Leila Ahmed

**Leila Ahmed** (1940) is an Arab American writer and professor whose works have great importance in the study of Islamic views towards women. When Ahmed came to America she was shocked at how little society knew about Islam. This caused her to set her mind into changing the problematic views westerners had about Islam.

### **Biography**

Leila Ahmed was born in Cairo, Egypt to a middle class Egyptian father and an upper class Turkish mother. From her Early years, Leila was exposed to her muslim heritage that would be the core of movements she led in later years.

Arab Nationalism was brought into Egypt in 1952 y Gamal Abdel Nasser. For Ahmed and her family this mean chaos due to their opposition to the régime. As a result of their resistance, the family was perceived as disloyal and because of this, they became victims to harassment by the government in power. This would be the one of the leading reasons Leila Ahmed became such a voice and an ideologist for those under Arab régimes.

Years later Leila received her doctorate from the university of Cambridge before arriving to the US in the 60s. Once settled, she went on to become a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she taught and directed the Women's Studies (1992-1995) and Near Eastern Studies (1991-1992) programs .

In 1999 Leila Ahmed arrived to the Harvard Divinity School as the first professor of Women's Studies in religion. She was later appointed to the victor S. Thomas Chair in 2003. Leila is currently on leave but is still part of the faculty of Divinity School.

### **Works**

* ***Women and Gender in Islam: The Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (1993):***One of her most influential works expresses how some dominant acts that women in the Middle East face are the results of a patriarchal hierarchy, rather than by Islam. In this book we also see the term 'Colonial Feminism' which she refers to as the practice of preaching for the well being of women for colonial progression.

* ***A Border Passage: From Cairo to America—A Woman's Journey (1999):*** A personal memoir that tells the story of Ahmeds early life from Egypt to her expatriate and transition to Europe and North America. The author also writes about her introduction to the 'Islam' she fights for and the people who influenced the views of a religion many still view as a largely male led faith. This awarness would become a grounding idea for her first book that speaks on Muslim feminism, Islam and Women's role in Islam. Although feminism is a great reason for most of Ahmeds work, the Arab Nationalism influenced and fed her hunger for change as well. In her book she speaks about how this effected the views many non-Arabs or Westerners had on the religion. Another topic that is deeply exposed in this memoir is how Ahmed Faced discrimination and racism through her transition and how frustrating it was for her to see how Westerners viewed islan from the outside as a result of the régimes and governments.

* ***A Quiet Revolution: The Veil's Resurgence, from the Middle East to America (2011):*** In this book Leila Ahmed writes about how she was raised in a family with strong females leaders who followed the muslim faith but never wore the traditional head covers (hijab, niqab, burqa). She mainly speaks on how she expected these to disappear but recently resurged and how it is becoming a symbol for strength rather than an assumption of submissive females. An interesting fact that many readers notice through the book is that Ahmed seems to change her view on the veil and leaves the reader questioning her thought on the subject.

### **Recent Event(s)**

* On February 2017 Professor Ahmed gave an interview about her views on the latest bans the US government has implicated on many middle eastern countries. She believes that the progression that has been fought for many years is being taken back not only for those wearing head cover but also for Hispanics, African Americans and any other minority in this country, Ahmed states that rather than separate all those suffering need to come together to fight the problem.

### **Quote(s)**

* "When items of clothing – be it bloomers or bras – have briefly figured as focuses of contention and symbols of feminist struggle in Western societies, it was at least Western feminist women who were responsible for identifying the item in question as significant and defining it as a site of struggle and not, as has sadly been the case with respect to the veil for Muslim women, colonial and patriarchal men who declared it important to feminist struggle."
* "The thing we have to fight is Islamophobia and the media that allows Islamophobia or perpetuates it. But how can we do that? I haven't got the answer. I don't know. Because I think Muslims have been speaking out against all of the worst things that have been happening in the name of Islam. And nobody hears because we are not given the voice or publicity that would allow us to be heard. I do think it's a major problem. I don't know what the answer is. I think this generation needs to answer it.   And it seems to be happening. Ten years ago, there weren't many people of Muslim backgrounds on NPR or British television or British news. Now I hear Muslim names all the time. Change is slow, but it's happening. "

### **Sources**

* https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/166054/Ahmed,%20Leila.pdf;sequence=1
* https://hds.harvard.edu/people/leila-ahmed
* http://www.islamandfeminism.org/leila-ahmed.html
* http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt32bg61
* https://studyofreligion.fas.harvard.edu/people/leila-ahmed
* http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2017/02/17/talking-policy-leila-ahmed-being-muslim-america