Sheikha Mozah of Qatar

Sheikha Mozah of Qatar has joined a small group of wives of Arab leaders who use their public profiles to improve the lives of women across the region. For the past 10 years she has been working to improve education and literacy in the Middle East through a series of charities and foundations funded by the oil and natural gas wealth of the state that her husband, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, controls with near absolute authority.

Arab women who fight to end the practice of child marriages, or encourage the education of girls, or for women’s right to vote are often accused of importing a western feminism that is at odds with the values of conservative Muslim societies. Over the years, particularly in the past decade, the Arab world has become increasingly religious. Partially as a result, there are fewer women in public life. If prominent Arab women are rare, then prominent Gulf Arab women are rarer still.

In a sense, Her Highness Sheikha Mozah embodies the spirit of the new direction in which women’s activism is heading in the Muslim world. Some call it Islamic feminism: a return to the Quran to revive the egalitarian ideals of the sacred texts.

That is why I admire this woman!!

Read full article (quite interesting!!) at “The National”