Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur facts for kids

Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur (born 19 November 1971) is an author and activist. She works to support faith-based projects and gender equality, especially for Muslim women. Currently, she is a top leader at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She also helps Malaria No More, a group working to end deaths from malaria. Saleemah also advises on projects that bring different faiths together and encourage volunteering.

Early Life and Education

Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur went to Kent Place School, graduating in 1992. She then studied at Columbia University, finishing her degree in 1996.

Career Highlights

In April 2008, the US State Department invited Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur to speak in the United Kingdom. She visited eight cities to talk about Muslims living in Western countries. During this tour, she spoke at the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and the University of Oxford. She has also been invited to speak at many other universities, including Harvard University, Emory University, and Yale University. Her work has been shown on CNN and National Public Radio. Major newspapers like The Boston Globe, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and The New York Times have also featured her.

Before her current role, Saleemah worked at Hands On Atlanta. This large non-profit organization helps people volunteer in their communities. She was in charge of corporate volunteering. She helped organize "Hands On Atlanta Day," a huge event where 17,000 volunteers worked on 250 different projects.

In 2003, Saleemah moved to Atlanta to join the team that created Azizah magazine. This was the first magazine made just for American Muslim women. Before this, she worked for the Victoria Foundation. There, she managed grants worth $12 million for various non-profit groups.

Activism for Women's Rights

Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur was chosen to join the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow meeting in 2006. This event, hosted by the World Economic Forum in Copenhagen, Denmark, brought together 30 Muslim leaders from the United States and Western Europe. They met to discuss the future of Islam and Muslims in the West. From this meeting came a strong focus on helping women in Muslim communities.

Saleemah has been part of important events that challenge the traditional roles of Muslim women. In 2005, she helped organize a historic prayer in New York City led by a woman. This was a new idea in the American Muslim community. In 2004, she took part in an effort in West Virginia to create spaces for women in American mosques. Traditionally, women were often not allowed to participate fully in these spaces.

Because of these actions, Muslim communities across the United States and the West have started to rethink how Muslim women can be involved in community life. Some mosques in places like San Francisco, New York City, and Chicago now offer special programs for women. They have also removed barriers between women and men and allow women to join mosque leadership boards.

Published Works

Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur is the editor of a book called Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak. This book is the first collection of stories from American Muslim women. It shows how these women create their own identities while also contributing to public life. The book includes writings from famous people like poet Suheir Hammad and journalist Asra Nomani.

Saleemah often gives talks at workshops and conferences about popular culture, Islam, and women. She also writes for online magazines and blogs. One of her recent articles, "A Hajj for the Children of Mali," described a trip to Mali to help African children. Another piece, "Holla if you Hear Me," looked at different ethnic groups within the American Muslim community. She also wrote "Preach from the Ashes," sharing her personal experience of the historic woman-led prayer.

Community Involvement

Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur was a board member of the Progressive Muslim Union of North America. She also serves on the advisory board for Atlanta Habitat for Humanity and its WOMENBUILD committee. She is part of the Atlanta Women's Foundation's Faith, Feminism and Philanthropy committee. This group works to connect people of faith and secular feminists to support women's empowerment.