List of Muslim feminists


This is a list of important participants in Muslim feminism, originally sorted by surname within each period.
It may include, for instance, earlier authors who did not self-identify as feminists but have been claimed to have furthered "feminist consciousness" by a resistance of male dominance expressed in their works.

Early and mid 19th-century feminists

Born between 1801 and 1874.
NameCountryBornDiedCommentsSource
Qasim AminEgypt18631908early advocate of women's rights
Nawab FaizunnesaBangladesh18341903female education advocate
Hamida JavanshirAzerbaijan18731955women's rights activist, philanthropist
Aisha TaymurEgypt18401902social activist, novelist
Fatma Aliye TopuzTurkey18621936women's rights activist, novelist
Jamil Sidqi al-ZahawiIraq18631936poet, Islamic philosopher

Late 19th-century and early 20th-century feminists

Born between 1875 and 1939.
NameCountryBornDiedCommentsSource
Iffat AraBangladesh1939–writer, social activist
Eugénie Le BrunEgypt1908
Hamid DalwaiIndia19321977Socialist feminist
Tahar HaddadTunisia18971935
Zaib-un-Nissa HamidullahBritish India19212000pioneer in Pakistan
Shamsiah FakehMalaysia19242008political leader, Malaysian nationalist
Hameeda HossainBangladesh1936–human rights activist, academic
Fatima Ahmed IbrahimSudan19332017
Raden Adjeng KartiniIndonesia18791904Javanese advocate for native Indonesian women, critic of polygamous marriages and lack of education opportunities for women
Sufia KamalBangladesh19111999advocate, nationalist, poet
Anbara Salam KhalidiLebanon18971986author
Shamsunnahar MahmudBangladesh19081964leader of the women's rights movement in Bengal
Malak Hifni NasifEgypt18861918
Nizar QabbaniSyria19231998poet, progressive intellectual
Alifa RifaatEgypt19301996novelist
Begum RokeyaBangladesh18801932writer, educator
Huda Sha'arawiEgypt18791947organiser; founder of Egyptian Feminist Union
Hidaya Sultan al-SalemKuwait19362001writer, campaigner, suffragist
Rasuna SaidIndonesia19101965political leader, nationalist
Saiza NabarawiEgypt18971985journalist
Salma SobhanBangladesh19372003lawyer, academic
Nurkhon YuldashevaUzbekistan19131929dancer
Ismat ChughtaiIndia19151991novelist, director

Mid to late 20th-century and notable 21st-century feminists

Born from 1940 to present
NameCountryBornDiedCommentsSource
Saleemah Abdul-GhafurUnited States1974–Global health advocate
Sitara AchakzaiAfghanistan19562009leading Afghan women's rights activist, member of the regional parliament in Kandahar
Jamila AfghaniAfghanistan1974–women's rights activist, created the first "gender-sensitive training in Afghanistan for Imams"
Mahnaz AfkhamiIran1941–women's rights activist, Minister without portfolio for Women's Affairs, Founder and President of Women's Learning Partnership
Haleh Afshar, Baroness AfsharUnited Kingdom1944–professor of politics and women's studies, member of the British House of Lords
Nazir AfzalUnited Kingdom1962-Public prosecutor and campaigner focusing on violence against women and so-called honour crimes
Leila AhmedEgypt1940–Writer on Islam and feminism
Safia Ahmed-janAfghanistan19412006Afghan women's rights advocate
Kecia AliUnited States1972scholar on the study of Islamic Jurisprudence and Women
Mariam Alhassan AloloGhana1957–female Islamic missionary
Amat Al Alim AlsoswaYemen1958–journalist
Fadela AmaraFrance1964–politician
Zainah AnwarMalaysia–head of Sisters in Islam
Seyran AteşGermany1963–lawyer
Shukria BarakzaiAfghanistan1970–politician, journalist
Farzana BariPakistan1952–human rights activist
Asma BarlasPakistan1950–academics
Benazir BhuttoPakistan19532007Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996
Susan CarlandAustralia1978–academic
Kamala ChandrakiranaIndonesia–human rights activist
Shirin EbadiIran1947–; activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner for her efforts for the rights of women and children
Mona EltahawyEgypt1967–journalist
Farid EsackSouth Africa1959–Muslim scholar, gender equity commissioner
Zahra EshraghiIran1964–activist, former government official
Soumaya Naamane GuessousMorocco–sociologist, women's rights activist
Fatemeh HaghighatjooIran1968–reformist politician, contributed proposing a bill to join Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
Mohammad Shafiq HamdamAfghanistan1981–Chairman of the Afghan Anti-Corruption Network
Suheir HammadJordan1973–poet, political activist
Riffat HassanPakistan1943–theologian, scholar of the Qur'an
Hissa HilalSaudi Arabia–poet
Lubna al-HusseinSudan–journalist, human rights activist
Samira IbrahimEgypt1987–activist
Ramziya al-IryaniYemen1954–novelist, diplomat
Na'eem JeenahSouth Africa1965–academic
Mohja KahfSyria1967–
Meena Keshwar KamalAfghanistan19561987women's rights activist, founder of Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan
Sultana KamalBangladesh1950–activist
Sadiq KhanUnited Kingdom1970–Mayor of London since 2016
Noushin Ahmadi KhorasaniIran20th century–
Fawzia KoofiAfghanistan1975 or 1976–politician, women' rights activist
Elaheh KoulaeiIran1956–
Konca KurişTurkey19611999writer
Asma LamrabetMorocco
Mukhtār Mā'īPakistan1972–advocate for women's rights
Irshad ManjiCanada1968–
Farideh MashiniIran2012women's rights activist
Fatema MernissiMorocco19402015
Ziba Mir-HosseiniIran1952–academic of Islamic law and gender
Fakhrossadat MohtashamipourIran–reformist activist, head of women's affairs at the Ministry of Interior
Ilham MoussaïdFrance1989–politician
Shirin NeshatIran1957–visual artist
Asra NomaniIndia1965–
Queen Noor of JordanJordan1951–queen consort of Jordan
Ayaz Latif PalijoPakistan1968–politician
Zahra RahnavardIran1945–academic, politician
Queen Rania of JordanJordan1970–queen consort of Jordan
Raheel RazaPakistan1949–journalist, activist
Nilofar SakhiAfghanistan20th century–human rights activist
Zainab SalbiIraq1969–humanitarian, CEO of Women for Women International
Linda SarsourUnited States1980–political activist
Marjane SatrapiFrance, Iran1969–comic artist
Shamima ShaikhSouth Africa19601998South African activist, member of the Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa, proponent of Islamic gender equality
Shahla SherkatIran1956–journalist
Nasrin SotoudehIran1963–human rights lawyer
Hidayet Şefkatli TuksalTurkey1963human rights activist
Zil-e-Huma UsmanPakistan19712007politician, women's rights activist
Amina WadudUnited States1952
Rama YadeFrance1976politician, writer
Nadia YassineMorocco1958
Malala YousafzaiPakistan1997-Pakistani activist for female education
Bilkisu YusufNigeria19522015journalist, NGO adviser
Kadra YusufNorway1980activist
Musdah MuliaIndonesia1960human rights activist, Islamic scholar, theologian, proponent of Islamic gender equality and LGBTIQ, interfaith activist, one of founders and leaders of ICRP - Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace

Islamic feminist movements