Muslim Women: Past and Present

Recommend a Muslim Woman

Throughout the ages, from the earliest days of Islam to contemporary times today, Muslim women have been and continue to be active leaders in their communities and countries across the world. This directory is a growing archive of leading Muslim women scholars, activists, writers, politicians, artists, religious and spiritual leaders, civil society leaders and more. Please contribute to this archive by suggesting Muslim women to be featured through our recommendation form.

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Zeynep Fadillioglu

“We wanted to go with the flow of Islam, while at the same time creating something contemporary.”

Known For: First woman in Turkey to design and build a mosque
Country: Turkey

About

Zeynep Fadillioglu is one member of a team of interior designers and architects overseeing the construction of the Sakirin Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. An accomplished and elegant interior designer of restaurants and hotels, Fadillioglu won a commission to redesign the mosque, her first religious structure.

Fadillioglu’s design blends modern techniques and materials into traditional religious art from the Ottoman era. She incorporates a large metal sphere over the entrance, a fountain, and a modern glass chandelier from China made from thousands of individually crafted shards of glass. The mosque was commissioned by a wealthy Arab Turkish family, as a memorial to their mother.

Fadillioglu assigned the second-floor balcony as the area where the women will pray. She has made this balcony as large and as beautiful as the men’s part of the mosque.

Sources

Jones, Dorian: Istanbul skyline gets a woman’s touch

Watson, Ivan: In Turkey, Mosque Gets a Woman’s Touch

More Information

Photographs of the mosque

Fadillioglu’s official website

بالعربية

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This search feature will enable you to find Muslim women alphabetically by their first names. Many Muslim names have alternative spellings once rendered into English so if you cannot find the name you are looking for, please try the general search tab where you can enter keywords of your choice.
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This search feature will enable you to find Muslim women chronologically by the Common Era century. We are actively building the archive of Muslim women leaders from the past, as well as from today, and we would welcome your recommendations of women to feature. Please complete our “Recommend Muslim Women” form and check the site again in the near future as we actively expand this section of the portal with your suggestions.
This search feature will enable you to find Muslim women by their Country. We are actively building the archive of Muslim women leaders from the past, as well as from today, and we would welcome your recommendations of women to feature. Please complete our “Recommend Muslim Women” form and check the site again in the near future as we actively expand this section of the portal with your suggestions.
This search feature will enable you to find Muslim women leaders by entering the keyword(s) of your choice. If you cannot find a particular woman that you are looking for, please let us know by completing our “Recommend Muslim Women” form and check the site again in the near future as we actively expand this section of the portal with your suggestions.