Alaa Murabit
- Hayeon Kwak
- Sep 25, 2023
- 2 min read
"I hope that each and every one of you continues to dream and thanks those around you who have the courage to dream." - Dr. Alaa Murabit
DOB: 1989
Nationality: Libyan-Canadian
At only 34 years old, Alaa Murabit is a women’s rights advocate, global security strategist, medical doctor, and a United Nations High-Level Commissioner on Health Employment and Economic growth.
But before she was a two-time Nobel Prize Nominee or the founder of her own organization, she was the middle child of eleven children to Libyan-Canadian immigrants in Saskatoon, Canada.
Throughout her childhood, she was treated fairly and patiently by her parents and was taught to know God saw her as an equal to her brothers. In her TedTalk, Alaa Murabit attributes her unwavering determination in her work to this childhood.
The lessons she learned about the importance of being heard while living as the middle child of ten others, and the firm foundation she had in knowing she was worth as much as her brothers, helped her stand up against the oppressive cultural aspect of religion she faced when her family moved back to Libya in 2005.
Instead of accepting the relegated status women were positioned by men in religion, Alaa Murabit resisted and created an organisation, Voice of Libyan Women, to empower thousands of Muslim women in Libya at only 21 years old. She turned to research and scripture to demonstrate the importance of women, and gender equality expressed in Muslim scripture to defy the religious leaders using religious scripture in defense of instilling misogynistic ideas into their culture.
Murabit’s organization. Voice of Libyan Women (VLW), is a youth-led organization for women by women. Within three months of its founding, the group organized a “women’s centre” and the first ever International Women’s Conference, “One Voice,” in Libya. One Voice created a space where women could speak on politics, economics, religion, and gender-based violence.
The group also created Project Noor, a groundbreaking media campaign that uses scripture to redefine women’s rights in the Middle East. Their novel approach to using scripture found more acceptance and willingness to listen in both Muslim women as well as men indoctrinated by misogynistic interpretations of the Quran. February 11th is celebrated by many Muslims every year as Purple Hijab Day, organized by VLW, in remembrance of the death of Aasiya Zubair, a Muslim woman stabbed to death and beheaded by her estranged husband. According to Murabit, this event is also a display of Islam’s firm stance against violence towards women, directly contesting “a Muslim’s falsely perceived right to abuse a mother, daughter, or sister.”
Alaa Murabit’s continued efforts to bring change earned her the Canadian Meritorious Service Cross, the 2018 Nelson Mandela International Changemaker Award, and the Aspen Institute Spotlight Scholar.
What Islam really says about women | Alaa Murabit
Written by Hayeon Kwak
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