Lady Breeze

Essmat Mohsen El Eskandarany (1898 - 1973): aka Om El Baharia (The Mother of the Navy) - النص العربى يتبع She is the granddaughter of the Egyptian Navy Admiral Hasan Pasha El Askandaray a.k.a "The Prince of the Seas" who died fighting in the Crimean War between Turkey and Russia in 1854. From a young age, she had a passion for the sea, the ships, travel, the legend of her grandfather, the history of the Egyptian navy, the naval battles that the Arabs fought and the Arab trav elers.  She travelled around the world for 18 years and was named Bint Batouta, after the Arab traveler Ibn Batouta who lived in the 14th century. In 1948, she donated a fully equipped naval ship to the Egyptian navy. She also donated her house in Ras El Tin in Alexandria to the navy. She willed all her money and property to the navy.  In 1955, President Nasser awarded her the highest medal of honor.  She had written many articles and publications about the History of the Arabs, the ...

”ليس هناك شىء يسمى الحرية، و أكثرنا حرية هو عبد للمبادىء التى يؤمن بها، وللغرض الذى يسعى إليه.. اننا نطالب بالحرية لنضعها فى خدمة أغراضنا.. وقبل أن تطالب بحريتك إسئل نفسك: لأى غرض ستهبه؟!“ ― إحسان عبد القدوس

I often get into debates with people about women in Islam. How we dress. How we don’t dress. What we think or don’t think or should-be-thinking. I get into debates about feminism. What it is and what it isn’t. I think I’ve spawned permanent foes because I don’t care to apply the label, feminist, to describe myself. (I’m not one for labels, sorry. But if it’s even required of me, “Muslim woman” suits me just fine.) But if we could agree for a moment that there exists a pure definition of the word feminist to mean: awesomely fierce to the millionth degree, then I’d like to introduce you to Islam’s first feminist. Her name is Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. She was the wife of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him.) And she is one of the people that I think about when I face or debate issues surrounding women today. Khadija’s existence precedes mine by more than 1,400 years; and, if I can at the very least, continuously strive to emulate her character, I will consider mysel...