Fatima Gailani ( ps, فاطمه گیلانی; born in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

in 1954) is an Afghan political leader and women's rights activist, who previously served as president of the Afghan Red Crescent Society. She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2021.

Biography

Gailani is the daughter of

Ahmed Gailani Pir (Sufism), Pir Sayyid Ahmed Gailani ( fa, پیر سید احمد گیلانی 1932– 21 January 2017), was the leader (Pir) of the Qadiriyyah Sufi order in Afghanistan, and the founder of the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan (''Mahaz-i-M ...

, the founder of the

National Islamic Front of Afghanistan National Islamic Front of Afghanistan (Mahaz-e Milli-ye Islami-ye Afghanistan, Mahaz-i Milli-yi Islami-yi Afghanistan) is a political party in Afghanistan. It has been led, since its founding, by members of a prominent Sufi family, the Gailan ...

(NIFA) who fought against the Soviets in the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...

. She graduated secondary school from the Centre d'Enseignement Français en Afghanistan. She then earned a master's degree in Persian literature from the National University of Iran and a degree in Islamic studies from the Muslim College in London. While in exile in London during the 1980s, she served as spokesperson for the NIFA Party in the West. After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 1996, she convinced

Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy ( ar, محمد سيد طنطاوي; 28 October 1928 – 10 March 2010), also referred to as ''Tantawi'', was an influential Islamic scholar in Egypt. From 1986 to 1996, he was the Grand Mufti of Egypt. In 1996, preside ...

, the

Grand Imam of al-Azhar The Grand Imam of al-Azhar ( ar, الإمام الأكبر), also known as Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar ( ar, links=no, شيخ الأزهر الشريف), currently Ahmed el-Tayeb, is a prestigious and a prominent official title in Egypt. He is consid ...

, to issue a

fatwa A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...

condemning the Taliban's ban on girls’ education. After the Taliban regime fell in 2001, she returned to Afghanistan as a delegate in the 2002 loya jirga and then to participate in drafting a new constitution. From 2005 to 2016, she served as president of the Afghan Red Crescent Society. In 2017, she served as chair of the Red Cross Conference. During the

Afghan peace process Peace processes have taken place during several phases of the Afghanistan conflict, which has lasted since the 1978 Saur Revolution. The National Reconciliation Policy during the Karmal and Najibullah governments from the mid-1980s to 1992 ha ...

after 2018, she served as a member of the Afghan government's negotiating team. While recovering from cancer, she was one of only four women to have participated in talks with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar in 2020. After the Fall of Kabul in August 2021, she stated that the negotiating team had been close to a peace deal "and then oops, the President has disappeared. For God’s sake." She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2021.

References

External links

* 1954 births Living people Afghan women's rights activists Afghan expatriates in the United Kingdom People from Kabul People associated with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement Shahid Beheshti University alumni BBC 100 Women {{Afghanistan-politician-stub