Islamic Herstory

For Islamic History Month, CCMW presents Islamic Herstory; recognizing the amazing achievements of Muslim women in the past and present who've made a mark in history!

Khadīja bint Khuwaylid

Khadijah (RA) is known for many things, principle among them is her leadership, tenacity and giving spirit.

It was Khadijah who proposed marriage to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), then approximately 15 years her junior. She was a successful businesswoman who hired Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to assist her with trade. Khadijah was said to be able to “trade dust for gold”.

Khadijah was the first person to accept Islam after the Prophet (PBUH) received his first revelation from Jibril. Through constant persecution, Khadijah was a tireless supporter of the Prophet (PBUH) and the earliest Muslims. She embodied the autonomy inherently granted to women in Islam and is a true representation of a Muslim woman leader.

Lila Fahlman

As the first woman in Canada to earn a PhD in Educational Psychology, Dr. Fahlman is known as a pioneering educator and social justice advocate. Her determination and commitment to equity and community is perhaps most adequately summed up in a quote of hers;

“I believe in what I am doing, and I believe it should be done.”

Dr. Fahlman went on to establish the Canadian Council of Muslim Women in collaboration with women in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1982. She went on to become the first Muslim woman to be awarded the Order of Canada for her service to the Muslim community and larger society.

Fatima al-Fihri

Fatima al-Fihri was born in 800 A.D. During her lifetime, Fatima was called the "mother of boys". According to historian Mohammed Yasser Hilali, "this nickname probably stems from her charity and the fact she took students under her wing."

Fatima was a strong believer. When she inherited a huge amount of money at the time her father and her husband died, she decided to use it to build a mosque which her Muslim community in Fez urgently needed, large enough to fit an ever-growing number of believers.

From the 10th century the famous mosque of al-Qarawiyyin became the first religious institute and the largest Arab university of North Africa. It attracted a lot of students and renowned scientists.

Jamelie Hassan

Jamelie Hassan’s commitment to community and public space has involved highly diverse sites. Her community work has included working in the artist-run centres throughout the 1970's and 1980's to involvement in the 1990's in increasingly national and international contexts.

Jamelie received the “Canada 125” Medal for outstanding community service and was awarded the Governor General’s Award in Visual Arts in 2001. You can learn more about Jamelie at jameliehassan.ca

Nana Asma'u

Nana Asma’u sits in the pantheon, of the great educators of Africa. Taught by female and male scholars, she gained a deep knowledge of Quranic teachings, as well as four languages – Arabic, Fulfude, Hausa and Tamachek: a paramount aid, in her pioneering educational endeavours.

Nana Asma’u was the founder of the Yan Taru project which was a collective of travelling teachers, trained by Nana, that would visit villages and towns that needed education. She was empowered to start this initiative after witnessing how girls in northern Nigeria were forced to end their education after being married between the ages of eleven to fourteen.

Ginella Massa

With over a decade of experience in news behind-the-scenes and on-air, Ginella has worked for both local and national news outlets, in television and radio.

Ginella made history in 2015, believed to be the first television news reporter in North America to wear a hijab on-air when she was hired as a Video Journalist for CTV News in Kitchener, Ontario. She made international headlines again after anchoring the evening newscast at CityNews Toronto in 2016.

Ella Collins

Born in 1914, Ella Little grew up in Georgia in the South. She later moved to New York where she was secretary to the Black congressman Adam Clayton Powell. Settling in Boston, Ella managed her mother’s grocery shop and began investing in and letting property.

Although both Ella and Malcolm became members of the Nation of Islam, it was Ella who decided in 1959 to leave the Nation and embrace orthodox Islam.

She also founded the Sarah A. Little School of Preparatory Arts in Boston, where children were taught the Qur’an, Arabic, Swahili, and other subjects.

Ella played a pivotal role in Malcolm X’s embrace of Islam as she funded his trip to Hajj which allowed him to learn more about Islam outside the ideology of the Nation.

Zarqa Nawaz

Zarqa’s work in the media world has not just been as a television creator, but also as an advice columnist for the Globe & Mail, host of The Morning Edition, Saskatchewan’s CBC Radio’s morning show, and anchor of CBC Saskatchewan’s six o’clock news.

A frequent public speaker on Islam and comedy, Zarqa received a Doctor of Divinity from the University of Saskatchewan for her interfaith work in the community. In recognition for her contribution to the world of arts, she received The Brampton Walk of Fame in 2019.

Rabia Basri

Rabia was a teacher of men as well as of women, a woman who called no man her master, indeed whose surrender to God was so complete that she placed all her trust in God to ensure that she was fed and clothed. Her devotion to God was so intense that relatively few solid facts about her life survived except that it was lived in complete and loving surrender to God.

My God and my Lord: Eyes are at rest

The stars are setting, hushed are the movements of birds in their nests

of monsters in the deep.

And you are the Just Who knows no change, the Equity that does not swerve

the Everlasting that never passes away.

The doors of kings are locked and guarded by their henchmen, but Your door is open to those who call upon You.

My Lord, each lover is now alone with his beloved, and I am alone with You.

Nasra Adem

NASRA’s commitment to authentic expression shows off stage as well; in their community organizing through curation, Black/Indigenous healing work and arts education.

Their artistic leadership and push for structural change for marginalized artists has lead to the founding of Sister to Sister, a showcase for/by femmes of colour (2015-2018) and Black Arts Matter (2016- current)—Alberta’s interdisciplinary Black arts festival. Learn more about Nasra's work at nasra.ca