by Imam Kamil Mufti
Kamil Mufti is resident scholar and imam at the Islamic Foundation of Peoria where he has served for the past six years. His interests (or passions) include expanding understanding of Islam and developing interfaith harmony. His daughters “love” Malala Yousafzai.
Arguably, the most famous teenager in the world is a young Muslim girl from Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai. She is the youngest recipient of the Noble Prize for her courageous human rights advocacy for education and for women. She has also won the EU’s prestigious Sakharov human rights prize. “I speak for education of every child, in every corner of the world,” she said.
Malala is a global celebrity. In 2014 she was named one of “The 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014” by Time magazine. The UN dedicated her 16th birthday as “Malala Day.” Former First Lady, Laura Bush, wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post in which she compared Malala to Holocaust diarist Anne Frank. Sen. Clinton praised her for being “very brave in standing up for the rights of girls.” Madonna dedicated a song to her. Angelina Jolie donated $200,000 to the Malala Fund.
Malala was shot in the head by an extremist two years ago for standing up for girls’ education. Her response, “I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there was a gun in my hand and he stands in front of me, I would not shoot him.” She credits her religion, Islam, for inspiring her peaceful, tolerant, compassionate values. She explains in her own words: “What the terrorists are doing is against Islam because Islam is a religion of peace. It tells us about equality, it tells us about brotherhood, it tells us about love and friendship and peace, that we should – we should be nice and kind to each other.”
In addition to her awe-inspiring bravery, she has a few challenging positions that may be more difficult for some to engage with. Last year, during her meeting with President Obama and his family, she brought up the difficult issue of drone attacks and advised him against them. She said of her meeting with the president, “I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fueling terrorism…. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus efforts on education it will make a big impact.”
Her advice seems to be in line with the conclusions made after nine months of intensive research by Stanford University and New York University School of Law in a report, ‘Living Under Drones’:
First, while civilian casualties are rarely acknowledged, there is significant evidence that drone strikes have injured and killed civilians.
Second, drone strike policies cause considerable and under-accounted-for harm to the daily lives of ordinary civilians, beyond death and physical injury.
Third, publicly available evidence that the strikes have made us safer overall is ambiguous at best.
Fourth, current targeted killings and drone strike practices undermine respect for the rule of law and international legal protections and may set dangerous precedents.
Recently, she donated $50,000 to rebuild 65 schools in Gaza through the United Nations relief agency, UNRWA. She said: “The needs are overwhelming – more than half of Gaza’s population is under 18 years of age. They want and deserve quality education, hope, and real opportunities to build a future…. This funding will help rebuild the 65 schools damaged during the recent conflict. Innocent Palestinian children have suffered terribly and for too long.”
Pierre Krähenbühl, UNRWA’s commissioner general said, “Their suffering during the fighting was devastating and your kindness will do much to ease the pain of recent months.”
“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.” Malala Yousafzai