Muslim Women dominate a third of BBC '100 Women 2018' list!

Isn't it amusing to know fellow Muslims are marking history, gaining recognition today like never imagined. Well, dozens of Muslim female scientists, leaders, entrepreneurs, activists, economists, and more intellects have succeeded in dominating about a third of the international BBC ‘100 Women’ list for 2018 which celebrates influential women, as reported by BBC. Great news, right?

The list this year featured women around the world between the ages 15 to 94 from over 60 countries. Out of these, 20 Muslim countries feature high on the list, in addition to Muslims from some non-Muslims countries; as published by About Islam.

Alina Anisimova, 8th on the list, represented the Central Asian Muslim country of Kyrgyzstan. The 19-year-old student programmer leads the Kyrgyz Girls’ Space School, which aims to send the country’s first satellite into space before the year 2020. Anisimova orchestrates the group of female science students who are also working to build a CubeSat, since March. She said:

“In the future, I wish people won’t consider it so surprising to see young women involved in engineering and metalworking.”

Another influential Muslim girl is the 16-year-old Reyhan Jamalova, an Azeri entrepreneur, founder, and CEO of Rainergy. It is a company that harvests energy from rainwater. Rainergy is based upon Jamalova’s invention which she designed at the ISTAK Lyceum in Baku, Azerbaijan. The teenager says:

“We designed Rainergy to produce electricity from the rain, to solve the problem of energy deficiency in rainy and low-income countries.”

The 30th position holder, Raghda Ezzeldin Aly, is from Egypt. The 26-year-old free diver is Egypt’s four times national freediving champion. She is internationally known for her record-breaking free-diving skills as she descends to extreme depths without breathing apparatus. She says:

“Egypt enjoys having the world’s best and most beautiful freediving spots, yet many people are unaware of this spectacular sport.”

Moving on, Number 42 on the list is Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, an environmentalist, and activist for rights of indigenous people and women from Chad. The 35-year-old influencer advocates for the protection of the environment of the Central African Muslim country and for the rights of indigenous peoples on an international scale. Ibrahim is hopeful that her efforts are:

“Not just about having discriminated peoples attending international events and telling beautiful stories. We need to bring them to the decision-making tables, not only to be on the events’ menus.”

Lastly, Number 60 on the list is Amina J Mohammed, who is the deputy secretary general in United Nations, Nigeria. Amina is a former minister of environment in Nigeria and has previously been a special adviser to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The 57-year-old individual who is vocal about women’s empowerment and gender equality, told BBC that women should not be ‘grateful’ for opportunities given them.

“What I want to do is not apologize for being a girl and not to see it as something that is added on… or that we should be grateful for being at the table,” she said

See also: Duas for thanking Allah (SWT)

Indeed, Muslim World has witnessed various achievements this year so far and we hope this continues and gets bigger and better overtime. May Allah (SWT) keep assisting us on our journeys to thrive across various nations.