Archives: Muslim Women

Muslim Women Description

Yasemin Karakasoglu

Yasemin Karakasoglu was born in Wilhelmshaven-Germany. Mrs. Karakasoglu completed her academic education at the University of Hamburg and the Hacettepe University of Ankara/Turkey AWARDS. Prof. Dr. Yasemin Karakasoglu Holds the chair for Intercultural Education at the Department for Education at the University of Bremen/Germany. She has published numerous articles and books on the living situation, religious orientations and integration problems of female Muslims with a migration background in Germany, especially those from Turkish origin. For instance: “Approaches to Religion and Education of female turco-muslim students in teacher training at German universities”, IKO-Verlag, Frankfurt am M. 2000, and – together with Ursula Boos-Nünning – “Living multiple worlds. A study on the living conditions of girls and young women with a migrant family background”, Waxmann, Münster 2005.

Prof. Karakasoglu serves as a Supervisor to the federal government in questions of Islam in Germany, Muslim Women and Youth with a migrant family background and is very often quoted in newspapers and journals as an expert on these issues. Born in the city of Wilhelmshaven as the daughter of the Turkish Sunni Izzet Karakasoglu and the German Protestant Karin Karakasoglu she completed her academic education first at the University of Hamburg in Turcology and later as a PHD in Educational Sciences at the University of Essen.

Since October 2004 she is a Professor for Intercultural Education. She won in the year 2000 The Augsburg Science Award for Intercultural Studies with her PHD-Thesis on Female Muslim Students and their Understanding of Religion and Education.

Riem Spielhaus

Riem Spielhaus is member of the board of the Muslim Academy in Germany, which is aiming at supporting Muslims to participate in the public and political discourse on German and European society. Among numerous other projects she has initiated regularly meetings between women’s representatives of the Islamic umbrella organizations and Muslim women’s initiatives in Germany with the Federal Ministry of Women.

In her work as an academic she has published articles on the institutionalization of Islam in Germany and on the shift in the public discourse from a focus on immigrants to one on Muslims. She has just fished a survey on the 80 mosques and prayer rooms in the German capital Berlin. The German government recently invited her to join a group of advisors on the question how to improve the situation of female immigrants in Germany. Born in East-Berlin, she graduated in Islamic studies in 2001 and after working for the federal commissioner for Integration, Migration and Refugees she is teaching at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

In 2005 Riem Spielhaus carried out a research on Dialogue with Islam in South Asia.

Fatiha Kaoues

The subject of Fatiha’s research is centered on the Muslim world and evangelical missionary activity. Deploying all over the world their missionary activity, the Pentecostal churches aim at spreading the “Gospel” ie the “Good News” among people; if these organizations obtain such a big success in Africa and South America, their missionary activity in the Muslim world face many obstacles.

Pentecostalism emphasizes the gift of the Holy Spirit, healing, all very “emotional” dimensions. In societies where the degree of conflict in interpersonal relations is very high, exacerbated by very precarious conditions of life and the impoverishment of a large part of middle classes, this warm, emotional aspect which gives the feeling of a community of heart, can win people over.

Before beginning a PhD in political sociology with a specialization in religion, she was a journalist with expertise in religious issues and geopolitics. She was an activist among the main French anti-racism organization, called MRAP (Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Among Peoples). She is the president of the local committee of the 19th Arrondissement. In this role, she organizes conferences around racial discrimination issues. The latest conferences she facilitated include one in Blois, France in collaboration with the Jewish Historian Esther Benbassa which dealt with communitarism and challenges religious minorities face in the Western World (in the context of the Rendez vous de l’Histoire (“meetings with History”)) – an annual series of conferences in Blois attended by researchers, journalists, sociologists and state officials, a series of conferences intended to foster harmonious dialogue between religions at the Institute of the Arab World and a debate after the movie screening of Yamina Benguigui ” Le plafond de verre / les defricheurs” which focused on racial discrimination in the workplace. She led this debate with the participation of Labor Inspectors and Union Leaders who addressed the racial discrimination that minorities face.

Her research topic for her master focused on religious minorities and the strategies they develop to address the dominant society, from inward-looking to full acceptance of dominant values. She inspired herself from the Chicago’s Sociology. She also participated in extensive research conducted in Europe about Muslims in the European Union and the condition of their citizenship.

All her former experiences -in professional activities and, in a similar vein, as far as the fraternities in which she has been active are concerned- were linked to this question: the mean to promote peacefulness and harmonious dialogue between communities, and this study will help her to deepen her reflexion regarding this issue.

Born in Vierzon, France and educated in France, she acquired a graduate degree in sociology in Ehess (Ecole des Hautes études en sciences sociales). She is finishing a PhD in Ehess as well as in Ephe-La Sorbonne University in Paris.

Sherin Khankan

Sherin Khankan holds an MA in Sociology of Religion and Philosophy from the University of Copenhagen. She was born in Denmark, is a Lecturer, teacher, activist, columnist, and public speaker. She has specialized in contemporary Islamic activism in Europe and the Middle East. Founder and Chairwoman of Critical Muslims, founded in 2001 – the first and only organization in Denmark that has promoted female Muslim leadership – she is also the Founder and leader of Face to Face, a counseling service for Muslim women in Denmark.

Her book “Islam and reconciliation- a public matter”, was published in October 2006 and was later translated into English. Sherin Khankan has contributed to several anthologies, e.g., Syrernes Damaskus (The Syrians’ Damascus), De Røde Sko- Feminisme Nu (The Red Shoes- Feminism Now), and Ord på Samvittigheden (Conscience and Words).

She is member of a think tank called Co-existence of Civilizations, created in the aftermath of the cartoon crisis, and the co-founder of Mesopotamia, a consultancy firm that aids businesses in strengthening their communication with Muslims. She has appeared in media for the last five years on topics on Islam, and is former candidate for the Parliament, for the Party Radical Left.

She opened the first female-led mosque in Scandinavia in the city of Copenhagen called Mariam mosque where she is an Imam.

Mona Kanwal Sheikh

Mona Kanwal Sheikh has a Master Degree in Political Science, and is specialized in radical Islam. She is currently board member of the Documentation and Advisory Centre on Racial Discrimination (DRC) and vice chair of the INGO European Network Against Racism (ENAR). She has previously been board member of a number of organizations working for minority rights such as the Association of Ethnic Minorities (POEM) and the Integration Council of Copenhagen Municipality.

In 2001 she was nominated to the Danish Parliament and elected board member of the central council of the Danish Social-Liberal Party (DRV). She is an experienced debater, freelance writer/commentator and frequently gives lectures on issues related to Danish integration politics, “European Islam,” and religion and secularism at different educational institutions and religious forums all over Denmark. Mona has edited and contributed to a number of anthologies and produced several articles – especially on questions relating to Islam in European context – published in a diversity of pamphlets, journals and Danish newspapers.

During her many years’ work in different NGO’s, Mona has initiated and organized a number of dialogue conferences and welfare activities On the basis of her activities she is frequently quoted in Danish media.

Mona Sheikh is born in Denmark and is of Pakistani origin.

Itrath Syed

Itrath Syed has recently completed a Masters degree in Women’s Studies at the Centre for Research in Women’s Studies and Gender Relations at the University of British Columbia. Her MA work explored the gendered and racialized construction of the Muslim community in the media discourse surrounding the Islamic Arbitration or “Shariah” debate in Ontario. In 1995, she completed her B.A. from Simon Fraser University with a major in Middle East History and minors in Political Science and Women’s Studies.

During the years between her undergraduate and graduate degrees, Itrath worked in the field of anti-violence. She initially started out at a Rape Crisis Centre and then worked at Transition Houses for battered women and their children. Itrath is a social justice activist involved with the local anti-war movement, in anti-occupation solidarity work and in resisting the erosion of civil rights and the racial profiling of the Muslim, Arab and South Asian communities in Canada.

In the 2004 federal election, Itrath ran as a candidate for the New Democratic Party in her home riding of Delta-Richmond East, British Columbia. Itrath has been interviewed for several documentaries and is a frequent presenter on a wide array of political and social issues. Itrath is a Muslim and her social justice activism comes from her belief that working towards a more just and equitable society is an integral part of living a life in engagement with the Divine.

Atiya Fatima Khan

Atiya Fatima Khan is a well-known and respected media personality in Pakistan. She has achieved a high level of acclaim and success, undertaking a leadership and pioneering role in the fields of modeling, acting, and presenting. Simultaneously, she produces, directs, researches & writes for the advertising and television industry in Pakistan. This background has merged with interest, knowledge, active participation/ patronage of Sufism to produce some success in promoting Sufism and moderate Islam through a wide variety of channels.

Atiya Fatima Khan is now the Manager Programming of HUM TV Pakistan. Behind the camera, she started her freelance film direction and production career producing and directing TV commercials and commercial documentaries for all the top advertising agencies in Pakistan. She then moved into directing TV programs and sponsored music video. Atiya Fatima Khan played a role as a leader and pioneer, as well one of the youngest players in the early days of TV & advertising in Pakistan.

As such, she managed to break a lot of new ground and establish a string of notable achievements. She won an award for the best TV commercial sponsored music video in 1993, hosted, produced, directed, scripted and researched, for ‘Rafhan Jelly’ – a first ever for a freelance producer – in 1992, directed the first ever highly successful, revolutionary, moderate religious-oriented talk show called ‘Zikr’, shown daily during the month of Ramadan, for new Pakistani TV Channel HUM TV (Sep.-Nov. 2005). In front of the camera, Atiya Fatima Khan hosted a very popular TV Talk show on religion “ZIKR” 2006. This 30-minute program took the form of free & frank discussion on Islam by well respected and knowledgeable religious, Sufi speakers invited to tackle a wide array of challenging topics.

Aisha Lee Shaheed

Aisha Lee Shaheed is a freelance writer-researcher with a background in history, emphasizing gender, (post)colonialism and the media. Currently based in Montréal, she is a networker for the transnational feminist solidarity network, Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML), which endeavors to create links amongst women and women’s groups within Muslim countries and communities; to strengthen local and global struggles for social justice; and to increase women’s knowledge about both their common and diverse situations in various contexts.

Her writing ventures from historical analysis to journalism, academic writing to spoken-word poetry, and beyond. As a person of many cultural and national backgrounds – and of many interests – she enjoys dividing her time between Canada, Pakistan and England, and is especially intrigued by representations of women that cut across various markers of identity. Her forthcoming publications include chapters on the politics of clothing in Muslim contexts and storytelling as feminist historiography.

She is currently working on an analytical overview of the status of women and women’s activism in Saudi Arabia.