Nawal Al Saadawi

Nawal Al Saadawi was born in October 27, 1931 in the small village of Kafr Tahla. She graduated as a medical doctor in 1955 from Cairo University; Nawal is an Egyptian Muslim feminist writer, activist, physician and psychiatrist. She has written many books on the subject of women in islam but she pays more attention to the practice of female genital mutilation in her society (Cairo).

She became the director Of Public health, she started observing women´s physical and psychological problems in her village, she realized that those problems were produced by her society and she also realized the difficulties and inequality confronted by rural women.

Saadawi began writing early in her career, her writings shorts stories (I learned Love, 1957) , Novels (Memoirs of a Woman Doctor,1958) and personal memoir (Memoir from the Women's Prison, 1986).She also published anthologies who has been translated into over 20 languages. One of the  most important works was  ¨ Women and Sex¨, about aggressions to women´s body and The Hidden Face of Eve, covered a multitude of matters in relation with Arabic women as the aggression against feminine children and the feminine genital mutilation, the prostitution, sexual relations, marriage and divorce and the Islamic fundamentalism.

 Nawal el Saadawi has held positions of Author for the Supreme Council for Arts and Social Sciences in Cairo; Director General of the Health Education Department and other important positions.

Lubna Of Cordoba

Lubna of Cordoba was an Arab-Andalusian intellectual of the second half of the tenth century. It is said that she was a servant of the Caliph Al-Hakkam II, but most manuscripts say that she was her secretary.

No one knows anything about her privatelife. We don’t know if she was married or if she had any children.

She also worked as a poet,librarian and translator. She had a perfect calligraphy so she was forced to write and translate many manuscripts for the Caliph because he collected many of them to attract wise men to his court.

Her library had more than 100000 books. Lubna was the promotor of the creation of the famous library « The Medina Azahara ». And she had the help of Hasday Ibn Shaprut.

Unfortunately, 48 years later, Lubna and the other women burnt all the books and manuscripts of the library because they were feirful their ideas were diffused.  There was another secretary of Al-Hakam II called Fatima. In those times, women didn’t know anything, and Lubna had much experience in poetry, geometry, Arabic grammar … and this is why she was one of the most important arab - muslim women.

Ines Hacini

                                      

Tahmineh Milani

Tahmineh Milāni is a film director, screenwriter and producer women, born in Tabriz, Iran. She's married with the Iranian actor Mohammad Nikbin.

She graduated in architecture, in the University of Science and Technology in Tehran in the 1986.

Thirteen years later she started working for the media as a script girl and an assistant director in a screen workshop. Then, she started her career as movie director.

She's known for including women's rights and the 1979 Iranian Revolution in her films. The most shocking Milani's film is "What did you do again" that talks about a young girl with the power to change her family just talking to herself. Iranian censors forced her to replace the girl for a boy and she was accused of going against the current of the system. She reflected the criticisms saying that men were scared of seeing their own wives rising up against the system because of her films.

However, Milani's most famous film is "Two Women" and "Unwanted Woman" where she adopted a more melodramatic style and focused more on grander issues.

She won many awards as the best film award at Los Angeles Film Festival for "Unwanted woman".

by MARTA GUITART

NAWAL EL MOUTAWAKEL

Nawal El Moutawakel was born on the 15th April 1962 in Casablanca. She is a Moroccan hurdler that has won many prizes like the inaugural women's 400m hurdles event at the 1984 Summer Olypics, and this made her the first female Muslim born on the continent of Africa to become an Olympic champion.
El Moutawakel studied at Iowa State University. Her victory was a surprise for everyone, even though she had been a quite accomplished runner. Her medal meant the breakthrough for sporting women in Morocco and other Muslim countries. In 1995, El Moutawakel became a council member of the Internacional Association of Athletics Federations, and in 1998 she bacame a menmber of the International Olympic Committee.
We are all born the same and that means that we are all born with the same opportunities and rights, no matter wich religion we follow or which country we're from.
I think that Nawal El Moutawakel is one of the few women that could show the world that Muslim and/or Arab women are also capable to do many things, just like women that have other origins. Arab women can play sports, be  doctors, be engineers, be artists... and of course, they can also be an example to follow.

Amina Wadud, Islamic feminist, Fatima H

Amina Wadud was born on 25th September 1952 in Bethesda, Maryland. She is an American scholar of islam with a progressive focus on Qur’an understanding and interpretation. In 2007, Amina received the Danish Democracy prize. In 1972 Amina entered to islam after she pronounced the shahadah and in 1974 she changed her name from Mary Teasley to Amina Wadud.

Wadud worked as an assistant professor in Quranic studies at the international Islamic University of Malaysia and until 2008 she was a professor of religion and philosophy at Virginia Comonwealth University, USA.

Amina has written two books. The first one published in 1999 titled “Qur’an and woman” which is a rereading of the sacred from a woman’s perspective. The last book was published in 2006 “Inside the Gender” speaks about the experience of Amina as a muslim, wife, mother, sister, scholar, and activist.

          

MARIAM AL MANSURI

MARIAM AL MANSURI 

Mariam al mansuri was born in 1979, in Abu Dhabi. She is the first female fighter pilot of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the first woman to join the United Arab Emirates Air Force (UAEAF) academy.

Her family is related to Sultan bin Said al Mansouri, an engineer and politician in the UAE. She earned an undergraduate degree in English literature. She said that she aspired to become a pilot since high school, but she had to wait until women were permitted.

Al Otaiba, ambassador of the UAE, considered al Mansouri as a role model for women in Islamic and Arab states. He said: " I think it's important for us moderate arabs, moderate muslims to step up and say: " This is a threat against us ".

   

By Zineb El Haddad

Relevant arab-muslim women

Asma Lamrabet:

Asma Lamrabet was born in 1960 in Rabat, Morocco. She was married and has a boy. She is a sociologist, and worked as a voluntary doctor in medicine in Europe and America, and at the moment, she is working in Morocco.

Asma is Muslim and she has written her perspective about women in Qur´an. She is considered a very important woman because she defends women´s rights. She wrote books about this topic and the problems that a Muslim woman has nowadays, the popular books are Qur´an and women Aïcha, Epouse du Prophète ou l’Islam au feminine and Qur´ans and Woman. Asma Lamrabet explains that Muslim women must fight for their rights.

In one interview Asma said "A veil is not obligatory, it´s just a complement that a woman can dress if she wants". Now she is the best representative for Muslim women.