When Alaa Murabit was fifteen, she and her family (of ten siblings) moved from Canada to Libya, and for Alaa, it was a tremendous cultural shock, given the country’s restrictive attitudes on women. She eventually founded The Voice of Libyan Women, an association that ensures that women are given a place at the proverbial table — by using the Quran to support these rights.
As Huffington Post’s religious editor, Carol Kuruvilla, said of Alaa’s journey as a Muslim woman in Libya, “…when she searched the Quran, she said she found numerous examples of strong, powerful women in her faith who were leaders and innovators. Those who used religion to justify discrimination against women were using cultural standards, not scriptural standards. And often, those cultural standards existed even before Islam came into being.”
Ms. Murabit’s Ted Talk is simply inspiring, and attached in this Huffington Post piece —
