Leila AHmed: From Cairo to Aerica

Leila Ahmed grew up in the 1940’s and 50’s in a respected and wealthy family in Cairo, Egypt. Her father, an engineer and her mother, a passionate housewife, had shaped her life form the very beginning of her childhood. Her father was a responsible government servant and politically active citizen. His imperturbable stance agianst Nasser, the Egyptian democratic leader turned dictator, led to persecutions that brought havoc and misery to their lives. She lived through …

…profoudn and sensible. Women’s Islam was gentle, generous, pacifist, inclusive, and mystical. She points out that Islam, the religion, was passed onto them by older women, though unsaid words, subtle gestures and their way of life. Her mother recited a line from the Quran quite often, “He who kills one being kills all of humanity, and he who revives one being revives all of humanity.”, which Leila takes to be the essence if Islam.