Nazira Zain al-Din: One of the first Islamic feminists

Nazira Zain al-Din was one of the first women to discuss the issues of women in Islam after studying Islamic doctrines in the Quran and hadith. She advocated for women’s right to education and accessing political office. She contributed to the rising debate on “veiling and unveiling,” and to that end, wrote two influential books: al-Hijab wa al-Sefour (Veiling and Unveiling, 1928) and al-Fatah wa al-Sheyoukh (The Young Woman and the Sheikhs, 1929). As a result of the ideas she put forth in the book, the Muslim clergy accused her of apostasy. ¹