NAZLIN HAS BEEN PROFILED IN ‘THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA HUMAN RIGHTS SERIES’ PUBLISHED IN 2011 AND LAUNCHED ONLINE IN OCTOBER 2012 FOR USE IN ALL THE UNIVERSITIES IN AMERICA AND ACROSS THE WORLD FOR LAW STUDENTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS STUDIES; NAZLIN HAS ONCE MORE MADE HISTORY AND HER HARD WORK HAS BEEN NOTED AND UNKNOWN TO HER, BEEN PROFILED AS A CASE STUDY ON AN ENTIRE CHAPTER BY THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, USA, IN THE ‘PENNSYLVANNIA STUDIES IN HUMAN RIGHTS SERIES’ PUBLISHED BY UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANNIA PRESS, IN THE VOLUME TITLED ‘GENDER AND CULTURE AT THE LIMIT OF RIGHTS’ EDITED BY DOROTY L. HOGDEKINSON PROFESSOR AND CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT RUTGERS UNIVERSITY USA IN CHAPTER NINE TITLED ‘MUSLIM WOMEN, RIGHTS DISCOURSE AND THE MEDIA IN KENYA’ AUTHORED BY PROFESSOR OUSSEINA D. ALIDOU. THE VOLUME IS DESCRIBED IN THE WORDS OF THE EDITOR PROFESSOR DOROTHY L. HODGESON AS FOLLOWS,
“The volume is an inter-disciplinary collection, authored by well known distinguished scholars and examines the potential and limitation of women’s rights as human rights framework as a strategy for seeking gender justice drawing detailed case studies from the USA, Africa, Latin America and elsewhere.
Contributors to the volume explore specific social histories, political struggles, cultural assumptions and gender ideologies in which rights based protocols that have produced certain rights or reframed long-standing debates and perceptions in the language of rights. The essays address gender specific ways in which rights based protocols have been analyzed, deployed and legislated in the past and present and their implications. Contributors speak to central issues on current scholarly and policy debates about gender, culture and human rights from comparative disciplinary, historical and geographical persepectives. This bold agenda is made even more challenging by the focus on gender, particulary on those many interventions that have depicted women as victims and vulnerable to male power. The book provides a timely , well balanced and valuable resource that has been previously missing from the array of text books that could be used in university courses and those interested in human rights sciences consistently focusing on how rights , gender and culture, interact, come into conflict and discursively construct each other while very successfully moving the debate forward, by exploring how rights based interventions presume or transform gender relations.”
IN A NUTSHELL ON NAZLIN, IN THIS UNIVERSITY OF PENSYLVANIA SERIES ON HUMAN RIGHTS VOLUME TITLED ‘GENDER AND CULTURE AT THE LIMIT OF RIGHTS’ EDITED BY DOROTY L. HOGDEKINSON PROFESSOR AND CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT RUTGERS UNIVERSITY USA IN THE ENTIRE CHAPTER NINE TITLED ‘MUSLIM WOMEN, RIGHTS DISCOURSE AND THE MEDIA IN KENYA’ AUTHORED BY PROFESSOR OUSSEINA D. ALIDOU, STATES THAT, QUOTE,
“Born in 1967, Nazlin is a woman of modest educational accomplishments. She only completed high school because of her family’s decision to marry her off at an early age. Inspite of this background, she is clearly a brilliant person who has continued to read widely in both the western and Islamic traditions. In the process, she has acquired a degree of consciousness and skills that are rare for Muslim women of her level of formal education. With a sophisticated mastery of both Kiswahili and English, she came to see herself as a translator and mediator, with the ability to read critically the implications of both secular laws and Muslim doctrines. As a result Nazlin was able to delineate the areas of the proposed sexual offenses Bill that were technically problematic. The excerpt of her live radio talk show on the Bill in 2006, Radio Rahma, Mombasa, Kenya, demonstrates her sharp awareness of questions of legal definition, evidentiary procedure and the consequences of Law on public resources.
At the time of this radio talk show in 2006 Nazlin was already a very prominent activist in the Orange democratic movement (ODM), a political party that had emerged in the heat of an acrimonious political contestation over the constitutional referendum in 2005. Partly because of leaders Like Nazlin, the ODM accomplished its objective when the majority of Kenyans voted NO in the referendum. The results of the referendum, in turn, gave Nazlin and the other ODM leaders a new political clout in the Nation. In the aftermath of the referendum, Nazlin declared her intrest to run for the presidency of Kenya then scheduled in 2007. Though she probably knew her chances were slim, she saw the elections as window of opportunity to inscribe the voice of the minority, Kenyan Muslims, even as she articulated politico-economic agendas that were both National and transethnic.
Nazlin has brought to the public domain what has been traditionally considered to be in the private domain. It shows Nazlin’s commitment and dedication as an Islamic activist of limited education, to acquire skills in critical literacy to read and deconstruct not only religious texts but secular materials like legal documents of scientific literature on diseases that have a bearing on their lives. Nazlin has also galvanized media technology towards challenging the hegemony of the non-Muslim majority.
Nazlin shows how secular learning and social skills have been mobilized by Muslim women for religious ends on behalf of Muslim women in particular and the Kenyan Muslim community in large, in the political context of the nation in transition. This Islamist Muslim woman’s voice challenges prevailing deeply entrenched orthodoxies that have defined relations not only between men and women in the Muslim communities and between Muslim women and non- Muslims including their non-Muslim ‘sisters’, the dominant non-Muslim majority misrepresented and misunderstood Muslim women’s reality…that when references are made about Kenyan women, the nuanced experience of minority Muslim women are not taken into account, or perceived as “non-indigenous. For Nazlin, reclaiming their citizenship in a Nation-state that discriminates against them as a religious minority becomes a critical mission. Secondly she feels it is urgent to confront their own community about patriarchal interpretation of Islam and its (misconceived) link to Muslim women’s oppression.
Her activism is shaped by an Islamic framework rather than secular reasoning, which they reject as a constituent of western secularism. Nazlin has galvanized the media and enabled Muslim women to reclaim their citizenship within their own communities and the nation at large.
This dynamic is precisely what makes Nazlin both a Muslim leader and a Kenyan leader. In this process of re-claiming Islam and redefining citizenship, Nazlin is not only galvanizing Muslim women to not only ‘multi-culturalize’’ the human rights regime in their country, but also putting to rest the long held view of Muslim women as passive onlookers. Nazlin has left no doubt that Muslim women are bold agents of change within their own communities and well beyond.” End of quote.
IN A NUTSHELL, ON NAZLIN AND NAZLIN’S FOUNDED MAMOTH ORGANIZATION THE NATIONAL MUSLIM COUNCIL OF KENYA (NMCK –NUR) WHICH IS DETAILED FURTHER HEREIN, THE UNIVERSITY OF PENSYLVANIA STUDIES ON HUMAN RIGHTS STATES THAT, QUOTE,
“(In the past) institutionally, virtually all Muslim organizational structures in Kenya such as SUPKEM had been entirely male dominated and male centered. The founding of the NMCK, pioneered and chaired by Nazlin Omar Rajput – a Muslim organization with an overwhelming women’s grassroot membership, marked a clear departure from this patriarchal tradition. NMCK sent a clear signal of the determination of Muslim women activists to transform this gendered structures of Kenyan Muslim organizational leadership. The primary mission of the NMCK is to fill the gap of Muslim women’s under- representation created by male-dominated organizations. More important, its goal is to provide an effective mechanism for addressing major societal issues affecting Muslim women and children, including HIV/AIDS, gender disparities, the role of religion in addressing women’s rights, and social justice in their own communities and at large.
NMCK is also active in providing a Muslim women’s perspective on governance. As Nazlin Omar Rajput points out,
“The situation of Muslim women is made all the more invisible due to the lack of accessible information on their status, their priority needs and the factors that contribute to their marginalization. Without reliable gender sensitive information, awareness raising on persistent gender inequalities is undermined and the development for the effective “action for change” programme constrained. Also while a number of Muslim women groups exist, they are geographically scattered, not well organized and are not linked through formal networking arrangements. Instead the interests of Muslim women tend to be represented by male dominated and gender blind organizations acting as umbrella bodies for Muslims, which have no interest nor programmes targeted specifically for Muslim women nor any representation of women throughout the Nation.”
Clearly then, Kenyan Muslim women are beginning to refuse to be part of the patriarchal vision of the unconditional unity of Muslim polity. To them, Muslim unity must arise not only from confronting the non-Muslim ‘other’ on questions of distributive justice, but also from the promotion of a more just relation across gender within the Muslim Ummah itself.” End of Quote.
NAZLIN HAS ONCE MORE MADE HISTORY AND HER HARD WORK HAS BEEN NOTED AND UNKNOWN TO HER, BEEN PROFILED AS A CASE STUDY ON AN ENTIRE CHAPTER BY THE UNIVERSITY OF WISONSIN, USA, IN THE BOOK TITLED, “MUSLIM WOMEN IN POST COLONIAL LEADERSHIP IN KENYA- LEADERSHIP, REPRESENTATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE” AUTHORED BY PROFESSOR OUSSEINA D. ALIDOU. CHAPTER 5 ON NAZLIN IS TITILED, MUSLIM WOMENANDTHE USE OF NEW MEDIA – INSCRIBING THEIR VOICES IN RIGHTS DISCOURSE” DESCRIBES THE ROLES OF SIX MUSLIM WOMEN SELECTED FROM THE JUDICIARY, PARLIAMENT, MEDIA AND THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND IS DESCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR AND REVIEWS AS FOLLOWS,
Alidou introduces readers to extraordinary Kenyan Muslim women who deftly weave together secular, religious and activist perspectives to transform their communities. Their stories, and Alidous astute analysis, portray the challenge facing the twenty-first-century agents of change” Susan Hirsch, author of pronouncing and perservering Gender and the discourse of disputing in an African Islamic court.
Nazlin emerges as a leader in local, national and international contexts, advancing reforms through activism. “Muslim women in postcolonial Kenya” reveals how her religious and moral beliefs shape reform movements that bridge ethnic divides and fosters alliances in service for creating a just, multicultural, multiethnic ad mulireligious democratic citizenship.
Examining the interplay of gender, agency and autonomy, Ouseina Alidou shows how Nazlin has effected change in the home, school, mosque, and more. She illuminates her determination to challenge the oppressive influences of male-dominated power structures. In looking at differences as opportunities rather than obstacles, Nazlin reflects a new sensibility among Muslim women, redefining the meaning of women’s citizenship within her own community and the Nation.
NAZLIN IN THE PUBLICATION OF VOICES OF PEACE, UNITED PEACE FEDERATION (UPF), USA, NAZLIN HAS ONCE MORE MADE HISTORY AND UNKNOWN TO HER, EXCERPTS OF HER PAPER TITLED “ISLAM, THE RELIGION FOR ALL WOMEN” PRESENTED DURING AN INTERNATIONAL GATHERING OF WORLD LEADERS, DATED JANUARY 2ND 2006, HAS BEEN PUBLISHED IN THE BOOK “ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVES ON PEACE” A COLLECTION OF PAPERS AND REMARKS FROM PROMINENT GLOBAL MUSLIM LEADERS AND OPINION SHAPERS.
NAZLIN IN A PUBLICATION OF THE INTER PRESS SERVICE (IPS, A GLOBAL MEDIA HOUSE) TITILED, “ THE WORLD OF INTER PRESS SERVICE 2003. IPS COVERAGE OF THE IRAQ WAR”, NAZLIN HAS ONCE MORE MADE HISTORY AND HER HARD WORK HAS BEEN NOTED AND UNKNOWN TO HER, BEEN LISTED AMONG THE WORLDS 25 LEADING MOST MENTIONED WOMEN IN THE WAR IN IRAQ AND THE ONLY WOMAN IN AFRICA. AUTHORED BY C, ANTHONY GIFFARD, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, USA.
GLOBAL NOMINATIONS AND ACCOLADES EVEN PRIOR TO HER PARTICIPATION IN THE POLITICAL ARENA:
AMERICAN BIOGRAPHICAL INSTITUTE; Other historic accomplishments that Nazlin has acquired on several occasions are Global recognitions whereby in the month of May 2006 Nazlin received a nomination as the world woman of the Year 2006 by the American Biographical Institute in the United States of America, again nominated for World Woman of the Year 2007, A. B. I., U. S. A., Nominated Gold Medalist Award for Kenya year 2009, A.B. I. U. S. A. At the same time Nazlin is to feature in the edition of the Great women of the 21st century. This volume will contain the unabbreviated biographies of less than one thousand great women of the 21st century who have attracted the attention of the American biographical Institute’s many years of research in preparation for this publication. Some of the prominent names to be profiled with Nazlin’s are HRH Queen Elizabeth II, Madeline Albright, Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Laura Bush, Mother Teresa and Queen Noor of Jordan. Nazlin’s name was selected by the governing board of editors of the ABI which numbers 10,000 and who hail from 75 countries around the world. So far Nazlin has never sought any awards out of her humble, demure and serving nature.
Nazlin was nominated by the Kenyan public for the ‘Eve Woman of the Year Award’, February 2005 but made news headlines and profiles setting an unheard of precedence in Kenya when she humbly pleaded the judges to withdraw her names, declared her support and humility for the ideology to celebrate the struggles of women and the recognition given to her but pleaded for the withdrawals of her names as a Nominee for the top prize as she felt the process of selection was not transparent nor democratic or rigorous enough, which was the fundamental core and essence of her struggles, amidst thundering applause by the over 1000 guests who accorded her a standing ovation. She asked the judges and the guest of honor the then minister of culture, Hon Raphael Tuju to accord the nomination to another deserving woman but sat in through-out the function to show her support and solidarity to the organizers and towards the struggles and gains women made.
Nazlin was nominated for the eve award for founding the mammoth national Muslim council of Kenya and the National Muslim women’s network the NUR, founding the ‘oasis of Hope’ a free legal and mediation service for women, having experienced pain, economic hardships caused by marital breakdown and family tragedies including multiple murders, being unreservedly vocal and passionate about her commitments to women’s economic, social and civil rights, having served numerous government committees and organs with national policy making , her lead role in the constitution review process in Kenya, governance, social justice and peace initiatives, her activities that have provided a voice for all women, oppressed peoples and for the downtrodden Muslim women, and ensured the NUR, the only National grassroots Muslim women network in Sub-Saharan Africa is present and active in the entire Nation and that Nazlin is credited for being the first woman to bring sensitive Islamic and women’s issues into the public domain, including the unveiling of HIV-positive Muslim women in her ‘breaking the silence behind the veil’ world famed project.
Nazlin being a woman who has demonstrated that democracy in an integral part of her life and as such her conscience would not allow her to partake in a process that would undermine her dignity, her principles, her integrity and the very essence of true democracy which is a quest all women are still constantly in search of. Not -withstanding her support for the idea of celebrating women’s achievements, Nazlin begged the indulgence of over a thousand elite citizens and the guest of Honor, the Minister of Information and amidst thundering applause and a standing ovation by the whole crowd, withdrew herself from the nomination to the Eve Woman of the Year Award, requested that the award be given to another deserving women and publicly recommitted herself as a servant, defender and bridge over troubled waters for all the worlds women, children and oppressed peoples, which was heavily captured by the press and endeared Nazlin deeper into the hearts of Kenyans. After Nazlin rejected the nomination it then went to the then nominated member of parliament and presently a Judge in the supreme court of Kenya, Hon Lady Justice Njoki Ndungu. And for the year 2012 the Eve nomination has been accorded to the First lady of the Republic of Kenya, Her Excellency Margaret Kenyatta.
NAZLIN’S INTERNATIONAL TRAVELS, CONTRIBUTIONS AND PRESENTATIONS IN WORLD LEADERS INTERNATIONAL FORUMS AND GATHERINGS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
ON GLOBAL PEACE AND WORLD TERROR- THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, NEWYORK, OCTOBER 2011;
She has also severally traveled to the United States of America on many occasions and participated in the high tables as a world leader, a guest of the universal federal for world peace- in 2001 on the theme of “Global terror and world peace” one month after the September 11th terror attack on new York for an International world leaders Peace deliberations forum, forging a way forward for world peace and an end to terrorism and global injustices in an attendance of hundreds of guests from hundreds of countries. Some of the world leaders in attendance were the Vice President of the United States of America and the world famed Hon. Louis Farah Khan who immediately after his speech picked out Nazlin to have a one on one discussion with her while they were surrounded by world press.
ON GLOBAL PEACE, HOSTED BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF SPAIN CARLOS THE 2ND AND HER ROLE OF WOMAN IN FAITH, PEACE AND INTERFAITH HARMONY, IN BRINGING PEACE BETWEN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE, HELD IN SEVILLE, SPAIN – RABBIS AND IMAMS FOR MIDLLE EAST PEACE;
A highlight in Nazlin’s campaign for world peace is her attendance in Seville in Spain in March 2006 for the second world congress for Rabbis and Imams for peace, hosted by the king of Spain, His majesty Jose Carlos. The first world congress took place in Brussels and was hosted by the Kings of Belgium and Jordan. Upon attendance Nazlin and her natural leadership values and articulacy, immediately pulled into the central core of the delegation and made world history once again as the only female participant and world leader addressing and seeking solutions to the Middle East crisis between Israel and Palestine. Nazlin wore the hat for the Christian women, the Jewish women and the Muslim women who were absent from representation in the said deliberations. Nazlin’s leadership, rapport and style of deliberations made her a star and favorite among both sides of the Political divide – the Jewish Chief Rabbis and Rabbis, the Christian Archbishops and bishops and the Muslim Imams, Muftis and scholars. The world congress was attended by over 400 world leaders and topmost rabbis, topmost Imams and scholars from Israel, Palestine, the Gaza and the world. There was representation of the Christian Archbishops and the Vatican in Rome, representation from the United nations and topmost religious leaders from the Judaic, Islamic and Christian faiths from most countries; yet most of these world leaders were attending as observers and experts but Nazlin was in the core center within the central heart of the conference with different color coded leadership and special central seating arrangements in the world congress. Nazlin was recognized and commended in the world congress and made headlines in International news in over 40 countries leading newspapers and television networks including giving an exclusive interview to CNN world report on her role and contributions to world peace, the role of women and the way forward for lasting solutions to the Middle East Peace. Nazlin was approached by the leading Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Shmuel Poppenheim and other Rabbis during an informal discussion she was having with a Bishop who the representative of the Pope from Vatican and in his presence, they congratulated her mediatory roles and her leadership in the congress and asked her to create and lead a Women’s wing of the peace movement between Israel and Palestine. The Muslim Imams and Catholic Archbishop of Israel echoed the same sentiments to Nazlin. All these accolades and recommendations praising Nazlin’s efforts on peace and her leadership from the said religious leaders and other leading scholars in the congress are on recorded video.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA ON WORLD LEADERS SUMMIT ON UNIVERSAL PEACE;
Nazlin also attended the Universal peace federation 1st world peace summit in Seoul, South Korea from the 28th January to the 8th of February 2006 and also took with her another Presidential candidate in Kenya in her party then, the ODM- K, HON Raila Odinga who was then her colleague in the Orange democratic movement opposition with her as the leading female luminary. This summit brought together over 400 world leaders from over 170 countries and over 10,000 Koreans together. This forum gave an opportunity for Nazlin and the Hon. Raila Odinga to share the Kenyan political situation and the ODM’s ideologies, vision and popularity with the world. Nazlin has also been lobbying with other prominent national leaders in the field of politics to attend similar world peace forums.
She was heavily profiled by world press once again and in February 2006, in Seoul Korea on the Television series titled ‘Voices of Peace’ programme which is viewed in many regions of the world. The same discussion was also captured and she was profiled in the ‘World and I’ International magazine which is based on innovative approaches to world peace on a three page interview on Islamic rights for women and the role of women in leadership the title being – Islam, the religion for women.
Nazlin joined a panel of world speakers including another Presidential candidate in Kenya at the time, Hon. Raila Odinga whom she took with her to introduce him to her world peace agenda and contacts, on an interview with Radio Washington, a Washington DC political based radio talk shows on leadership and good governance in Africa and their specific opposition roles in the frontline at that time of the opposition movement towards a democratic dispensation for Kenya and the ODM. This interview was recorded in Seoul, Korea and was aired in Washington D. C. and the Internet.
WASHINGTON DC ON GLOBAL PEACE AND HIV/AIDS FOR WORLD LEADERS;
Nazlin has also been invited again to Washington D. C. by the United Peace Federation for a global leadership congress to tackle various world agenda in December 2004 Nazlin attended the 4th World Summit on leadership and good governance in Washington D. C. as a global specialist speaking on the HIV/AIDS session on the Global situation with emphasis on each continent and its peculiarities, its specific vulnerability factors and the way forward towards transforming the response, she was heavily interviewed by the world press and a special profile on Peace TV.
MALAYSIA, KUALALUMPUR (ON WOMEN, GENDER ROLES, BLASPHEMY, ISLAM AND HIV/AIDS): NAZLIN WAS INVITED TO KUALALAMPUR, MALAYSIA, FOR THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL MUSLIM LEADER’S CONSULTATION ON AIDS, A GUEST OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MALAYSIA. She has been heavily profiled in International Media and reports, both print and electronic and the global Muslim leadership from over 30 countries, selected as the spokesperson, in defense of Islam against blasphemy and her eloquence in responding to the issues raised; in defense of the rights of women, law of equity in Islam, social justice, HIV/AIDS, gender and Islam itself. Examples of some of the International publications are the June and July issues of the Impact magazine, United Kingdom and The New Straight Times and the Delam Negeri newspapers of Malaysia and other Malaysian and International media houses in May 2003 for her defense of Islam, the Islamic concept of sexuality, women and HIV/AIDS during the 2nd International Muslim Leaders consultation on AIDS in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in May 2003. Islam, the Shari’ah and the Holy Qur’an itself had been blasphemed by a Muslim scholar (Amina Wadud) and the Islamic fight against HIV/AIDS demonized, Islam misrepresented and Muslim women in Islam abused. The forum was attended by over 350 top Muslim leaders gathered from over thirty countries around the world.
Because of her world-famed contributions, her articulacy, her oratory skills, her knowledge and grasp of Islam, the Holy Quran and the Islamic Shariah, HIV/AIDS and its various dimensions, women, gender and leading role in the consultation, her acumen in analyzing key documents and responding to them in detail which were presented at the gathering, Nazlin was appointed by the international delegates and spearheaded the movement as the speaker to respond to the blasphemous paper. Before the world press and world leaders from over 80 countries gathered at the conference, she critiqued the blasphemous paper, defended Islam, articulated the strategies Islam had provided in addressing the AIDS pandemic, articulated the true rights and status of women in Islam, defended the dignity that Islam gave women, gave clarification on the issues raised, presented a prefect module for HIV/AIDS prevention and response and led international press conferences supported by the Chief Kadhi of Kenya and other Muslim leaders from various countries. The Malaysian high command of Islamic seating, the JAKIM, was involved and the speaker retracted the blasphemous document and retraced her steps. Other controversial papers by two other speakers were also retracted from the conference and Nazlin’s interjection by being appointed by the Muslim speakers to speak on behalf of the conference delegates, saved the conference from collapse and highlighted the Islamic strategies that were the catalyst in fighting the deadly virus.
Nazlin was invited as a guest of state UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, CRISS-CROSSING IN WASHINGTON DC, NEWYORK, OAKLAHOMA, CINCINNATTI, COLUMBUS, OHIO, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, LOUSIANNA, NEW ORLEANS AND VIRGINIA ON A TOUR OF HIV/AIDS, AND YOUTH, WOMEN, GENDER, THE ROLE OF FAITH, GLOBAL FUNDING,
Nazlin was invited as a guest of the united states government by the department of state in 2002 and travelled through various programmers, institutions, the Capital Washington D. C. and the states of New York, Ohio, Cincinnati, Seattle, Washington, New Orleans and Oklahoma on an HIV/AIDS, human rights and Youth mission as a guest of the United States department of State. The visits targeted community based NGO’s, vulnerable groups, churches, mosques, universities, state departments and included a visit to the Congress where Nazlin met some congressmen and lobbied for the increase of the PEPFAR – USAID, government of America’s increase of the global aids fund as and the amount of money contributed by the US government to combat AIDS in Africa was the same amount used by the US government of combat AIDS in America which by then had only 900, 000 persons living with the virus in comparison to over 40, 000, 000 million Africans living with HIV and to focus on supporting faith –based initiatives as a model to combat HIV AIDS as the secular model in the west which had been imposed upon Africa and third world countries had failed and indeed exacerbated the increase of infection and death. This was later to materialize as the world saw the increase of global funding by the US government to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa through the PEPFAR programme and later, Nazlin’s popular ground-breaking historical project, “breaking the silence Behind the veil” in Kenya was to gain support from. (this is explained elsewhere in this profile)
UNITED KINGDOM, LONDON, INVITED BY ISLAMIC RELIEF, UK;
During the Holy month of Ramadhan in 2009 as a guest of honor in all night fundraiser live vigil on ISLAM TV in London with a national reach in England to lobby, advocate and canvass the plight of the peoples of North Eastern province in Kenya for water projects in Mandera for irrigation, farming and clean drinking water supply for the residents. Nazlin’s expose on the dire situation of the residents, extreme poverty, diseases, neglect by consecutive governments in alienating the north eastern province and Muslim strongholds in general in the all-night vigil raised 27 million (read twenty seven million) Kenya shillings for the said projects in Mandera which was the focal point in the live all-night vigil and fundraiser by Nazlin, the Islamic relief and ISLAM TV.
IN AFRICA ON HIV/AIDS,WOMEN, GENDER, GOVERNANCE, THE ROLE OF FAITH AND ISLAM AS A SPEAKER; Nazlin has widely traveled where much of her work on HIV/AIDS, Governance, Peace, Gender, youth, Islam and the rights of women have been shared and discussed as a trainer, consultant, facilitator and speaker in International, regional and national fora. Some of her African missions have included the following;
Nazlin was selected by the National committee on FGM and invited by the Office of the President, minister in the office of the president, Hon Linah Jebii Kilimo to present an Islamic paper on female genital mutilation (FGM) which was held at the Kenyatta International Conference center (KICC) in Nairobi in September 2004. Nazlin presented the Islamic position on FGM as being a misconceived negative retrogressive cultural practice and a violation of sexual, reproductive and human rights of girls and women and is forbidden in Islam and as is her norm, her paper was laced and supported with verses of the Holy Qur’an and Hadith (sayings of the Holy Prophet may peace be upon him) that in-fact the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessings be upon him never practiced it on any of his daughters.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE RIGHTS OF MUSLIM WOMEN IN THE SUDAN, HELD IN KENYA;
Nazlin was invited by WORLDVISION as the authority on the topic to moderate between other speaker and conclude the consultations held at the Inter continental hotel in Nairobi.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF AFRICA WORLD LEADERS, HELD IN NAIROBI HELD BY THE INTERNATIONAL WORLD FEDERATION OF PEACE (IIWFP) AT THE INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL IN NAIROBI as a speaker and special guest, 2001, 2003, 2005.
INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON TRUTH, JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION, HELD IN KENYA;
The Kenya national commission of human rights (KNHCR) at the safari park hotel in Nairobi 2004, by the then chairman of the KNCHR Mr. Maina Kiai, where the chief guest of honor was the Vice president His Excellency Hon. Moody Awori which gathering brought together experts and stakeholdres in kenya for the formation of a Kenyan Truth, justice and reconciliation admist commissioners from South Africa and Ghana to guide the forum on best steps.
THE 12TH ICASA, THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AIDS AND STD’S IN AFRICA INVITED BY UNAIDS AND UNDP AS THE ISLAMIC SPEAKER ON THE FAITH BASED ROUND TABLES HELD IN OUAGADOUGOU IN BURKINA FASO, WEST AFRICA.
For every alternate year the international conference on HIV/AIDS in Africa is held on the continent to seek renewed solutions to the AIDS pandemic. Nazlin was the Islamic speaker on the focal faith-based round tables in 2001. Her presentation was a turning point for HIV/AIDS intervention, highlighting the realities in the Muslim population and in a novelle ground-breaking manner bringing out the true Islam, the phenomenal provisions in the Holy Quran and the Sunnah (the lifestyle and sayings of the prophet) which forms an integral part of the basis of the Islamic Sheria Law, of which she is an expert authority and thus created a catalyst transformation within all levels of interventions, policy and implementation as up until then, there was darkness, ignorance, misinformation, mystification, neglect, imposed and self-imposed discrimination, marginalization and stigma upon the Muslim nations and populace worldwide. Her paper presented in this international forum has grown into a book for free distribution to the entire world as her contribution to the field of AIDS- an Islamic HIV/AIDS hand book, sourced with authorities from the Holy Qur’an and the Hadith which form the basis of the Shari’ah on every aspect of HIV and AIDS– “The Islamic exposition into Gender, Sexuality and the AIDS scourge: Islam’s strategies and the Global Muslim community’s challenges in response to the AIDS pandemic – transforming the response.”
ONCE AGAIN, FOR THE 13TH ICASA, THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AIDS AND STD’S IN AFRICA INVITED BY UNAIDS AND UNDP AS THE ISLAMIC SPEAKER ON THE FAITH BASED ROUND TABLES HELD IN NAIROBI, KENYA
Every alternate year the international conference on HIV/AIDS in Africa is held on the continent to seek renewed solutions to the AIDS pandemic. Nazlin was the Islamic speaker on the focal faith-based round tables in 2003. Nazlin was also a member of the National Aid Control Councils planning committee of the 13th ICASA to be held in Nairobi under the docket of the minister Hon Chris Murungaru. She had expanded hwer last presentation in Bourkina faso into an Islamic HIV/AIDS hand book, sourced with authorities from the Holy Qur’an and the Hadith which form the basis of the Shari’ah on every aspect of HIV and AIDS– “The Islamic exposition into Gender, Sexuality and the AIDS scourge: Islam’s strategies and the Global Muslim community’s challenges in response to the AIDS pandemic – transforming the response.” And this forum once more, was a turning point for HIV/AIDS intervention, highlighting the realities in the Muslim population and in a novelle ground-breaking manner bringing out the true Islam, the phenomenal provisions in the Holy Quran and the Sunnah (the lifestyle and sayings of the prophet) which forms an integral part of the basis of the Islamic Sheria Law, of which she is an expert authority and thus created a catalyst transformation within all levels of interventions, policy and implementation as up until then, there was darkness, ignorance, misinformation, mystification, neglect, imposed and self-imposed discrimination, marginalization and stigma upon the Muslim nations and populace worldwide.
SOUTH AFRICA, DURBAN, EGAD COUNTRY MEMENRS LEADERS;
invited by UNAIDS and UNDP to present the Islamic perspective on the faith based round tables and again as the Islamic speaker in the Egad countries “mainstreaming HIV/AID’s in various sectors” where Nazlin was invited by the UNDP as a speaker on HIV/AIDS, gender, Islam and the role of faith and women’s rights in combating the virus. Leaders from the armed forces, religious sector, business sector, civil society and government dockets were participants from all EGAD member counties in Africa.
SOMALILAND, NORTHERN HORN OF AFRICA;
The International Republican Institute (IRI), based in Washington DC with the East Africa regional offices located in Nairobi held a four day seminar for Somaliland Muslim Women Advocacy in Somaliland from January 22nd to 25th 2005. Nazlin Umar was invited as a resource person and role model for the seminar as a world renowed woman rights and gender activist who has demonstrated that democracy is a central part of her life and is not exclusive to any particular region or religion. The main objectives were to expand women activism in target communities, increase men’s support for cooperation with women activism, enhance the effectiveness of women’s democratic activism inside and outside of government and demonstrate that women -led democratic activism can help to improve development and the quality of life. This also entailed national deliberations with members of the cabinet, the speakers of the parliament, the donor bodies, civil society and women leaders.
NAZLIN WAS INVITED AND TRAINED REGIONAL LEADERS FROM ALL SECTORS FROM AFRICA IN KENYA AT THE METHODIST CONFERENCE CENTER WHERE SHE TRAINED LEADERS FROM AFRICA ON “WOMEN, GENDER AND HIV/AIDS” IN 2003.
UGANDA, for the First International Muslim leaders consultation on AIDS supported by UNAIDS and the Islamic medical association of Uganda 2003.
TANZANIA, for regional leaders comprehensive training on gender, HIV/AIDS and Policy, 2002 at the TGNP, Center in Daressalam.
INVITED BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF THE KINGDOM OF BUGANDA, UGANDA, as his chief guest at the Jinja agricultural show held in Jinja, Uganda in 2010.
Nazlin was invited by WORLD VISION as a moderator to moderate, critique and close an international workshop held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi in 2004 on Muslim women’s rights and the Islamic Shariah Law in southern Sudan before the southern Sudan’s liberation as a republic.
In KENYA as a speaker in several National, regional and International conferences on AIDS, FGM, women’s and children’s rights movements, women and land rights, gender issues, leadership, the role of religion, peace building and governance, human trafficking of persons in Kenya and regionally (all this is explained elsewhere in this profile).
KENYA, GOVERNMENT OF KENYA, NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CHILDREN IN NEED OF SPECIAL PROTECTION, August 2001, as a key contributor representing the Muslim faithful in the country, hosted by the Hon Vice president George Saitoti.
KENYA. GOK, MINISTRY OF HEALTH FAITH-BASED CONSULTATIONS ON HIV/AIDS, 2003, NAZLIN WAS INVITED BY THE MINISTER OF HEALTH BY THE HON. MINISTER CHARITY NGILU and proposed by the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims to speak on behalf of the Muslim populace in Kenya and present the Islamic position on HIV/AIDS and the use of the condom. Nazlin supported the use of the condom but strictly within married unions and especially within polygamous relation-ships to control the virus and other infections from spreading between spouses. This made a huge impact in Kenya and the Chief Kadhi who was present in the meeting also supported Nazlin’s issuance of an Islamic decree (fatwa) on the use of the condom within matrimonial setups only as Islam prohibits adultery and sex outside the confines of marriage, this was a breakthrough to combat transmission of the virus within spouses who are either polygamous or are not faithful to their matrimonial spouses.
KENYA; INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY, KENYA, MOMBASA, Nazlin was invited by the Government of Kenya and coast province women leaders in Mombasa as the Chief guest of honor at the Mombasa Moi Stadium at the International women’s day.
KENYA; Nazlin was recognized on her National and global representation of women and world peace and was invited by an international NGO to host and receive the grand-daughter of mahatma Gandhi on her tour when she came to Kenya in 2006 and launched a sister-hood peace initiative with her in a gathering that brought women leaders in Kenya together to witness the event and support global peace.
KENYA; Nazlin was invited by the KHRC (Kenya human rights commission of which the head was then the present Chief Jusitcie and president of the Supreme courts of the Republic of Kenya) and other NGO’s in a joint effort during a period of great debate in Kenya for adoption of abortion Laws of which Nazlin was very vocally against, on the 0th of June 2004 at THE OPEN FORUM ON ABORTION, held at the Intercontinental hotel, Nairobi. Her paper was titled – “The abortion debate in Kenya; adoption of foreign secularism and the sexual revolution of the west- The Islamic perspective”
KENYA, NAZLIN WAS INVITED BY THE NATIONAL MUSEUMS OF KENYA to present a paper on Islam in 2005, the environment and plant life.
KENYA; Nazlin was invited by the IIWFP now known as the UPF of which she is also a member of the African chapter leadership and global core member as the guest of honor and to kick start a nation-wide foot-ball event that brought youth together into sports as a peace initiative, launched at the Langata Womens’s prison in Nairobi in 2007.
KENYA; Nazlin was invited by the IIWFP now known as the UPF of which she is also a member of the African chapter leadership and global core member as the guest of honor and to launch the women’s wing of the organization in Kenya at the Intercontinental hotel in Nairobi in 2002.
KENYA; Nazlin was invited by the IIWFP now known as the UPF of which she is also a member of the African chapter leadership and global core member as the guest of honor and to launch the women’s sisterhood programme of crossing the bridge of peace and making a sister in Kenya at the Intercontinental hotel in Nairobi in 2002.
TEACHING ISLAM ON RADIO: NAZLIN’S IQRA RADIO 95.1 FM ISLAMIC PROGRAMMES; Nazlin has been a founder of and charged with setting up the first Islamic radio station in Kenya, IQRA FM a local Islamic radio station with the Late minister Ahmed Khalif who was also the secretary general of SUPKEM (supreme council of Kenya Muslims) of which she was later elected in absentia by SUPKMS’s national executive committee as the secretary of women affairs in Kenya. Her programme Islam and Muslims was the first programme to be aired on IQRA FM. She has a close relationship with IQRA since inception, at first as the founding member, then the Senior marketing, P.R. and head of Islamic programmes/ producer/presenter/coordinator, producing 29 different thematic programmes for the station, charged with a duty to develop, manage and expand programmes and production. Nazlin was also the authority of religious affairs at the station. She is a noted leader within the Muslim community and retained a close link through her several Radio programs and public lectures on a vast scope of issues ranging from Religion, Social and Universal sciences, HIV/AIDS, women rights and current/political local and global affairs. Her programme of Islam and Muslims was the first programme to be aired at the inception of IQRA broadcast network and Nazlin was the only Muslim female lecturer on Islamic issues at the station, she was the authority of religious affairs and programmes at the station and in charge of reviewing all Islamic, religious, social and political programmes before being aired. Some of the titles of her weekly prime time serial radio programmes as her programmes dominated the airwaves on IQRA radio in Kenya were;
-> Islam and Muslims (full 30 series) weekly on prime time;
· What is Islam and who are Muslims·
Prophets
Mohammed and the companions
· Religious obligations
· Muslim Society and the Islamic Sheria, the Islamic calendar…ETC
· Gender and family issues
· Marriage
· Divorce
· Islam in daily life
· Dress code for muslim men and women
· Islamic concept of life and death
· Human rights and social justice in Islam
· Human rights and social justice under Islamic governance
· Polygamy
· Truth of Jihad in Islam
· Truth of Qital (fight/war) in Islam
· The five pillars of Islam, Shahadah, salah, Saum, Hajj and Iman
-> View Scope – thematic focal programmes of Global interest on politics, governance and human rights;
· The Palestinian crisis
· Gender, youth and morality in relation to HIV/AIDS in Africa
· The DRUG epidemic and mind altering drugs(MAD’s)
· Terrorism, Justice and injustice
· Muslim women and the need to participate in the constitutional review process
· Islamic perspective of the equality Bill 2000
· Islamic perspective on marriage and divorce
· Islamic perspective on women’s political and economic empowerment
· Islam in Europe
· We don’t have to be perfect
· The hidden legacy of the Gulf and Balkan wars
· HIV/AIDS and the challenge of western modernity
· Universal sciences and facts in the Holy Qur’an
· Human rights and social justice in Islam
ü Q & A with other well known scholars on various topics of importance, weekly on prime time;
· the Kenyan legal system,
· marriage
· divorce
· inheritance
· Ramadhan
· the constitution review process and the role of women and Muslims
· women’s rights in Islam
· the Rwandan situation
· regional electoral and political violence
· the Equality Bill 2000
· the Kenyan legal system
· Domestic violence
ü Muhammad, the seal of the prophets – a series of eight programmes co-written together with her late paternal uncle Mohammed Akhtar Fazaldin, an Islamic scholar.
ü Islamic world news, weekly world news collation
ü Bab ul Suroor- a live radio show on universal sciences in the Holy Quran on learning about the creation of the Universe and its entirety.
ü Taking charge (a socio-development and life skills building & empowerment programme)
ü Focus on Women’s rights, Human Rights and social justice in Islam, weekly on prime time
ü Islamic world journal, weekly
ü Health alert, programme with specific health experts on critical health matters, monthly
Read Nazlin’s Complete Profile Here: http://nazlinumar.com/project/index.php/about/nazlin-profile
Read more about Nazlin involvement in Demistifying, Teaching, Representing and Reclaiming Islam through the following external links:
