The Ghazali Children's Project

Outshine the Sun – 40 Muslim Women in History

$21.95

JUST PUBLISHED. NOW AVAILABLE.

From the back cover:

Discover the inspiring lives of Muslim women living in every century, beginning with blessed Khadijah in 6th century Mecca right up to a present-day Turkish astrophysicist who discovered a double-ringed galaxy, Persian mountaineers who scaled Mount Everest and a Pakistani humanitarian who saves orphans and transformed the health care system.

Each life is presented first through a poetic stanza which is fun to recite and easy to learn. Then some actual words of the woman, or a relevant hadith, is provided. The significance of each illustration is explained. And this is followed by lessons one might learn from the particular life-story presented with the key points highlighted in bold.

Besides learning astounding biographic details of these exemplary women, sections of activities are offered which enable the reader-child or adult!-to practice character building qualities such as mercy, patience, generosity and courage and much more.

To bring the reader closer, for example, to the Prophet’s wife, one is asked, “What are some ways you, too, could comfort someone going through a difficult time-the way Sayeda Khadijah comforted the Prophet?” Or, “Make your own plan for practicing the generosity exhibited by Fatma Zahra’s feeding of the poor.” Or “Give an example of what you could do, like Sumaya, to hold firm to your faith when it’s difficult?” In order to better understand the work of hadith transmission by Karima al-Marwaziyya (d.1070) of Merv, an isnad game can be created. Put on a play whose heroine Fatima was a young Libyan girl who delivered water to soldiers fighting invaders-and even got shot while serving her people.

The scope of women covered in both time -14 centuries! – and space – 33 nations! – is, in itself, a testimony to the universality of selfless service. One might recognize many names but never have known the stories behind them or about the virtues they exemplified. And then, in this book we meet many women for the very first time. There have always been powerful writers from such countries as from Egypt and Syria! Meet a Lebanese playwright, an Afghani poet and even a visionary sci-fi writer in Kolkata. The first female judge in our era was martyred in Russia. We are taken to the Uyghur people-who today are severely persecuted by China. From Turkmenistan to India, you will be introduced to artists and composers, founders of universities, mosques and libraries, warriors and freedom fighters, Nigerian educators and even an Indonesian sea captain who became blind as she fought off invaders!

Please see the Product Description below for much more information about this book and its authors. In addition, please explore the sample pages to the left, just beneath the picture of the book cover, to see more example pages.

 

Product Description

Outshine the Sun is a book detailing the lives of 40 Muslim women in history. While it is primarily a children’s book, the text is informative and entertaining for people of all ages. The women in this book are role models for us today, and the lessons their lives provide – holding to faith despite hardship, working to serve the community, and aspiring towards excellence in everything – resonate throughout time.

Western Media portrays Muslims as exceedingly patriarchal, and unfortunately many Muslims buy into that same myth. They forget that the first person to accept Islam was a woman, that Islam was passed down and further by pious, educated women. They don’t acknowledge that Muslim women have always played crucial roles in building our civilizations and cultures.

Knowing this history is important, both because it undoes so many of the biases that exist today, but also because it inspires us and teaches us what is possible. Muslim women throughout history are incredible role models- to Muslim girls, yes, but honestly to everyone. This book is an attempt to teach and popularize a small chunk of this history.

The figures discussed in the book come from a wide range of geographies, backgrounds, and times, extending from the Prophet SAW’s day to the present! They are scholars, heroes, scientists, poets, and more. Figures in the book include:

-Fatima RA, the daughter of the Prophet (saws)
-Rabia al-Adawaiyya, the 8th century pious predecessor
-Fatima al-Fihri, founder of the worlds’ oldest college
-Razia Sultana, ruler a wide swath of the Indian subcontinent
-Malahayati, defender of Aceh, Indonesia from invasions
-Nana Asma’u, teacher and translator of Islam for thousands of people

And many more.

Each entry contains:

-a beautiful watercolor illustration, rich in meaning.
-a biography for children rendered as a quatrain poem.
-a quote from the figure (if one can be found in historical sources)
-details of where and when she lived
-an explanation of the symbolism in the illustrations
-a prose biography for older children and parents
-a list of some of the lesson’s that can be learned from the figure’s life

Additionally, after every 5 entries, there is a two page spread detailing exercises that children might do to internalize the values learned.

Our goal with this format is to help readers learn about the lives of these women in aesthetically-pleasing, informative, and entertaining ways, and to make it clear how relevant their lives are to us today.


Abdul Rahman Latif, the author, is a PhD candidate in Religion at Columbia University where his research focuses on Medieval Islamic storytelling traditions. Mr. Latif also has a Masters of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, and a BA from Duke University. Mr. Latif reads and speaks several languages, including Arabic, Turkish, and Persian. He currently serves as the Muslim Chaplain and Associate Director of the William Jewett Tucker Center at Dartmouth College. He is the author of another children’s book, “The Tale of Ibrahim b. Adham” with H. Sumeyra Korkmaz.

Hediye Sumeyra Korkmaz is the book’s illustrator and formatter. She is currently working on her PhD in Islamic studies at Marmara University in Istanbul. She is the co-founder of a Children’s education NGO in Turkey and a student of classical illumination techniques.

Their previous collaboration is ‘The Tale of Ibrahim ibn Adham‘ The book is available for free HERE

With MANY THANKS to the incredibly generous supporters of this project on the LaunchGood page


WATCH: Outshine the Sun: 40 Muslim Women in History (earlier LaunchGood Pitch)