her ceramics evoke a time of handcrafted quality and its tradition in Islamic art.”²  Shahida also creates Arab script as three dimensional works of art, which is similar to the artistic style of the Mughals. Although it can be challenging for Muslim female artists to break into the mainstream art scene, Shahida has made a name for herself as a talented artist. In 2009, Shahida presented an elegantly crafted hollow ceramic cube decorated in Islamic calligraphy to Prince Charles in London.³  In addition, she has been nominated numerous times for awards and is the CEO of Creative Colours, a program to launch the first handwritten Quran in the United Kingdom.

Of Pakistani heritage, Shahida draws inspiration from the architectural styles of Pakistan, in addition to Sufi poetry and her travels to Turkey and Morocco. She says she hopes to use art as a “tool that can create dialogue and cohesion,” as exemplified in places built by Muslims that are now renowned, like the Taj Mahal and the Alhambra.⁴ 

[1] Kelly Izdihar Crosby, “Capturing the Beauty,” Azizah, June 21, 2011.
[2] ibid.
[3] ibid.
[4] ibid.

Known For: Olympics 2012
Dates: 1993 - Present
Country: Brunei

About

In 2012, Maziah Mahusin will be the first Bruneian Muslim woman to ever represent her country in the Olympics – she will be running the 400 meter hurdles at the 2012 London Olympics.

A determined athlete, and former national hockey player, Maziah is no stranger to tough competition. She has spent years preparing for this special moment and has competed in numerous international and national events. In June 2011, Maziah won the Best Athlete award at the Youth Sports Festival (PSR). In 2012, she competed at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Turkey. In the recent 2012 Borneo Games, Maziah secured one gold and one silver medal for Brunei.

As the first Bruneian woman to fly the national flag of Brunei at the London 2012 Olympics, Maziah has determined to break her own record “even if by a second.”

Known For: Boxing/Olympics 2012
Dates: 1993 - Present
Country: Afghanistan

About

In 2012, Sadaf Rahimi will be the first ever female boxing Olympiad and the first Muslim woman boxer to take part in this inaugural Olympic sport. Ten years after the toppling of the Taliban, Sadaf will represent her country in an activity once forbidden to Afghan women.
 
Inspired by Laila Ali (daughter of world champion boxer, Muhammad Ali), Sadaf began training with the Afghan Olympic team in 2007. Given the restrictions on women in sports of any kind in Afghanistan, Sadaf trained for just three hours per week with basic equipment in Kabul’s infamous Ghazi Stadium. Her training sessions increased over time and, at the age of 18, Sadaf has become a recognized figure in the rare sport of female boxing in Afghanistan. She has been featured, along with other amateur female Afghan boxers, in the Canadian documentary “The Boxing Girls of Kabul.” The film follows the lives of a group of determined young boxers over the course of a year as they train and dream of becoming professional athletes.

In the months leading up to the Olympics, Sadaf practiced her boxing skills in a well equipped gym in Cardiff, Wales. Here, Sadaf would find herself a world away from Ghazi Stadium and just a few hundred miles from the Olympic boxing ring of her dreams. A realist at heart, Sadaf understands that her opponents in the London 2012 Olympics are more powerful and, she says, “even twice as good as me, but I have prepared myself to participate and win a medal.”

Known For: Lawyer/Diplomat/President of the 61st United Nations General Assembly 2006-2007
Dates: 1952 - Present
Country: Bahrain

About

Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa is the first Arab Muslim woman to preside over the United Nations General Assembly and the first Bahraini female Ambassador to France.

From 2006 – 2007, Sheikha Haya served as the 61st President of the United Nations General Assembly. She was the third woman to preside over the General Assembly since it was founded in 1945. Before her prestigious election, Sheikha Haya served as Bahrain’s Ambassador to France. She also served as Bahrain’s permanent delegate to UNESCO, as well as Bahrain’s nonresident Ambassador to Belgium, Switzerland, and Spain.

Sheikha Haya practices law in Bahrain and manages her own law practice - the Haya Rashed Al Khalifa Law Firm. She graduated from the University of Kuwait with a Bachelor of Law degree 1974, and followed this in 1986 with a degree in Civil Rights Private Law from the University of Alexandria, Egypt, and Comparative Law from the University of Ain Shams, Egypt, in 1988.

Sheikha Haya is a tireless advocate for peace, education, gender equality, and the enhancement of women’s roles as decision makers and leaders. In 2007, Sheikha Haya received the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Special Award in 2007 and the Path to Peace Award for her efforts to global promote peace.

Known For: Chief Prosecutor, International Criminal Court (ICC) 2012
Dates: 1961 - Present
Country: Gambia

About

On June 16, 2012, Fatou Bensouda will become the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal. As Chief Prosecutor, Fatou becomes the ICC’s second elected prosecutor and the first African woman to hold this esteemed position.

Fatou is known for her intellect, soft-spoken thoughtfulness, determined and forceful pursuit of justice, and leadership in pressing governments to support the rule of law. In 2012, she was named one of the 100 most Influential People of the World. In 2011 she received the World Peace Through Law Award by The Whitney Harris World Law Institute, Washington University.  In 2010, she was named the 4th most influential personality in Africa in the Civil Society Category by Jeune Afrique Magazine. In 2009, Fatou was presented with the ICJ International Jurist Award for her contributions to national and international criminal law.  Finally, in 2008, she was selected as one of the 100 most influential African personalities by Jeune Afrique Magazine.

Fatou was born and raised in Banjul, Gambia, and is fluent in English and French. She became Gambia’s first maritime law expert upon receipt of her Master’s degree in International Maritime Law and Law of The Sea from UN/IMO International Maritime Law Institute. She holds both a Barrister-at-Law from Nigeria Law School, as well as a Bachelor of Laws-LLB from the University of IFE (Now OAU University) in Nigeria. Before joining the ICC, Fatou was the Senior Legal Advisor and Head of The Legal Advisory Unit at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania. Prior to this, Fatou was the General Manager of a leading commercial bank in Gambia. Between 1987 and 2000, she held the following positions in Gambia: Senior State Counsel, Principal State Counsel, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Solicitor General and Legal Secretary of the Republic, and Attorney General and Minister of Justice.  As Minister of Justice, Fatou served as the Chief Legal Advisor to the President and Cabinet of Gambia.

Known For: Civil rights attorney/writer
Dates: 1978 - Present
Country: United States

About

Nura Maznavi is a civil rights attorney, writer, and Fulbright scholar and the co-editor of the non-fiction anthology Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women (Soft Skull Press, 2012).

Nura has worked with the national legal advocacy organization, Muslim Advocates, where she led its Program to End Racial and Religious Profiling. At Muslim Advocates Nura focused on federal policies that target the American Muslim community, including FBI surveillance and border profiling.

Prior to joining Muslim Advocates, Nura was an associate with the law firm Rosen, Bien & Galvan in San Francisco, litigating prisoner rights class actions on behalf of California state prisoners. Nura was also a staff attorney for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and a Fulbright Scholar in Sri Lanka, where she worked with local and international non-governmental organizations on issues effecting Sri Lankan migrant workers. Nura received her BA in Politics from Pomona College and her JD from The George Washington University School of Law.

Known For: Feminist /Women's Rights Advocate/Egyptian Nationalist/Author
Dates: 1879 - 1947
Country: Egypt

About

Huda Shaarawi was one of the first outspoken female activists in Egypt. Born in Cairo in 1879 to a wealthy family, Huda lived the early years of her life in a harem only to become a central figure in early twentieth century Egyptian feminism. At the age of thirteen she was married against her wishes, as a second wife, to her much older cousin Ali Shaarawi, himself a leading political activist. She agreed to the marriage to pacify her parents and, in the initial years, remained separate from her husband to pursue her education. Ultimately, the marriage proved to be a mutually beneficial partnership; Ali supported his wife’s aspirations and often sought her council on political issues.

Huda’s early marriage and childhood harem experience, which she would later recall in her book, “Harem Years,” ignited in her a strong sense of resentfulness toward the patriarchal system in which she was raised. Thus, her role in the enlightenment of Egyptian women began. In 1908, Huda created the first Egyptian Philanthropic Society by and for Egyptian women.  In 1910, she created a school for girls, whose primary focus was to teach academic rather than domestic subjects. As Huda’s passion and activism for women’s rights evolved over the years, so too did her political passion and involvement in Egypt’s national struggle against British colonial presence.  She openly challenged the traditional perceptions of women in Egyptian culture as well as the lack of women’s participation in public and political spheres. In 1919 Huda organized an anti-British demonstration which brought Egyptian women out the streets in a show of both women’s solidarity and nationalist protest against the colonial existence. Huda then joined and was elected head of the Wafdist Women’s Central Committee. She would, however, soon grow disillusioned with this political party for ignoring the needs of Egyptian women. With this, Huda left the Wafdist party to concentrate her efforts on the Egyptian Feminist Union, an organization which she founded and headed. The organization published l’Egyptienne (el-Masreyya), a feminist magazine which advocated for Egyptian women’s rights, and was the first of its kind in Egypt,

In 1922, after her husband’s death, Huda traveled to Europe and represented Egyptian women at European conferences for women.  Huda continued as a staunch advocate for Egyptian women’s rights until her death in 1947.  She died at the age of sixty-eight.

Country: Philippines

Known For: Women’s rights and advocacy
Country: United States

About

Sara Khan is the Program Director at Maitri, an agency that works with families facing domestic violence, cultural alienation, family conflict and human trafficking. Sarah acts as the liaison between the staff and the clients on one hand and the executive board and the community on the other. She joined Maitri in 2004 as the Program Coordinator, starting with direct client interaction before taking her on the role of Program Direction in 2006.

Sara is a Commissioner for the Santa Clara County Domestic Violence Council and a member of the Police Victim Advocacy Committee and the Domestic Violence Immigrant Survivor Committee. She is also a member of the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking, a collaborative of community-based nonprofits providing comprehensive services to victims of trafficking in the counties of Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz.  She is also a part of the APIIDV Gathering Strength Committee which focuses on gender equity for immigrants and refugees. Prior to Maitri, Sarah worked with Unified New Cassel Community Revitalization Corporation (UNCCRC) as Community Outreach. She volunteered and advocated for survivors of domestic violence at the Islamic Center of Long Island. She has been an advocate for survivors of domestic violence and cultural isolation for 13 years.

Originally from Kashmir, she is multilingual and multicultural. She has a BA in History, MA in political Science and an M. Phil in International Relations. She is fluent in various South Asian Languages like Urdu, Hindi, Kashmiri and can get by in Tamil. She lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Known For: Entrepreneur/Columnist/Expert on Women & Investment/ Consultant /Speaker
Country: Canada

About

Tara Uzra Dawood is CEO of Dawood Capital Management Ltd. (DCM), a leading asset management company which she established in 2003. DCM is based in Pakistan, where Tara moved in 2000, and is sponsored by Asian Development Bank. With the success of DCM, Tara was able to launch LADIESFUND in 2007. LADIESFUND is a pro bono investment advisory firm, which works exclusively with women clients and entrepreneurs to help women in need financial guidance. As it has evolved, LADIESFUND has gained momentum and created a community unto itself. It is comprised of five wings: Investors and Supporters, Management, Brand Ambassadors, an Advisory Council, and a Student Advisory Board and Volunteers.

At the age of 14, Tara was selected as Canada’s Youth News Representative, which is the youth wing of the Associated Press. With her entrepreneurial savvy as a young journalist, Tara established a network of links with cosmetic labels, record labels and movie studios in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Tara went on to study at Cornell University, Oxford University, and Harvard Law School, where she won numerous awards, scholarships and fellowships , and became a member of the New York Bar. Tara relocated to Pakistan thereafter, where she revamped the venture capital company Pakistan Venture Capital Ltd. and followed this with the creation of her namesake company, Dawood Capital Management Ltd.

Tara is a recognized world speaker on issues regarding women’s investment and responsible investment, both sharia-compliant and conventional mutual funds. She has been a keynote speaker on these topics at numerous conferences around the world. She is also on the board of a number of high profile organizations. Tara is a columnist and freelance writer for magazines and online media, such as 85Broads, the Toronto Sun, and the Girl Friday column for The Friday Times of Pakistan.

Known For: Women’s rights activist, writer
Country: India

About

Naish Hasan is the founder and president of Muslim Manila Aandolan (Indian Muslim Women’s movement) which has been working in India since 2007. She is chief editor of “Musalman Auratein (Muslim women)” and writes on issues of Muslim women in a number of journals and magazines. She is committed to raising the voices of Muslim women in India through written and visual media.

During the communal riots which broke out in 1992 in Ayodhya, Naish witnessed the destruction of her parents’ home and the death of many household members. These riots had a negative impact on Muslim women and girls in this region. Women’s education came to a halt, burqa restrictions were increased, Muslim women were not allowed to go out freely and could no longer work. It was at this juncture in her life that Naish realized she had a role to play in combating the injustices toward Muslim women in her community and in India. A victim of violence against women herself, she struggled to complete her education, and eventually earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Economics from Avadh University, as well as Master of Philosophy in Social Science from Lucknow University. Naish also joined a women’s organization which further inspired her to pursue a career in women’s rights and advocacy.

For over a decade Naish Hasan has been working in the women’s rights field in India, and specifically with Muslim women. She is a passionate advocate for Muslim women’s identity in India. Her aim is to protect Indian Muslim women who experience simultaneous exploitation by their male counterparts in the name of religion and by the government due to their minority status. Naish has conducted trainings on the subjects of gender violence, women’s law, women’s rights, and women’s rights in the Qur’an. Her goal is to create society free of discrimination and gender based exploitation where human rights, dignity, and secularism are the foundation of one’s existence. 

Known For: Professor/Author/Gender and Social Justice
Country: Canada

About

Ayesha S. Chaudhry is Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies and Gender Studies in the Department of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies and the Institute for Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia.  Her teaching and research interests include Islamic law, Qur’anic exegesis, and feminist hermeneutics.  She is the author of Domestic Violence and the Islamic Tradition: Ethics, Law and the Muslim Discourse on Gender (forthcoming, Oxford University Press).  This book explores the relationship of modern Muslims to the inherited Islamic tradition through a study of legal and exegetical discussions of wife-beating in the pre-modern and modern periods.

Currently, Ayesha is working on a collaborative project of inter-faith feminist hermeneutics, which explores and challenges the limits of feminist interpretations of patriarchal religious texts in the three Abrahamic faiths.  She is also developing methods of bridging the academic and community divide by translating her research interests into theatre based performance art that might appeal to a wider audience.  This project is entitled “Re/Covering Identities” and explores the meanings of multiple intersecting political discourses surrounding Muslim women’s sartorial choices.

Known For: Religious scholar, Resistance Fighter
Dates: 1830 - 1863
Country: Algeria

About

Lalla Fatma N’Soumer was born in 1830, the year the French colonial powers landed in Algeria. Known for her excellent memory as a child, her strong-willed personality, extreme intelligence in Qur’anic and Hadith scholarship, and her bravery in the face of French military assaults on her town, Lalla Fatma is among Algeria’s most prominent female historical icons. Her real name was Fatma Sid Ahmed; “Lalla” is a term of respect and honor which was attributed to her for the various roles she played as a dignified member of her town during the early Algerian resistance. The name N’Soumer is an attribution to the Kabyle town in which she lived, Soumer.

Lalla Fatma’s life appears to have been shaped by three main moments. First, as a young girl, she insisted on attending her father’s Qur’an lessons, where she learned and memorized the Qur’an alongside her father’s male students. Upon her father’s death, she played a pivotal role in the continuation of his Qur’an school. Second, as a teenager, she refused the marriage which had been arranged for her, and preferred instead to continue to educate herself. In result, Lalla Fatma became well known far and beyond her hometown and was sought after for her religious knowledge and, it is said, for her ability to predict the future. Finally, in 1854, Lalle Fatma joined the forces of the Algerian hero, Boubaghla, against the Algerian advance, which eventually led to the defeat of the French General Rondon in the battle of Azazga. The French ultimately called for a ceasefire that same year, which they broke three years later in 1857. At that time, Lalla Fatma rallied troops and mobilized volunteers, both men and women, and led the army in response to the surprise French attacks. Despite the strong and determined resistance, Lalla Fatma’s army was ultimately overwhelmed by French military might and the battle was lost to the French. Many of Lalla Fatma’s army died and many were imprisoned, including Lalla Fatma. She died in 1863, having succumbed to the effects ill health and incarceration. Lalla Fatma N’Soumer was 33 years old at the time of her death.

Known For: Politician, Social Justice Activist
Dates: 1965 -
Country: France

About

In 2011, Fadela Amara was named France’s Inspector General for Social Affairs.  Fadela is a French politician, author, and an outspoken activist for social justice and women’s rights. One of eleven children born to working class, Algerian immigrant parents, she was raised in one of the many poor suburbs of Paris, known as “ghettos.” Fadela’s activist heart was awakened when, at the age of fourteen, she witnessed the death of her five-year old brother, who was killed by a drunk driver. Incredulous at the insults and mistreatment her parents received at the hands of French police, who subsequently sided with the drunk man, Fadela began taking on myriad causes which highlighted the injustices experienced by the marginalized, immigrant populations of the ghettos.

In 1983, Fadela joined an equal rights march for second generation North African immigrants. The march began in Marseille with just a few protestors and grew to almost 100,000 protestors by the time it reached Paris. For the next decade, Fadela’s activist path would continue to address the social decomposition of immigrant neighborhoods, violence against women in immigrant communities, and the ethnic and cultural diversity of contemporary French society. In 2001, Fadela was elected as a municipal member of the Socialist Party. Soon after, in 2003, she organized a march entitled Ni Putes Ni Soumises (Neither Whores Nor Submissive) in response to violent attacks against women in the immigrant suburbs.  Fadela would later become president of a women’s rights advocacy organization by the same name.  In 2007, Fadela was named Junior Minister of Urban Policy by President Sarkozy, where the core responsibilities of her position concentrated on the rehabilitation of the ghettos. This job would bring Fadela full circle to her roots as a young activist for the rights of immigrants in the suburb “satellite cities” of France and earn her the title “ghetto warrior” by one French newspaper. In a gesture characteristic of her humility and passion for social justice, the new minister continued to live in the suburbs rather than move to the Parisian ministerial residence to which she was entitled as a minister in the French government.

Fadela is the co-author of Breaking the Silence: French Women’s Voices from the Ghetto. This book tackles the silence which surrounds violence against women in French suburb and immigrant communities, as well as the larger issues of ethnic identity in France and national identity as they relate to a secularist sate.

Known For: Special Agent WWII / Writer / Nurse
Dates: 1914 - 1944
Country: United Kingdom

About

Noor Inayat Khan is known for the heroic role she played as a clandestine special agent in the French resistance against Nazi Germany.  Noor was born in Moscow on New Years Day in 1914. She is a direct descendent of the Indian warrior Tipu Sultan.  Noor’s father was a Sufi musician from India and her mother was an American from New Mexico. As a Muslim woman, Noor’s cultural diversity and interfaith background placed her in a unique historical, religious, and linguistic position. A trained Red Cross nurse who was fluent in English and French at the advent of WWII, Noor joined the English Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and was trained as a wireless operator. Her French fluency brought her to the attention of the Special Operations Executive who recruited her to be a British special agent. Codenamed “Madeleine”, Noor was covertly flown into France to join the French resistance against Nazi Germany and their Vichy collaborators. In 1943, Noor spent a year in Paris clandestinely transmitting messages to the British before ultimately being caught by the Nazis.  Noor was executed in the Dachau concentration camp by the German Gestapo in 1944. She was 30 years old at the time of her death.

Noor studied medicine and psychology, was a skilled musician, and authored a number of children’s books, which include a collection of Indian stories published in 1939. Noor Inayat Khan is a hero to the British, the French, the allied forces of WWII, and a model of bravery for all Muslim women.

Known For: Turkish instructor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Country: United States

About

Dr. F. Canguzel Guner Zulfikar is the Turkish instructor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She started the Turkish Studies Program at UNC-Chapel Hill. She teaches Turkish language, culture, and history courses. With a Ph.D. degree in History from Hacettepe University, Turkey, Dr. Zulfikar specializes in the socio-economic and institutional history of the Ottoman Empire. She is also interested in charitable endowments and their activities as civil society institutions and Sufism (Islamic Mysticism). Her research is based on original endowment documents from Aziz Mahmud Hüdayi’s Sufi shrine complex in Istanbul, which records charitable community activities from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.

Known For: Regional Consultant, Regional Bureau of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Country: Egypt

About

Gihan Abou Zeid is an Egyptian activist of the development field and an authority on women’s rights in development in Egypt and the Arab world. Currently she is a consultant for the regional bureau of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); she supports the integration of religious leaders in the UNFPA’s regional programs. In 2010, Ms. Zeid worked as a policy adviser for the Minister of Family and Population in Egypt. She developed a nation-wide study of initiatives on violence against women as part of a larger attempt to present concrete recommendations to the Egyptian government and civil societies.

Ms. Zeid has 20 years of experience in research, training, editing, and program direction and management in gender, human rights, and democracy. She has participated in international research projects on youth, democracy, gender, and development with UN agencies, the Arab League, universities, and civil society organizations. She has written two books and contributed to scholarly books and journals. She is also an honorary member of numerous youth and human rights initiatives in the Arab world.

Ms. Zeid has always worked with a strong commitment to women’s rights. She has been actively engaged in women’s networks; she served for nine years as a board member of the NGO Forum for Women in Development.

Known For: Member, TURKKAD
Country: Turkey

About

Aylin Yurdacan has been an active member of Turkish Women’s Cultural Association TURKKAD, Istanbul since 2000. During her time with TURKKAD, she has participated in many international tasavvuf (sufism) symposiums organized by her organization. She has also translated TURKKAD President Cemalnur Sargut’s speeches and papers delivered in various international sufism conferences in the UK, the United States, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Malaysia. She received her BA and MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language and has been teaching English at state and private universities in Turkey since 1991.

Known For: Research Fellow, Department of Islamic History and Civilization at the University Malaya
Country: Malaysia

About

Dr. Rosey Wang Ma is a Research Fellow at the Department of Islamic History and Civilization at the University Malaya. She writes on various aspects of Chinese Muslim communities. Of Hui parentage, she was raised in Pakistan and Turkey. She was a French language lecturer for more than twenty years before taking up a career in Education Counseling, counseling for students, and training teachers and caregivers. Her personal and scholarly interest in Chinese Muslims has led to research, conferences, and publications on various aspects of the topic.

Known For: Writer; Designer
Country: Turkey

About

Fatma Unay received her MBA and BSc (Hons) from the University of Salford, School of Management in England. As a PhD candidate, she focused on “Fashion and Management” in the contemporary world and the “Modernization of Ottoman Style.” Ms. Unay is also a fashion designer; she prepares special collections for women and children. She is currently working on “Hz. Khadijah as a first entrepreneur of the Muslim World,” which will be published in the near future. She writes in various journals and columns about women entrepreneurs, social responsibility, NGOs, and fashion. She is also a coordinator of the “Muslim Women Entrepreneurs Working Group” and a member of the Management Culture Commission in Istanbul.

In the past, Ms. Unay was the President of International Women Dialogue Group (IWD-UKAD), an organization which aims to establish international economic, social, and cultural networking between individuals and institutions throughout the world.

Known For: Board Member, TURKKAD; Board Member, Nefas Publishing
Country: Turkey

About

Nese Tas was born in Ankara in 1965. She graduated from M.E.T.U.‘s Department of Economics. Currently, she is a board member of TURKKAD (Turkish Women Cultural Association) and Nefes Publishing. She has been studying tasavvuf with Cemalnur Sargut for 26 years.

Known For: Founder and Mangar, Pusula Training and Management Consultancy
Country: Turkey

About

Sema Suvarioglu is the founder and manager of Pusula Training and Management Consultancy. She graduated from Istanbul Robert College and received her degrees in Psychology (BA) and Clinical Psychology (MA) from Bogazici University. Ms. Suvarioglu started her career by directing qualitative market research and conducting focus groups at Unilever. Afterwards, she worked as a private psychotherapist. While working as a market researcher at Pars McCann Erickson Advertising Agency, she began her studies in a Ph.D. program on Organizational Behavior at Marmara University. She completed her Ph.D. dissertation on “Creative Problem Solving.”

Ms. Suvarioglu worked as a trainer and consultant in a consultancy company for seven years. She completed ACT’s (Advantage Coaching and Training) “Corporate Coach Program” and Erickson College International’s “Coaching Certification Program.” Since 1996, she has worked as a certified professional coach at Pusula. Over the years, she has taught at Bilgi, Sabancı, Marmara, Boğaziçi (BÜYEM), and Koc University in MBA and EMBA Programs.

Known For: Politician; Sociologist
Country: Turkey

About

Aysenur Bilgi Solak’s active political life began with the founding of the Ak Party (Justice and Development Party), which was the ruling party in Turkey in 2001. Currently, she is the Deputy Chairperson of the Istanbul Akparti Organization and the party’s public relations representative. Apart from her political career, she writes about modernization in the context of Turkey’s history and women’s issue in Turkey. She is also a civil activist and works with many different NGOs. Ms. Solak completed her secondary education in Innsbruck in Austria and later attended Imam Hatip School, a religious lycee in Istanbul. After completing her secondary education, she studied sociology, politics and foreign relations at Bogazici (Bosphorus) University in Turkey.

Known For: Associate Professor in Linguistics and Gender Studies, Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University
Country: Morocco

About

Dr. Souad Slaoui is an associate professor at Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University in Fez, Morocco. She is a senior lecturer in Linguistics and Gender Studies. She currently directs the Women and Development Unit at Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University in Fez, Morocco.

She is also the Moroccan Coordinator of the Exchange and Cooperation Agreement among Members of the Gender and Women’s Studies Across Cultures (GWS) Consortium for 2007 to 2013.

Dr Souad Slaoui is also a founding member of the Isis Centre for Women and Development; The Union of Feminine Associations in Morocco, and a member of the laboratory of Research and Studies in Linguistics (GREL). Dr. Slaoui is a member of the editing board for the book, Feminist Movements: Origins and Orientations, published in 1999. She is also a co-author of the book, Grammar of Moroccan Arabic (1999). Her research interests include women and their relationship to religion, politics, and culture as well as feminist movements in the Arab world. She participated in national and international conferences on issues related to Moroccan women (e.g., cultural values).

Known For: Author; Dancer
Country: Turkey

About

Rabia Christine Brodbeck Sezai is the author of several books and articles. She is also a world-famous dancer who began her training at the age of 12. She continued to dance and perform until 1998, when she retired. Following her conversion to Islam in 1986, Ms. Brodbeck began to write books with a focus on spirituality. One of her books, From The Stage to the Prayer Mat: The Story of How a World- Famous Dancer Fell in Love with the Divine, was recognized in the “Spirituality” category during the New York Summer Book Festival in 2009. Apart from writing, she was selected to participate in a TV documentary for the European Union about European Muslims. Currently, she teaches dance, gives seminars and conferences, and writes articles in Istanbul.

Known For: Director of Family Counseling and the Rehabilitation Department, Shar’iah Court
Country: Palestine

About

Solafa Sawalha is the Director of Family Counseling and the Rehabilitation Department for all courts in the West Bank, a position she has held since 2003. From 1998 to 2003, she worked as a legal representative focusing on women’s issues. She holds a BA in Islamic Law from the University of Jerusalem and numerous certificates in Islam, mediation, and legal representation from international and domestic organizations.

Known For: Member, TURKKAD
Country: Turkey

About

After completing her studies at the American Academy for Girls, Hatice Isil Sarraf attended London Cavendish College and graduated with a Public Relations degree. She went on to found her own event planning and public relations company. Apart from these endeavors, she is also a life coach and a breath trainer. In 2008, Ms. Sarraf became a member of the Turkish Women’s Cultural Association (TURKKAD).

Known For: Women’s rights defender; Feminist researcher
Country: Turkey

About

Leyla Pervizat, Ph.D is a woman’s human rights defender and a feminist researcher. She completed her doctoral dissertation, titled Honor Killings within the Context of International Human Rights Law: Conceptual and Legal Analysis, and Evaluation of Legal Cases in Turkey, at the Department of International Relations and Political Science at the Marmara University. Her comprehensive and interdisciplinary doctoral dissertation will soon be published in English. In the past, she worked as the Project Coordinator of Prevention of Honour Killings in South Eastern and Eastern Turkey. Ms. Pervizat lectures on gender studies and family violence at the Haliç University in Istanbul. For the last five years, as a member of Amnesty International Turkey, she has worked on training religious leaders at the Presidency of Religious Affairs, a state body, on women’s rights (e.g., eliminating violence and discrimination against women).

Known For: Pharmacist; Writer; Human rights activist
Country: Turkey

About

Yildiz Ramazanoglu was born in Ankara. She attended Hacettepe University for pharmacy. Currently, she lives in Istanbul. She is working on several essays, novels, and short stories. She has already written a number of books, including Deep Black, The Day of Zilha, Angelika, Red, and Cities Passing from my Inside. She is interested in women and human rights issues.

Known For: Lecturer in School of Religion, Philosophy, and Classics, University of KwaZulu-Natal (Howard College)
Country: South Africa

About

Cherry Muslim is a lecturer in the School of Religion, Philosophy, and Classics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Howard College) in Durban, South Africa. She is currently completing her PGCE (Certificate of Education) and is registered to begin her doctoral degree in 2012.

For 16 years, Ms. Muslim taught Islam to women and girls at Islamic Guidance, a madressah and non-profit charity and organization. She also worked with the Islamic Broadcasting Corporation for the local Islamic radio station as a presenter. Moreover, she wrote articles for community newspapers, spoke at conferences, and served as the Chairperson of the Coalition of Muslim Women.

Known For: Head of the Documentation and Advocacy Unit at the Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC)
Country: Palestine

About

Hanan Muaadi is an activist and defender of feminist and human rights. She is especially interested in the situation of Palestinian women under Israeli occupation. She actively advocates for change in this area by participating in a range of speaking tours around the world; these tours discuss the lives of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, with special focus on the situation of women.

Professionally, Ms. Muaadi is a researcher specializing in gender issues. She has participated in many research projects, addressing issues such as gender-based violence, health issues, the situation of widows of murdered Palestinians, disabled women, and the situation of women in education.

In 2009, Ms. Muaadi prepared a report for the Euro Med about the situation of Palestinian women. The report explored the issue of equality between men and women in Palestine. It also examined Palestinian women in decision-making positions and the extent to which Palestinian women enjoy their rights set out in the Convention on the Elimination All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Between 2007 and 2010, Ms. Muaadi produced a report entitled “Killing Females in the name of the Honor in Palestine.” Recently, she was chosen as a consultant for the MENA region with Northeastern University of Boston to conduct research on the application of due diligence principles in the Middle East and North Africa.

Currently, Ms. Muaadi is the head of the Documentation and Advocacy Unit at the Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC). She works as part of a team, appealing to government officials in the Palestinian Legislative Council and other ministries to amend laws which fail to adequately protect women.

Country: Egypt

About

Negila Moussa has worked for the CEO of RAMSCO for Trading & Development, Ms. Rawya Mansour for the past 12 years. At RAMSCO, Ms. Moussa works implement systems to fight poverty and produce healthy food. Before that, she was a junior college teacher for 13 years. Ms. Moussa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Agronomy & Science and a Child Psychology diploma.

Known For: Business Development Director, Motlekar Holdings
Country: South Africa

About

Nazira Moosa is the Business Development Director of Motlekar Holdings, an investment and advisory house. The company focuses on buying equity in companies across a broad spectrum of industries. Within Motlekar Holdings, Ms. Moosa runs Global Petroleum, a company that focuses on trading within the liquid fuels industry. On a separate note, she also sits on the advisory board of the Graduate School of Business at Kwa Zula Natal.

Ms. Moosa began her career at PriceWaterhouse Coopers in the auditing department. Soon afterwards, she turned her attention to the entrepreneurial side of the company (e.g., textile buying, franchising, and wholesaling across various industries). Between 2005 and 2006, she was appointed the official regional trainer by BP South Africa in their Black Economic Empowerment Programme. In 2005, she was the recipient of the Business Partners award for Entrepreneurial Spirit and Contribution to SME Sector.

Ms. Moosa holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Economics and Management) and Masters in Business Administration from the University of Kwa Zulu Natal.

Known For: Consultant and Activist, Social uplifting
Country: South Africa

About

Asmal Mooneera grew up in apartheid-era, South Africa, and suffered through devastating unemployment, economic downturn, and racism. As a result, Ms. Mooneera strives to assist the underprivileged and be actively involved in social and economic development. Currently, she works with the rural Muslim community in establishing and maintaining Islamic education initiatives. In conjunction with her work in the community, she is fundraising for the construction of an orphanage. She is also involved in business development and the creation of employment opportunities.

Known For: Manager, the Adult Education Centre for Women and Families; Content Supervisor, the Persian Female Portal
Country: Iran

About

Hoda Mobasseri is currently the Manager at the Adult Education Centre for Women and Families in Tehran, Iran. The centre facilitates adult education classes for women on topics such as family problem-solving, negotiation with partners, and parenting skills. She also serves as Content Supervisor of the Persian Female Portal, an online website that contains a variety of resources for Iranian women in areas such as education, health, art, and fashion.

Ms. Mobasseri earned her Master of Science degree in Community Education from the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she wrote her thesis entitled “Politics of Hijab in Iran and UK.” She also completed a Master’s of Arts in Sociology, for which she wrote a separate thesis, “Sexual Politics and Intimate Relationships, a Sample of Heterosexual Iranian Women in Tehran.”

Ms. Mobasseri’s academic areas of interest include Muslim women’s potentialities and limitations for negotiation in the private sphere, and Muslim feminists’ contributions regarding human rights and Muslimhood. She has also completed several English to Persian translations of various publications, and created a Facebook group for the Persian translation of the 2009 book Emotional Literacy Training by Claude Steiner.

Known For: Dean, School of Lifelong Education and Development; Director of Access, Public, and Community Engagement
Country: United Kingdom

About

Nadira Mirza is the Dean of the School of Lifelong Education and Development and the Director of Access, Public, and Community Engagement at the University of Bradford. She has lead participation initiatives with local communities and schools, enabling young people who have no family history of higher education to access university courses. She continues to be instrumental in establishing new voluntary sector organizations in Bradford, thus sustaining this infrastructure within the district.

Ms. Mirza is on a number of local, regional, and national committees charged with raising educational achievement and better health for local communities.  She is a Non-Executive Director of the Bradford District Care Trust (NHS) and chairs a number of strategic committees, including the “Born in Bradford” project, an international action research study of childhood diseases over the next ten years. Ms. Mirza was instrumental in developing the university’s first school, the University Academy Keighley under the Government Academy scheme. The University Academy Keighley encourages universities to take leadership of local schools and raise achievement through high level leadership and links with academics. She is now the Chair of the Governing Board.

Ms. Mirza represents the university on a number of strategic advisory committees in England; she is advisor to the Management Development Foundation, an international training consultancy for leadership and project development based in the Netherlands. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and a visiting Fellow of the University of Azad Kashmir.

Known For: Medical representative; Professional and personnel coach
Country: Morocco

About

Ms. Houda Marmouti is a forty-year-old married woman and mother of two children. At the university-level, she studied management information systems. At present, she works as a medical representative. She is also a professional and personnel coach. Ms. Marmouti engages in community work and social activities; she currently volunteers with Maman Planete Bebe forum.

Ms. Marmouti is a consultant with Hope, an Arabic group that works to eradicate early marriage. This network was created in June 2011. Its country members include Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, the West Bank and Gaza, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Morocco. Ms. Marmouti has attended several international forums and conferences in Morocco for women and children.

Known For: Social worker; Life skills trainer
Country: Pakistan

About

Hina Maqsood, a development practitioner, educator, editor, and training consultant, is currently working with the Islamabad-based Human and Institutional Development Centre (Saibaan). She is the Team Leader for Training and Development.  Her work largely focuses on developing and delivering trainings, project management, monitoring and evaluation, networking and communication, strategic planning, and event management.

Ms. Maqsood has been working in the development sector for over five years. She has conducted over 100 trainings nationally and internationally for NGOs, INGOs, academicians, bankers, government officials, and corporate professionals.  Last year, Ms. Maqsood worked as an independent consultant for the American Society for Muslim Advancement’s Awareness Campaign on Domestic Violence Bill in District Jhelum.

Ms. Maqsood was named the best participant and group leader in a renowned 14-day Signature Training in Pakistan. She has published works on “U.S. Policy towards Women Empowerment in Pakistan in Post 9/11 Scenario”; “Counseling Youth for Employability, Unleashing the Potential”; “IDPs and the Role of Civil Society Organizations”; and “Seasonal Trends in Developmental Jobs.”  In the last two years, Ms. Maqsood has arranged two retreats to Istanbul and China for more than 150 HRD professionals.

Ms. Maqsood holds an M.Phil. degree in American Studies and a Master’s degree in English Linguistics and Literature.

Known For: Executive Director, Sahiba Sisters Foundation
Country: Tanzania

About

Salma Maoulidi is the Executive Director of the Sahiba Sisters Foundation, a women’s development and advocacy network with members in 13 regions of Tanzania concerned with the impact of cultural and religious discourses on women. Ms. Maoulidi received an LLM from Georgetown University with a focus on Human Rights and Women’s Law. She has published widely on legal and development, issues from an African woman’s feminist activist perspective. Her current research interest is documenting the history of women in Zanzibar, with a focus on women’s legal, education, and political status over time.

Known For: Founder and Chairperson, RAMSCO for Sustainable Development and Environmental Protection
Country: Egypt

About

Rawya Mansour is an environmental activist who focuses on the link between the environment and poverty. She is the founder and chairperson of RAMSCO for Sustainable Development and Environmental Protection, a company devoted to sustainable business practices within the Middle East and North Africa. She is a role model in diverting the linear economy into a circular economy via her mantra: “Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce.” Ms. Mansour’s projects focus on raising the living standard, implementing clean technologies for sustainable green business, and creating solutions for fighting poverty and mitigating climate change in the Middle East and North Africa. She raises awareness for environmentalism through Pan-Arab media vehicles. Currently, Mrs. Mansour is working on the creation of 234 green town parks, which will lead to the creation of more than ten million jobs within Egypt. She is also working on the design and construction of a new eco village.

Ms. Mansour is a member of numerous boards and associations, which include the Arab Business Women Society, Enhancement of Integrated Services and Waste Recycling, the Clinton Global Initiative Foundation, Information and Decision Support Center of the UNDP, the Association of Enterprises for Environmental Conservation, the Lead Foundation for Microfinance, the Egyptian Association for Science and Technology Services, Children with Special Needs, the Education for Employment Foundation, and Pro-Natura.

In addition, Rawya Mansour is also the founder and chairperson of RAMSCO for Interior Design and Architecture, an avant-garde interior design company based in the Middle East. Her work was published worldwide in the House and Garden magazine and their book series of the same title.

Known For: Executive Director, Public Union for Gender Equality and Women’s Initiatives (GEWI)
Country: Azerbaijan

About

Ulviyya Mammadova is the Executive Director of Public Union for Gender Equality and Women’s Initiatives (GEWI). She is responsible for management, program planning and development, strategy and budgeting. She also runs a web series on Kanal13 titled “Strong Gender,” which discusses women’s rights issues. Prior to joining GEWI, Ms. Mammadova worked with local and international NGOs in Azerbaijan. She also worked at Azerbaijan International, an English language magazine, for five years. She spent one year at its headquarters in Los Angeles, California. Ms. Mammadova has a BA and MA in translation (English and French).

Known For: Senior Instructor, Department of Rhetoric and Composition at the American University in Cairo
Country: Egypt

About

Sanaa A. M. Makhlouf is the Senior Instructor of AUC’s Department of Rhetoric and Composition. She obtained her BA and MA from the American University in Cairo; she received her MA in Medieval Political Philosophy at Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies; and she received her Ph.D. (ABD) at Harvard’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization on “A Hermeneutics of Spiritual Writings of al-Amir Abd al-Qadir al-Jazaíri.”

From 2005 to 2009, Ms. Makhlouf worked as a copy editor for the ISIM Review at Leiden University in the Netherlands. In 2010, she was a member of the Sunni Delegation at the Interfaith Summit Meeting at the Washington National Cathedral. This same year, she was a coordinator for the Al-Azhar Cambridge Imam Program. Similarly, in Spring 2010, she was a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies at Kyoto University. In April 2011, Ms. Makhlouf participated in the US Islamic World Forum in Washington, DC. She has written publications on Muslim Reform Movements and Quránic Hermeneutics.

Known For: Political Activist
Country: Egypt

About

Asmaa Mahfouz is a 26-year-old graduate with a degree in Business Administration.  Ms. Mahfouz worked as an account manager for Broadband until 2008, when she resigned to concentrate on political activity. Ms. Mahfouz was one of the co-founders of the April 6 Youth Movement. During the transitional period, she encouraged involvement and organized political activities, increasing peoples’ awareness about their rights. Similarly, she made the first video calling people to take to the streets on January 25, 2011:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezFb6wzS9Is

She also made a series of videos encouraging nonviolent demonstration against Mubarak’s regime.  Currently, Ms. Mahfouz is preparing to build her own NGO to encourage political awareness.

Known For: Official Translator, International Union of Islamic Scholars; Member, European Council of Religious Leaders
Country: France

Known For: Founder, STEPS Women’s Development Organization
Country: India

About

D. Sharifa Khanam founded STEPS Women’s Development Organization in 1987. Ms. Khanam’s work for the past two decades has been devoted to the protection of women. The organization provides short-term residence for battered women and works with both the local community and the police to protect abused women.

Ms. Khanam’s dedication to women, particularly Muslim women, began in 1999 when she created the first network of Muslim women in southern India, the Tamil Nadu Muslim Women’s Jamaat Committee. The group, comprised of poor and working-class women, functions as a community tribunal to aid local women.  Currently, Ms. Khanam is working to build the first mosque exclusively for Muslim women in India. She hopes the mosque will become the center of a vibrant Islamic feminist and democratic culture.

Known For: Senior television producer, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB); President, Eghlime Noor Institute
Country: Iran

About

Farkhondeh Keyhani is a senior television producer in Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and President of Eghlime Noor (Land of light) Institute, focusing on women issues. Ms. Keyhani is interested in women’s rights issues from an Islamic prospective. She has produced multiple TV series and documentaries for different IRIB TV channels. The productions have focused on women in Iranian history, feminism, women in Iranian cinema, and female clothing. She has done extensive research on these topics; her research has taken her to the UAE, Turkey and India. She has published multiple essays in Iranian newspapers and women’s magazines.

Ms. Keyhani has earned her MA in Islamic Mysticism and BA in Western Philosophy.  Additionally, she has her MA in TV production from IRIB University. In 1999, she attended “Television in An Aging Society,” a workshop organized by Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development. In 2006, Ms. Keyhani traveled to Lebanon after the July war to make a documentary about the affects of the war on Lebanese women.

Known For: Board Member, Turkish Women’s Cultural Association Istanbul
Country: Turkey

About

Nazli Kayahan was born in Ankara in 1962. She received a BBA degree in Economics from the University of Iowa and an EMBA degree from Koc University, Istanbul. Ms. Kayahan worked in the banking sector for six years. She has been a student of Cemalnur Sargut since 1998.

Ms. Kayahan is a board member of the Turkish Women’s Cultural Association, Istanbul (TURKKAD), founded by Samiha Ayverdi in 1966. Under the leadership of the current President, Cemalnur Sargut, TURKKAD works to organize international symposiums and work with people who want to apply solutions to today’s problems with the Sufi view that “knowledge should be practiced and worship is a journey towards love.”

Known For: Director and Chair, Knowledge Transfer at the Department of Social Anthropology (Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona)
Country: Spain

About

Professor Adriana Kaplan is the Director and Chair of Knowledge Transfer at the Department of Social Anthropology, Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona (UAB) in Spain, and Principal Investigator of the Interdisciplinary Group for the Prevention and Study of Harmful Traditional Practices. Professor Kaplan lectures on Medical Anthropology and Gender and Development Studies throughout Spain, Europe, Africa, and Mexico. She is also the Executive Director of the NGO, Wassu Gambia Kafo.
Principally, Professor Kaplan’s fieldwork has been in West Africa concerning health, nutrition, reproductive, and sexual health. She leads the Transnational Observatory on Applied Research and Knowledge Transfer on Female Genital Mutilation in Gambia and Spain as well as the training of health professionals and students on FGM. Additionally, Professor Kaplan has published books and articles on FGM and co-directed the documentary Initiation without Mutilation.

Professor Kaplan organised the International Forum on Harmful Traditional Practices in Gambia (May 5-7, 2009). In 1998, she was awarded the X Research Award on Social Science by “la Caixa” Foundation. In 2008, she was granted the International Solidarity Award by the government of Navarra, Spain.

Known For: Visiting Assistant Professor, Georgetown University; Founding member & Associate Director, Salam Institute for Peace and Justice
Country: United States

About

Dr. S. Ayse Kadayifci-Orellana is currently Visiting Assistant Professor at Georgetown University’s MA Program in Conflict Resolution. Similarly, she has served as Assistant Professor in the field of Peace and Conflict Resolution at the School of International Service at American University in Washington DC. Dr. Kadayifci-Orellana has worked at the United States Institute of Peace on Projects related to Iraq. She is also one of the founding members and the Associate Director of Salam Institute for Peace and Justice, a non-profit organization for research, education, and practice on issues related to conflict resolution, nonviolence, and development. She received her PhD from American University’s School of International Service and her Master’s degree in Conflict Analysis from the University of Kent in Canterbury, England.

Dr. Kadayifci-Orellana’s has taught, lectured, and published extensively in the fields of gender and peace, theories of peace, religion and peace building, crosscultural conflict resolution and mediation, interfaith and intra-faith dialogues, peace building and development, Islamic sources of conflict resolution, and Muslim peace building actors in Africa and the Balkans. She has also facilitated dialogues and conflict resolution workshops between Israelis and Palestinians, worked with indigenous community leaders from North and Latin America, conducted Islamic conflict resolution training workshops to imams and Muslim youth leaders in the United States, organized and participated in interfaith and intra-Muslim dialogues, and organized and participated in the first American-Muslim Delegation to Iran in November 2007.

Known For: Assistant Professor, Bahcesehir University in Istanbul, Turkey
Country: Turkey

About

Dr. Brigitte Jelen received her BA in Social Sciences at the University of Notre-Dame de Namur in Belmont, California, and her Ph.D. in Modern European History at the University of California Irvine. Her thesis, entitled Immigrant In/Visibility: Portuguese and North Africans in Post-Colonial France, discusses the political, religious, cultural, and urban visibility of immigrants in France from a historical perspective. She has also worked on religion and secularism in the European context and the visibility of hijabi women in European public spaces. In the past three years, since her move to Istanbul, Ms. Jelen’s research interests have broadened to include studies of contemporary Turkish society, focusing on the new Islamic bourgeoisie. Her more recent work focuses on elite Islamic women in Turkey; it was published as “Educated, Independent, and Covered: the Professional Aspirations and Experiences of University-Educated Hijabi in Contemporary Turkey” in Women Studies International Forum (2011). Currently, she is working on women theologians and Islamic feminism in Turkey. She has written an article on “Women in the Diyanet” (2011).  Ms. Jelen’s teaching and research interests include Urban Sociology, Sociology of Religion and Culture, Contemporary European History, and Women Studies and Cultural Studies.

Known For: Women’s rights activist; Executive Director: Advancement, Durban University of Technology
Country: South Africa

About

Naziema Jappie is a women’s rights activist. She has served on a number of boards for HIV/AIDS and is currently a member of the Higher Education HIV/AIDS Advisory Board. She is also the Vice President of the South African Women’s Forte.  Ms. Jappie has worked as a secondary school teacher; the National Education Officer (SA Clothing & Textile Workers Union); and a lecturer at the former M.L. Sultan Technikon, where she later served as Dean of Students. She joined the Durban University of Technology from her position of Dean of Students at the University of the Witwatersrand. She has training in conciliation, mediation and arbitration, and Adult Education. Moreover, she has served as a member of the task team for Gender Equity in Education and has been involved in HEQC training for Quality Assurance. She has taught at the Institute for Women’s Studies in Lahore for three years.

Ms. Jappie holds a Bachelor of Social Science, an Honours degree (Social Science), and a Masters of Social Science, specializing in industrial and labour studies. She also has a Higher Education Diploma (postgraduate). Her awards include the NRF and Ford Foundation for Research in Higher Education and the Fellowship in Labor Studies at the University of Iowa, USA.

Known For: Financial and Banking Consultant, First Women Bank Limited
Country: Pakistan

About

Fauzia Janjua works in the development sector in Pakistan and is currently associated with First Women Bank Limited. This company aims to economically empower and emancipate women in both rural and urban areas. Previously, she worked at transnational financial institutions such as Citigroup USA; NIB Bank, owned by Tamesak Group of Singapore; and Favsal Bank, a subsidiary of DMI Group owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She also worked at internationally-acclaimed universities like the National University of Sciences and Technologies in Pakistan, International Islamic University of Pakistan, and Fatima Jinnah University for Women in Pakistan. After working in commercially-oriented multinational organizations for more than 15 years, she decided to join a financial institution with a focus on gender. The present mission of First Women Bank Limited is to convert the passive role of women seeking social benefits into an active catalyst for change and economic empowerment, which will ultimately lead to the healthy growth of family and society.

Known For: Research Assistant, Centre for Comparative Theology & Cultural Studies; PhD student in Islamic Religious Education
Country: Germany

About

Tuba Isik-Yigit is a member of the second German Islamic Conference. She is also a research assistant at the Centre for Comparative Theology and Cultural Studies and a PhD student in Islamic Religious Education. Previously, she headed the Coalition of Muslim Women in Germany, moderated Jugenddialog 2020 (youth dialogue in Germany), and worked as an education consultant for the SCHURACouncil Niedersachsen, Hannover.

Ms. Isik-Yigit has a Master’s degree in Law and Pedagogy from Georg-August University of Göttingen (Germany). She received further instruction in Islamic teaching in the German language at the University of Osnabruck. She was also a PhD student at the Leibniz University of Hannover and a PhD fellow of the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation.

Ms. Isik-Yigit speaks Turkish, German, and English. She also has a basic grasp of Arabic.

Known For: Senior partner, Aries Law Firm
Country: United States

About

Hauwa Ibrahim is a senior partner at Aries Law Firm. Working as a lead attorney with a team devoted to the cause of human rights for women in Nigeria, she has won a number of precedent-setting cases before Islamic Shariah courts. Ibrahim has been a Visiting Professor at Saint Louis University School of Law and Stonehill College, a World Fellow at Yale University, a Radcliffe fellow, and a fellow at both the Human Rights Program and the Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard University. She is currently a Visiting Lecturer at Harvard University.

Ms. Ibrahim adopted an interdisciplinary approach to delve into the theoretical foundations of Shariah law and examine how they have influenced legal practice, which has, in turn, affected the human rights of women in West Africa. Her research led to a book, Practicing Law in Shariah Courts: Seven Strategies, which is currently with the American Bar Association for Publication.

The European Parliament presented Ms. Ibrahim with its 2005 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which honors individuals or organizations for their efforts on behalf of human rights and freedoms. Ibrahim has earned an LLB and a master’s in international law and diplomacy from the University of Jos in Nigeria; a BL for legal practice from Nigeria Law School; and a master’s of law degree in international studies at American University’s Washington College of Law. In addition, she has been awarded three honorary doctorates, as well as the Cavaliere Award, the Highest Human Rights Award from the Italian Government.

Known For: Coordinator, WAR Against Rape (Lahore, Pakistan)
Country: Pakistan

About

Sidra Humayun is the coordinator at WAR Against Rape, a Lahore-based NGO dedicated to building a sensitized society free from gender-based oppression, discrimination, exploitation, and violence. Sidra has been with WAR since 2005. WAR works to help survivors of rape using legal, psychological, and medical means, and improve laws relating to rape and other forms of sexual abuse through advocacy and lobbying.  Over the past six years, she has worked tirelessly with women and girls who have experienced sexual violence, providing them with counseling and direct support. She has also worked to ensure that Lahore’s criminal justice and medical systems, and the surrounding areas of Pakistan’s Punjab province, respond effectively to the complex needs of victims of sexual abuse.

Sidra has attended several advocacy and development trainings by the Church World Service in the Pakistan/Afghanistan region, on topics such as Advocacy and Lobbying, Nonviolent Communications, and Organizational Development Human Rights and Peace and Conflict-(Bangkok). She also facilitated a training on Gender Sensitization, and has conducted sessions with various Pakistani organizations to raise awareness on Sexual Abuse Survivor protocol and code of conduct, Sexual Harassement at Work place, Medico-Legal System in Pakistan. 

Known For: Legal Expert, Council of Europe
Country: Czech Republic

About

Dr. Ivana Hrdlickova is a judge and a legal expert with the Council of Europe regarding anti-money laundering issues. She is also a researcher in Islamic Sharia, with a focus on human and women rights and Islamic finance in international and Islamic law. She has served on a number of international legal and judicial projects in this capacity, including the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EuroMed), which works to increase judicial cooperation between the Mediterranean-European Development Agreement (MEDA) countries. She has also worked with the CEELI Institute (Prague), Qatari Foundation (Qatar), International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ), and many other international organizations.

Dr. Hrdlickova holds a Masters Degree in Business and Criminal Law and a J.D.in Civil Law. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in International Law at Charles University in Prague and also is participating as a co-author on a book on human rights in Islam.

Known For: Chief Executive Officer, Yayasan MENDAKI
Country: Singapore

About

Moliah Hashim is currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of Yayasan MENDAKI, a self-help organization established in 1982 to uplift the Malay/Muslim community to achieve its vision of a Community of Excellence. Prior to her appointment in Yayasan MENDAKI, Moliah served 27 years with the Ministry of Education, holding several key appointments including Principal of Northland Primary School and Cluster Schools Superintendent, Schools Division South.

Moliah serves on numerous governing boards in the public sector, including the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (Islamic Religious Council of Singapore); OnePeople.sg Management Committee and Youth Outreach & Engagement Sub-Committee; Ministry of Education (MOE) Inter-Consultative Committee on Education and Malay Language Learning & Promotion Committee; Working Committee on Racial and Religious Harmony; Northlight School Board of Governors Marriage Central Advisory Board; Home Management Committee Pertapis Centre for Women & Girls; Transplant Ethics Committee, Ministry of Health; National Council Against Drug Abuse;WEworkz Multi-Purpose Co-operative Ltd; Media Development Authority (MDA) Board & MDA’s Audit Committee and most recently, the Health Promotion Board (HPB) Audit and Risk Management Committee.  Moliah holds a Bachelor of Arts and Social Science from the University of Singapore.

Known For: Principal, Afghan School Inc.
Country: United States

About

Shakila Hamidi was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. She graduated from Kabul University where she majored in Child Psychology. As a volunteer for UNICEF in her home country, Ms. Hamidi educated women on the importance of breastfeeding their newborn children. She has also been involved with such organizations as the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences and the United Nations. She has contributed to Noor TV as a creator of novel topics and as a program guest. As a program manager at Women for Afghan Women, she worked to create community programs and cultural events. Currently, she is the principal of the Afghan School Inc. in Whitestone, Queens, working with different communities and organizations to unify the Afghan-American population.

Known For: Attorney; Activist, KAFA Organization
Country: Lebanon

About

Fatima El Hajj became an attorney in 2002 and began her legal activism with the Listening and Consulting Center at KAFA (Enough) in 2005. KAFA is an organization dedicated to ending violence against women and provides services and legal aid to victims of violence. Apart from her work at KAFA, she participates in seminars and legal legislation in Lebanon and abroad, such as the International Center for Transitional Justice in Jordan (2011) and the CEDAW workshop in Lebanon (2010).

Known For: Doctor, Medical Centre Goethe Passage
Country: Turkey

About

Dilek Guldtutuna studied at the Istanbul University Medical Faculty Cerrahpaşaand, and received her Ph.D. in Anesthesiology at the Koşuyolu Clinic for Heart Surgery in Istanbul in 1994. She also received her Magister of Islamic Religious Studies from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Germany. Currently, she works at the Medical Centre Goethe Passage as a doctor.

Known For: Member, Jalal Foundation
Country: Afghanistan

About

Mari Folad is a member of the Jalal Foundation, which works for women empowerment in Afghanistan. Previously, she worked as a registry clerk at the World Food Programme (WFP) and a WFP field monitor in Kabul, Afghanistan. She also worked as a computer operator and translator for Todai Japan.

Ms. Folad has a diploma in Business Administration from the Kardan Institute of Higher Education. She has also received numerous certificates, including a Gender Training Workshop certificate, an Electronic Records Management Programme certificate, and an Advanced Security in the Field certificate. She is fluent in Dari, Pashtu, and English.

Known For: Independent Consultant on Women’s Rights and Development Issues
Country: Nigeria

About

Mufuliat Fijabi is an independent consultant on women’s rights and development issues. She began her career as a journalist and has continued writing on gender and governance for both local and international publications. In addition to her work in journalism, Ms. Fijabi has co-authored several books focusing on women’s rights and Islamic law. As an activist, Ms. Fijabi worked as a Senior Program Officer at BAOBAB, a leading women’s rights NGO in Nigeria, for nearly 12 years. Currently, she works as a consultant and journalist and is on the boards of several local and international organizations.

Known For: Project Coordinator, TURKKAD
Country: Turkey

About

Elif Erhan has been a member of Turkish Women’s Cultural Association (TURKKAD), Istanbul since 2006. She is one the association’s project coordinators, and organizes its international symposiums. Her background is in engineering sciences, and she graduated from the Environmental Engineering Department at Ataturk University in 1992. She received her Ph.D. in 2000 from the same university and worked in the UK at Newcastle Upon Tyne University from 2000 until 2003. In 2003 she relocated to Gebze Institute of Technology; she still teaches and conducts research there. For the past seven years at this institution, she has led a biosensor group on environmental monitoring.

Known For: Educator
Country: Morocco

About

Fatima Zahra El Fathi is a 40-year-old married woman and mother of three children. She studied literature in Casablanca and France before obtaining a postgraduate diploma in French Literature in 1996. This same year, Ms. El Fathi joined the Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education as a French teacher. She practiced this profession for over eight years at Casablanca’s Faculty of Literature. Today, she works as a French teacher at Casablanca’s College of Technology. She also coaches parents in their conduct with their children and their attitude toward the familial environment. She is a devoted mother and pedagogue. Ms. El Fathi has always been interested in charity work ; she volunteers at numerous associations. She worked alongside Maria Bichra in the second edition of the forum of the mother and the child, held on June 18-19, 2011 in Casablanca.

Known For: Chairwoman and Managing Director, D&A Dis Ticaret A.S.; President, Ankara Soroptimist Club; President, TSKF Project Commission
Country: Turkey

About

Ayse Jale Diker is currently the Chairwoman and Managing Director of D&A Dis Ticaret, a company that focuses on foreign trade and finance. Previously, she worked in the trade sector with ALMARA Trade and Construction Inc. and ERKAT Trading Inc. She is the President of the Ankara Soroptimist Club and a member of the Turkish Soroptimist Federation, an organization for professional women working to improve the lives of woman and girls in their communities. She holds a degree in Political Science from Ankara College and a degree in Political Science and Public Administration from Middle East Technical University.

Known For: Vice President, International Mevlâna Foundation
Country: Turkey

About

Esin Celebi is the 22nd generation granddaughter of Hz. Mevlana; she works to promote his teachings through a variety of organizations and universities. Although she was born and spent her childhood years in Syria, she and her family moved to Istanbul in 1958, where Ms. Çelibi attended Istanbul University. Following her studies, she worked with the Istanbul Ozel Isiklar High School Association and the Isiklar Association, where she served as the first female president. In 1997, she became the Vice President of the International Mevlana Foundation. In this position, she played a key role in influencing UNESCO’s decision to preserve the traditional Mevlana music and the Whirling Dervishes. In 2005, Selcuk University selected Esin Çelebi as a member of the Advisory Board established under the Mevlana Research and Membership Center, where she spoke at symposiums and conferences internationally and domestically. In April 2011, Star King University in Berkley, California gave Esin Çelebi an Honorary Doctorate due to her research and contribution to world peace.

Known For: Director, Publishing Agency
Country: Morocco

About

Maria Bichra is a 48-year-old married woman and mother of two children. She studied pharmacy in France; later, she studied French literature. Ms. Bichra obtained a DEA, the equivalent of a postgraduate diploma in French literature, in 1989. In 1990, she joined a large advertising agency.

Eventually, Ms. Bichra founded her own publishing house and wrote the first free health guide intended for future and young mothers in Morocco. In 2008, she was nominated for Morocco’s woman entrepreneur of the year. One year later, she founded the “Club des Mamans” (Mom’s Club). Using the club as a platform, she launched awareness campaigns on vaccination, nutrition, prevention of domestic accidents, the importance of monitoring pregnancies, and the benefits of breastfeeding. In June 2011, Ms. Bichra responded to the initiative, “Business Call to Action,” launched by the United Nations in the context of the Millennium Development Goals, related to the health of the mother and child.  On June 18-19, 2011, she organized a second edition of the exhibition in partnership with the Moroccan Ministry of Health and the UN, Morocco. After serving Moroccan mothers for over 10 years, Ms. Bichra now pursues coaching. Her sole purpose is supporting mothers in their noble mission.

Known For: Arabic-English interpreter/translator; Founder member, Texas Muslim Women's Foundation
Country: United States

About

Yasmina Ben Halim is a freelance Arabic-English Interpreter/Translator. She is the mother of three children, two girls and one boy. Currently, she lives in Texas and is one of the founding members of Texas Muslim Women’s Foundation. She has served as the organization’s secretary and luncheon and program chair; she is now the Education/Outreach Chair. Ms. Ben Halim is also very involved with Interfaith Dialogue. Her goal is to reach out to as many non-Muslims as possible, either through small group meetings or public speaking.  Ms. Ben Halim was born and raised in Libya. She received her BA in Education from Tripoli University. In 1979, she moved to the United States. She attended Oklahoma State University and received an MS in Educational Psychology.

Known For: Founder and Principal, DiversityWealth
Country: United States

About

Tasnim McCormick Benhalim is the founder and principal of DiversityWealth, a company that serves business, education and governmental sectors with teacher training, cultural competencies, collaborative team building, diversity and inclusion, presentation skills training, and a wide range of other offerings. Ms. McCormick Benhalim is an American Muslim who converted to Islam over 34 years ago. She currently resides in Dallas, Texas. She was born in the small farming community of Mahomet, Texas, and was raised in Austin, Texas.

Ms. McCormick Benhalim is passionate about Islam and inspired by the work of W.I.S.E. women. She has been married for 30 years to Omar Benhalim, a Libyan-American. They have 3 grown children: Rabea, Yaseen, and Basheer.

Known For: Project Manager and Board Member, TURKKAD-Istanbul; Founder and Chairwoman, Nefes Publishing House
Country: Turkey

About

Belgin Batum graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of Mumar Sinan University with a degree in Architecture. She worked as an architect until 2007. That year, she founded Nefes Publishing House Inc. Today, she represents the company as the Chairwoman. She is also a project manager of the TURKKAD branch; she has been a board member for the past eight years.

Known For: Sociologist; Political Scientist; Politician
Country: Turkey

About

Zeynep Banu Dalaman is a sociologist, political scientist, and politician.  Currently, she is the head of the Center for Turkish Studies and Women Studies at Aydin University in Istanbul.

Ms. Dalaman graduated from the Department of Sociology at Bogazici University in 1994. She received her M.A. degree in the department of International Relations Middle-East Politics at the Institute of Political Sciences in Paris (Sciences Po-Paris). She has worked with well-known Middle East specialist Prof. Dr. Gilles Kepel for her Master Thesis, “Propagation of Official Ideology in Turkey in the years of 80’s and 90’s: Neo-Kemalistes Movements.” This will soon be published in Turkish. Ms. Dalaman is currently pursuing a PhD in the Department of International Relations and Political Sciences at the Graduate School of Social Sciences at Fatih University. Her PhD thesis is on “Religious Women’s Behavior in Public Sphere: Turkish and American Case.”

Ms. Dalaman first ventured into politics while assisting Professor Dr. Nilüfer Göle. She ran as a Democratic Left Party (DSP) candidate in Beyoglu’s 2009 mayoral elections. From 2008 to 2010, she served as a political adviser to the mayor of Sisli, Mustafa Sarigül.

Ms. Dalaman speaks English and French fluently.

Known For: Ph.D. candidate, Marmara University
Country: Azerbaijan

About

Nigar Babayeva was born in Azerbaijan and attended high school at Yasamal Rayonu School No. 158. She graduated from the History Department at Baku State University. Later, she received her MA in Islamic History and Art at Marmara University in Turkey. Curently she is a Ph.D. candidate in Islamic History at Marmara University.

Known For: Member, Women’s Office of the Islamic Party, Ennahdha; English Instructor
Country: Tunisia

About

Ms. Amel Azzouz is a leading member of the Women’s Office of the Islamic Party, Ennahdha. She is also enrolled at the Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Sousse; she is fulfilling a doctoral dissertation entitled, Memory, Mourning, and Narration in Michael Ondaatje’s Fiction, under the supervision of Professor Nejet Mchala. Ms. Azzouz works as an English instructor at the High Institute of Languages, Gabés (oral language module, written language module, literature module, and critical theories). She has held this position since 2000.  Previously, Ms. Azzouz was an English teacher in Tunisian secondary schools. Ms. Azzouz has an aggregation degree, DEA, and BA in the English language and literature. As a student in Tunisia, she was a member of the Tunisian Islamic Movement and the Tunisian General Union of Students (UGTE).

Known For: Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Editor, Azizah Magazine
Country: United States

About

Zahra Ayubi is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her areas of research are Islam and gender, modern and classical Islamic ethics, Islam in American religious history, and feminist theory. She is currently working on her dissertation entitled, “Gendered Morality: Marriage and Social Relations in Medieval Islamic Ethics.” Ms. Ayubi also earned her MA in Religious Studies at UNC Chapel Hill preceded by her BA with highest honors in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies and Women’s Studies at Brandeis University. Currently she serves as an editor at Azizah Magazine, a quarterly American Muslim women’s publication, and is a member of the editorial board for the forthcoming anthology by Muslims for Progressive Values called, Progressive Muslim Identities: Personal Stories From the U.S. and Canada.

Known For: Head of Research and Islamic Jurisprudence, Office of Chief Justice of Shariah Court
Country: Palestine

About

Najah Amro is the Head of Research and Islamic Jurisprudence for the Office of Chief Justice of Shariah Court, a position she assumed in 2003. In 2005, as a cooperative effort between the Office of Chief Justice of Shariah Court and the Office of Fatwa and Legislation, Ms. Amro was appointed to the joint committee charged with studying the effects of the draft law. Previously, she worked in Hebron focusing on education and Islam. She holds a BA in Islamic Law from the University of Jordan in Amman and an MA from the University of Hebron.

Known For: Director, New Muslims Project
Country: United Kingdom

About

Mary Batool Al-Toma is the Director of the New Muslims Project - UK, a pioneering project related to the support, education, and continued development of the growing Muslim convert community in the UK. She is editor of “Meeting Point,” the New Muslims Project’s newsletter. Over the years, she has devised a number of education and training programs, which have been delivered in the UK and Europe. She is a media consultant on images of Muslims in the media, aspects of Islam and family life, and other related issues. Ms. Al-Toma was selected to represent the East Midlands on the National Muslim Woman’s Advisory Group (NMWAGS), established by the Department of Communities and Local Government in 2008. She has since sat on the Cambridge Theology Board and its symposiums relating to contextualizing Islam in Britain; she has also advised on the Government’s research carried out on the training of Imams in the UK by Gloucester University. Ms. Al-Toma is a founding member of the Forum against Islamophobia and Racism (FAIR) and the Muslim Woman’s Network UK (MWN-UK). She is a UK representative on the European think tank, European Muslim Network (EMN) in Brussels, and is a professional mediator working with the National Family Mediation Trust.

Ms. Al-Toma is married and has four children.

Known For: Member, Palestinian Legislative Council
Country: Palestine

About

Dr. Sahar F. Al-Qwasmi is currently a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). She was elected in January 2006 as a representative with the Fatah parliamentary block. As a member of the PLC, she participates in the Parliamentarians Against Corruption network and Parliamentarians Network for Conflict Prevention and Human Security. In addition to serving as an elected official, Dr. Al-Qwasmi is a member of several prominent Palestinian organizations, including the Palestinian High Council of Motherhood and Childhood and the Palestinian Women Union. Dr. Al-Qwasmi received her Bachelor of Medicine in the USSR in 1987. In 1993, she obtained a board specialty in Obstetrics and Gynecology from the King Hussein Medical Center in Jordan. She also holds a sub-specialty in In-Vitro Fertilization, received in 2003. As a medical professional, she is a member of the Jordanian OB/GYN Society and the Palestinian OB/GYN Society.

Known For: Director, Gender Study Center
Country: Uzbekistan

About

Dinara Alimdjanova is a trainer of Socio-Economic and Gender Analysis methodologies. For the last 14 years, Ms. Alimdjanova has worked on promoting gender with regard to the programming framework and strategies developed by the United Nations. More specifically, she has organized gender awareness trainings and developed specific methodological and analytical tools to promote gender equality at the government level in Muslim societies. She worked on the development and implementation of the National Action Plans on Improving Women’s Status in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Moldova, Maldives, Bangladesh, Vietnam, etc. She also provided advisory services to the National Council of Women’s Organizations, governments, and women’s movements.

Ms. Alimdjanova is the author of several publications and analytical papers, presented worldwide. Her areas of interest include: human development, women’s and gender issues, engendering macroeconomics, gender and trade, methodologies of socio-economic and gender analysis, gender and religion, etc.

Known For: Social and Human Rights Activist
Country: Saudi Arabia

About

Fawziah AlHani was born in 1961. She holds a Bachelor of Sociology from Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. She has attended several workshops on human rights. She has also participated in numerous national and international conferences, including the first forum of the Women’s Studies Centre at the University of Kuwait (2011), Women and the Culture of Peace in the Middle East (Cyprus, 2010), and the third annual meeting of the Arab Tolerance Network (Beirut, 2011). Ms. AlHani is the Baladi Campaign’s Founder and General Coordinator; the Campaign is currently working towards achieving women’s full participation in the 2011 municipal elections. Ms. AlHani is the Founder and Director of the Center Grass Al Khair for social development and women’s empowerment. Furthermore, she is a founding member of the National Communication Association; a founding member of the Junior’s Centre; a member of a hotline for family counseling; a member of the sickle cell disease patients’ friends; and a lecturer for social programs and family, educational, and human rights.

Known For: Fundraising Trainer
Country: United States

About

Mary Alex provides both domestic and international consulting services for program planning and development, interim executive leadership, capacity building, organizational development, resource generation (through the use of all types of development campaigns), media, and communication strategies. For NGOs, Ms. Alex conducts website strategy and enterprise development tactics by isolating new streams of funding.

Ms. Alex has many other areas of expertise, including working with women of “new wealth” around the formation of donor circles, launching and reigniting capital campaigns, boosting major gifts programs, and Board development. She focuses on helping nonprofits and NGOs fundraise from the Diaspora (grouped mainly from their country of origin) by isolating the communities where most reside. Then, she generates media and donors in those areas. She has worked with such organizations as Women’s Community Free Clinic, the YWCA of Sonoma County, and Miriam’s House of Lynchburg, Virginia. Prior to communications and development, Ms. Alex was involved in the Broadcast Journalism field. She was a co-producer for both KCBS All-News radio and the local NPR (KQED) in San Francisco.

Known For: Judge, Sharia Court of Ramallah
Country: Palestine

About

Kholoud Al-Faqih graduated with honors with a law degree from University of Jerusalem in 1999. She received a Master’s degree in private law from the same university in 2005. In 2001, she received her license to practice law and worked as a lawyer at the Women‘s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling, an organization dedicated to assisting battered women. From 2003 to 2008, she worked for the Defense of Battered Women where she gained extensive litigation experience. In 2008, she passed two competitive judicial exams in Ramallah, excelling in the Islamic law portions. One year later, she was appointed as a judge in the Sharia Court of Ramallah, making her the first female Sharia judge in Palestine. Sudan is the only other Muslim majority country that has appointed women as judges in Sharia Courts; this makes Judge Al-Faqih’s appointment truly historic.

Known For: Assistant Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law
Country: United States

About

Professor Aziza Ahmed is an assistant professor of law at Northeastern University. She teaches reproductive and sexual health and rights, international health law, and property. Her research areas include health and law (international and domestic), human rights, and sexual and reproductive health and rights. Professor Ahme’s scholarship is interdisciplinary, and often draws from both public health and law methodologies. Alongside her work on public health, Professor Ahmed writes about the changing global landscape of Muslim minorities after 9/11. Professor Ahmed holds a law degree from the University of California Berkeley, a Master’s of Science in population and international health from the Harvard School of Public Health, and a BA from Emory University. Prior to joining the Northeastern faculty, Professor Ahmed was a research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health Program on International Health and Human Rights. She also held a Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship with the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW). At ICW, Professor Ahmed engaged in numerous human rights projects pertaining to HIV and AIDS. Professor Ahmed has worked on human rights and social justice issues in South Africa, Namibia, the Caribbean, India and the United States. She has worked with and for various United Nations agencies, international and domestic non-governmental organizations.

Professor Ahmed is currently a member of the Technical Advisory Group on HIV and the Law convened by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). She has also served as an expert for the American Bar Association. Professor Ahmed continues to support the work of many civil society organizations domestically and internationally.

Known For: Founder, Zenab for Women in Development (ZWD)
Country: Sudan

About

Fatima Ahmed is the founder of Zenab for Women in Development (ZWD).  Launched in 2000, ZWD works to promote education for girls and children with special needs and raise awareness of women’s health issues concerning female genital cutting (FGM), HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. Additionally, ZWD aims to foster peace and democracy in Sudan and educate the international community on the region’s humanitarian needs.

Ms. Ahmed’s began assuming leadership roles at the University of Gezira in Wad Madani, Sudan; she actively fought for her fellow female students’ rights. She later obtained her Master’s degree in a joint program with the University of Gezira and the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Aleppo, Syria.

In addition to her work with ZWD, Ms. Ahmed has worked in a consultative position with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSO) of the United Nations since 2005. She is also on the Board of Trustees of African Women Development and Communication, one of the most active regional African women’s organizations.  Ms. Ahmed has represented ZWD at many international conferences and was invited to address the first Round Table on Gender Equality and Poverty Alleviation during the Millennium Development Goals High Level Meeting. She has received several awards for her contributions to women’s education and advancement in Sudan, including the 2005 Ambassador of Peace Award.

Known For: Founder and Manager, Apna Haq Program
Country: United Kingdom

About

Zlakha Ahmed is the founder and manager of the UK-based Apna Haq organization, which establishes support services for Muslim and black women facing domestic abuse issues. For the past twenty years, she has worked with black, Asian, and Muslim groups in a variety of community settings in the South Yorkshire region of the UK.

Part of Apna Haq’s mission involves educating the local community on women’s rights in Islam, such as the right to divorce (khulla) and the right to live a life free of violence. Ms. Ahmed has a wealth of expertise on issues pertaining to violence against women and has gained credibility for her and Apna Haq’s work on the local, regional, and national levels.

Ms. Ahmed has delivered trainings on violence against women to several agencies in Rotherham, and has also conducted domestic violence trainings for the South Yorkshire Magistrates for the past six years. She is regularly invited to speak at conferences and campaigns that raise awareness about violence against women in the Asian and Muslim communities.

Known For: Communications Specialist
Country: Saudi Arabia

About

Conventional wisdom claims that for each of us there is only one true path in life.  What about those who have a variety of interests, a dynamic curiosity about the world, and an ever-renewing wellspring of passions and talents? Author, Margaret Lobenstine calls these people “Renaissance souls.” Akanke Abdul-Khaaliq is a Renaissance soul. She is a communication specialist who enjoys working in a variety of mediums including television, video, radio, graphic design, and web development. She has produced, co-produced, and hosted a variety of progressive community-based television and radio programs since 1991, including The Africentric Agenda, Creating Empowerment, Faith & Good Works, Interviews, and Conversations. She is currently spearheading a documentary and oral history project about reverts to Islam, titled Miracle in America.

Additionally, Ms. Abdul-Khaaliq has worked as a radio announcer and voiceover artist. Her other areas of interest include media advocacy and visual anthropology, the use of film as a medium to study people and culture. She envisions traveling throughout Africa and the Middle East to produce documentaries on culture and religion. She has a Bachelors degree in Communication from Georgia State University where she studied film, television, and cultural anthropology. Visit her website at www.akankecreative.com.

Known For: One of the closest companions of the Prophet and earliest converts to Islam
Country: Saudi Arabia

About

Umm Aiman Barakah’s story begins as a young Abyssinian slave girl in Makkah with unknown parents and ancestry. Fortunately, she was taken in by the kind and generous Abdullah and his wife Aminah, the mother and father of the Prophet Muhammad. Both were very fond of Barakah and treated her well as their servant.

While Abdullah was enroute to Syria in a trading caravan, Barakah attended to Aminah, who was pregnant at the time. They heard the news of Abdullah’s death shortly before the birth of the Prophet. Years later, while on a trip to Yathrib to visit Abdullah’s grave, Aminah died from a fever, leaving Muhammad in Barakah’s care. 

Both Barakah and the Prophet’s uncle Abu Talib looked after him until he married his first wife Khadijah. Barakah went on to stay with the couple. The Prophet was reported to have called her mother and considered her a part of his family.

At the Prophet and Khadjia’s encouragement, Both the Prophet and his wife encouraged Barakah to marry a man named Ubayd ibn Zayd, with whom she had a son, Aiman. Ubayd died soon after, however, and Barakah returned to the prophet’s household.

Barakah was among the first people to embrace Islam, and, along with other early Muslims, underwent significant persecution from the Quraysh tribe. After her conversion, Barakah married the Prophet’s former slave—who he later freed—Zayd ibn al-Harithah, with whom she had a son, Usamah. Barakah accompanied the Prophet when he moved to Mecca and on his expeditions to the Khayabar and Hunayn regions.

Barakah was martyred during caliphate Uthman’s reign. 

Known For: Wife of the Prophet Muhammad, known as "Mother of the Poor"
Dates: 595-626 CE
Country: Saudi Arabia

About

Zaynab bint Khuzayma was born into a noble family. She was the widow of ‘Ubaida, who was martyred at the historic Battle of Badr.

Zaynab married the Prophet Muhammad around the year 626 CE. For her kindness and generosity to orphans and the needy, she was known as “Umm al-Masakin” or “Mother of the Poor.” She passed away just two years after their marriage at the age 31, one of the two wives—along with Khadjia—who died before the Prophet.