Imane Karich is the General Secretary of the CEREI (Cercle d’Etudes et de Recherches en Economie Islamique), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and developing Islamic Finance in Belgium. She is also collaborating on two other projects: French-speaking magazine respecting Islamic values and Belgian Muslim Professionals Organization (ABPM: Association Belge des Professionnels Musulmans). She has also published two books on Islamic Finance : Le Système Financier Islamique, de la Religion è la Banque, Editions Larcier, 2002, Finances & Islam, Editions Le Savoir, 2004.
Her new publications will be released in 2007 and are titled: Guide des Affaires en Islam; Guide de l’Investissement en Islam; Guide de l’Assurance en Islam. To be issued in 2007. She also published articles on Islamic Finance and Economy in the main French-speaking Belgian economic newspapers “l’Echo”, in the main banking revue, the “Revue Bancaire et Financière” and in the French newspaper “Le Monde”. She also appeared on Belgian and French radios (Vivacité, Radio 21, Europe 1).
Born in Brussels, Belgium, she graduated in Business Administration from the HEC of Brussels. She acquired Certified Financial Analyst and Financial Risk Manager certification. She is currently working as Internal Auditor on Financial Markets and Risk Management departments in the ING Bank.
Masouda Jalal born January 5, 1962 was the only woman candidate in the Afghan presidential election of 2004. She is from Kabul and has a background as a paediatrician, teacher at Kabul University, and a UN World Food Programme worker. Born in Gul Bahar in Kapisa Province, one of seven children, Jalal moved to Kabul to attend high school. She later attended Kabul University, where she was a member of the faculty until 1996, when the Taliban government had her removed. Jalal, a psychiatrist and pediatrician, also worked at several Kabul hospitals and, after her removal from the university faculty, as a United Nations employee within the World Food Programme.
Her husband is a law instructor at Kabul University; they have three children. Although she was uninvolved in politics during the Taliban regine, Jalal emerged after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 as a leading voice for the role of women in Afghan society. A representative of her Kabul neighborhood to the 2002 loya jirga, her name was placed into consideration to lead Afghanistan as interim president, but she placed a distant second to Hamid Karzai, with support from only 171 of the 1575 delegates. Having turned down a position as vice-president within Karzai’s administration, she has since vocally criticized the Karzai government for not significant advancing the social position of women. As an outsider in Afghanistan’s power structure, Jalal stressed her independence from the warlords and past oppressive regimes.
Although many of the candidates for the Afghan presidency and called for a boycott of the election following reports of voting irregularities at some polling places, Jalal was one of the few candidates who did not join the protest. An exit poll taken during the October 2004 election showed Jalal taking about seven percent of the vote among Afghan women. Jalal received 1.1 percent of the vote in the 2004 election, placing 6th among 17 male candidates. She is currently a member of Karzai Administration for 2004 to 2009, serving at the Women’s Affairs minister in the cabinet. “Still Fighting,” a feature documentary about her courageous campaign for President, is being produced by New View Films in Washington, DC.
Raju Hijau, whose name translates to the “Green Queen,” was queen of the Malayan kingdom-sultanate of Patani. She succeeded her brother as ruler, following his tumultuous 20 year reign, which was ended by his murder.
Her reign marked an entry into a golden age when Patani was in the hands of four successive queens.The first of three sisters who ruled the kingdom, she was the daughter of Sultan Manzur Shah. The sisters who followed the Green Queen were known by the similarly colorful monikers of the Blue Queen and the Violet Queen. The fourth queen was known was the Yellow Queen. She was the ruler encountered by the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Company visited southern Thailand.
In 1604, Jacob van Neck related that the sultanate under Raju was prosperous and inclined to perceive trade with the Westerners positively. Indeed, Raju was open to the diversity provided by the traders, not only those from Europe, but Chinese merchants as well, many of whom were absorbed into the elite.
Born Hira Kunwar as a Rajput princess, she married the Emperor Akbar in 1562 and thenceforth became known by the name Mariam uz-Zamani or “Mary of the Age.” She was an exceptionally politically active member of the throne, until the rise of the Empress Nur Jahan, the wife of her son Jahangir.
She was one of the few women in the Mughal court who had the authority to issue official documents (called farman) which was usually a power exclusive to the emperor.
She also partook in construction and shipping across the empire. Her wealth and influence were utilized to create gardens, wells, and mosques. Mariam owned and oversaw the ships that carried pilgrims to and from Mecca. IN 1613, her ship, the Rahimi, carrying passaengers and cargo, was seized by the Portugese pirate. When they refused to return the ship, her son, Jahangir, attacked the Portugeuese town of Daman. This sort of conflict would come to characterize the interactions between the Westernrs with their intention to colonize and the Mughal and other Indian powers.
When Mariam died in 1622, she was buried in Mariam’s Tomb in Sikandra. The Mosque of Mariam Zamani Begum, located in the Walled City of Lahore, was named after her.
Born to a Persian Shia family, Hamida Banu Begum became a junior wife of Emperor Humayun at the age of 14, and was the mother of the most famous emperor of the Mughal dynasty, Emperor Akbar.
When Humayun himself was 33, he fell in love with her beauty. Although she had initially contested the match, she was convinced of his sincerity. During the 14 year course of their marriage she became his close companion and support.
While Humayun was warring for the throne, his was a mobile court, and Hamida followed him on his tough travels across rough terrain, even leaving her son, Akbar, behind to continue to support her husband.
Humayun died in 1555 after finally returning to Delhi and Hamida’s son Akbar became emperor, and here, Hamida showed her political acumen becoming an active emperor mother. When Akbar’s prime minister, Bairam Khan, began trying to increase his control, Hamida kept Akbar abreast of every turn in the situation to prevent the isolation the Bairam was trying to place Akbar in. Against the wishes of Bairam, Hamida orchestrated a political alliance to the granddaughter of a trusted emir of Humayun and with a group of like-minded emirs, she forged a political alliance.
Once Akbar established his dominance, Hamida retained her preeminent position. She also left an architectural legacy with the Tomb of Humayun, which she commissioned in 1562.
A former slave whose descent is disputed as being Greek or Venetian, Emetullah Rabia Gülnûş Sultan was the the wife of Mehmet IV and acted as valide sultan twice for her sons Mustafa II and Ahmed III.
In the harem of the Topkapi Palace she received an exceptionally Turkish and Muslim education. She soon came to the attention of the Sultan and her future husband, Mehmet IV and became his favorite harem girl, accompanying him on hunting expeditions to the Balkans. She even gave birth to the second of their two sons on a hunting expedition.
In 1695, following the deaths of three sultans (Mehmet IV, Suleiman II, and Ahmed II), Emetullah’s first son, Mustafa II was confirmed as sultan. She was in a position of no little political power and prestige, and when Mustafa II abdicated, it was she who confirmed the succession of her second son, Ahmed III.
In 1711, she counseled Ahmed to go to war against Russia and Peter the Great’s newly-modernizing country following the urging of the brilliant young general and king Charles XII of Sweden. Charles XII sent his emissaries directly to Emetullah to convince her after he had heard rumors of her influence over Ahmed and, intrigued, even corresponded with her himself. However, despite Charles’ tactical genius, Sweden lost to Russia.
Following 20 years of influence, she died before the beginning of a period of flourishing peace known as the Tulip Era, which began under her son.
Daughter of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, Zebunnisa was esteemed by her father for her advice and later became a poet in the Sufi tradition.
A daughter of the Mughals, she was afforded an excellent education in Persian, Arabic, mathematics and astronomy supervised by the best tutors of the Empire. Her love of education and poetry translated into a bevy of scholars and poets welcomed at her own courts in Delhi and Lahore. She began writing some of her own poetry, established a library, and personally oversaw the translation of classical Arabic texts into Persian.
For some time, Zebunnisa was also influential over her father’s decisions. He would inquire after her opinion concerning palace appointments and upon occasion would take her counsel even when he disagreed.
Yet, the relationship soured, beginniing in 1681, when Zebunissa’s younger brother Akbar rebelled against Aurangzeb and set himself up as emperor. The rebellion was put down in a month and Akbar fled the country, but Zebunissa remained in contact with him. Aurangzeb discovered letters from her that implicated her complicity, and while Aurangzeb was able to forgive Akbar, his hurt at Zebunissa’s betrayal ran deeper.
Thus, she was imprisoned in a fortress in Delhi, where she wrote poetry. Her poetry, written under the nom de plume “Makhfi” or the hidden one, was circulated among her contemporaries. Fifty years following her demise, 400 of her poems were collected and published in Persian as the Diwan-i-Makhfi. These poems discuss the love of God and expound on Sufi ideals.
Turhan Hatice was a favorite concubine of the Sultan Ibrahim I who became the mother of his heir, Mehmed IV. During the reign of her young son, Turhan had a prominent role and was known as a patroness of building.
Most likely given to Ibrahim by his mother Kösem Sultan as a concubine, she soon became a favorite of Ibrahim, delivering to him Mehmed, his son and heir. However, Ibrahim was regarded as mentally unstable and in the eighth year of his reign, he was deposed and strangled, leaving Mehmed as sultan. Kösem Sultan, his grandmother, acted as Mehmed’s regent and while the title of valide sultan or queen mother should have gone to Turhan, Kösem usurped that position as well.
However, Kösem had incorrectly gauged Turhan’s ambition and a struggle for ascendancy ensued between the two women, with Turhan supported by the head eunuch and vizier and Kösem by the Janissaries. While there is no direct evidence to implicate Turhan in the murder of Kösem, she was murdered and Turhan became valide sultan and regent.
Inexperienced, Turhan began to rely heavily in political matters on the vizier and instead focused her energies on royal patronage and expansive building projects. Her most impressive accomplishment was the Yeni Valide Mosque, which was the first imperial mosque built by a woman. Its complex included a mosque, school, public fountains, market, and a tomb. She also constructed a mosque to Islamize an important area of Istanbul and built two fortresses to defend the Dardanelles.
