Munira al-Qubaysi

Qubaysi completed a Bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Damascus in the 1950s in an era when women in hijab studying at universities was either a rarity or entirely non-existent. Damascus of the 1950s was heavily francophone following the experience of French colonialism which meant that upper class urban families shunned outward religious practice such as hijab, and adopted a lifestyle that emulated European colonial ideals. Religiously conservative urban families on the other hand, commonly adopted another extreme in that they prevented their daughters from studying past the sixth or eighth grades and focused on training their daughters with the household skills that would enable them to marry early. Qubaysi was bypassed these polarized societal norms by combining religious piety and practice with secular education and professional jobs.[1]

She later earned another degree in Islamic studies (shariah) and learned both the outward and inward (Islamic spirituality) sciences of Islam from some of the most renowned scholars of Damascus.[2] She was given the authorization (ijaza) to teach and be a spiritual guide. She established her own independent women's spiritual movement while simultaneously maintaining collaborative connections with the major religious leaders of Syria as a Muslim spiritual leader in her own right. After she died, much of the major male religious figures in Syria and beyond came forward to pay condolences and recognize her work.[3]      

She was born in 1938 to an Algerian father, Muhammad ʿAlī Ḥusaynī al-Jazāʾirī, who was a religious scholar and spiritual guide. She earned a PhD in mathematics from the Soviet Union. She came back and taught for a while in Algeria before marrying a Syrian man and settling in Damascus where she was appointed as a professor of mathematics at the University of Damascus.[4]

General references

• "From Hijab Bans to Politics to Islamic Scholarship – 9 Major Moments for Muslim Women in 2022". blog.hautehijab.com. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
• Institute, Rabata (29 December 2022). "Shaykha Munira bint Hamdi Qubaisi [1933-2022]: Pioneering Mujaddida, Learned Scholar, And Beloved Mentor – An Obituary". MuslimMatters.org. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
• Salem, Feryal (2020). "The Emergence of Women's Scholarship in Damascus in the Late 20th Century," in Routledge Handbook of Islam and Gender, Ed. Justine Howe (1st ed.). Routledge. pp. 318–327. ISBN 9780815367772.
• "وفاة "منيرة القبيسي".. ناصرت الأسد وتجاهلت مجازره ونعتها شخصيات بارزة في المعارضة". Orient Net. 26 December 2022. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
• "Shaykha Munira bint Hamdi Qubaisi [1933-2022]: Pioneering Mujaddida, Learned Scholar, and Beloved Mentor – an Obituary". 29 December 2022.

• Qubaysi
• Islamic Revival in Syria Is Led by Women, New York Times