By Nasiha Khan
Dr Quraysha Ismail-Sooliman completed her PhD with the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria and currently works as the Programme Director for Public Engagement and Science for the Centre for Mediation in Africa. She has worked as a project manager at the Centre for Governance Innovation and is a freelance journalist with her own show called Finding Me on DStv channel 347, where her work is focused on various topics that impact and influence the Muslim personal identity. As a proudly South African female, Black Muslim scholar and academic, much of her research is focused on decoloniality. Currently, Dr Ismail-Sooliman is gearing to share her expertise as part of an exciting panel at the annual Muslimah Today women’s conference set to be held later this month. Tabloid Newspapers invited Dr Ismail-Sooliman on the couch to learn more about this phenomenal woman.
Tabloid Newspapers (TN): In essence, who are you?
Quraysha Ismail-Sooliman (QIS): I am proudly Muslim, that is the identity I believe in and it is a struggle to maintain it, but it is the most important embodiment of my essence.
TN: What would you say drives the work that you do?
QIS: I learnt a long time ago that it is very important to make an intention before seeking something so when I went back to study in 2008 my intention was to learn skills so that I could empower myself with understanding, capacity and knowledge and then use that combination to share with other women. I have seen how a lack of knowledge and skills quickly traps women into circumstances they should never be in in the first place. By this I mean primarily in the home and community environment. What I had been learning about Islam and what I experienced from Muslims, especially with regards to how women were treated just felt wrong and unjust. Studying at university at a time when I sought the knowledge purposefully, opened my mind and ability to analyse and critique. I felt more confident that I could access Islam and its treasures on my own and the secrets that were unveiled gave me a new purpose and a new direction. I have been learning every day since then, and this is what drives me.
TN: You have your own show that explores various topics that deal with Muslim personal identity, political agency, Islamophobia etc. Tell us what prompted you to go on this journey to make this show possible?
QIS: I found that conversations around important topics such as these were simply not happening. As a community of Muslims we were simply not geared for the way in which our lived experiences were going to change. My first concern was understanding what was happening so that I myself could appreciate the context and then honestly consider issues. I felt that much of the negativity with which we were raised in the climate of apartheid and in the space in which religion was not only colonised but misappropriated could only be dispelled and dealt with if we knew better and had a deeper appreciation of the realities that govern our existence as citizens and subjects. Ultimately we need to appreciate that we do not live in a vacuum, that we have a responsibility to ourselves and all of God’s creation that can only be reasonably fulfilled if we are aware and conscious.
TN: Who would you say is your biggest inspiration?
QIS: My mother. There are things about my short time with her that have had such a tremendous impact on my life and I trace back things that are happening today to things she said, choices she made, stories she told and moments she shared.
TN: Tell us about your research on decoloniality.
QIS: The focus on decoloniality is important for me because it showed me how the racist, exploitative western system had subsumed our identities, intellect and essence. Through decoloniality, we incorporate a lens of delinking ourselves from centres of power, essentially centres that are harmful and, in many ways, evil. This allows us to then analyse a moment or event and judge the reality. In this way, also you see injustices and oppression clearly, not from a blinkered lens but from a conscious mind and it is this ‘seeing’ that is necessary for us to challenge the way in which the modern global and international system is operating. It is through this lens that we start to define ourselves which is different to the way in which we have been defined.
TN: Where would you say your passion for your work stems from?
QIS: From both my parents. All of the above are things I was exposed to in subtle ways through the lived examples of my parents.
TN: What is your favourite way to relax and unwind after a long day?
QIS: I love to play with and tease my cats, and now more than ever I am enjoying silence.
TN: Are you a tea or coffee person?
QIS: Lol! Both. Different moods call for a different taste.
TN: What are your hobbies?
QIS: Hobbies are luxuries these days! But I do enjoy hiking, swimming, sitting by the ocean and doing absolutely nothing. My most enjoyable moments, however, still come from just sitting and talking to my children and now my grandchildren as well.
TN: What is your advice for young women?
QIS: Know your worth, appreciate your Creator, be kind to His creation. Take time to be in nature and with animals and even if you do not like them, just be kind. What the world needs right now is kindness. Don’t seek marriage for what you can get from it or from a man, seek marriage because you know that you have the potential to contribute to the relationship in which you both will lift each other up. After all, this is a truth because the Quran says in 2:187 ‘They (females) are a garment for you and you (males) are a garment for them.’ Take note here, this aspect of protecting and securing and adorning is acknowledged as an attribute of woman. She carries immense strength, potential, beauty and power. Be that woman. Be proudly Muslim.
DNN: What are you looking forward to sharing with guests at the upcoming Muslimah Today women’s conference and why do you think this event will be so beneficial to women in all that it offers?
QIS: Covid-19 brought with it a moment of sanity and insanity, a time for reflection and re-set, and in the midst of these adjustments my sense of self and understanding questioned the frivolous and superficial. As I began this journey, peeling away at things that no longer mattered – that now seemed irrelevant and unnecessary – I wanted something with which to replace these spaces. After all, our cultural mindset has taught us always to add once we remove and so we seem to do this for everything. It is here, in this searching and removing, that I stumbled upon the Search for Beauty. As a woman, what can be more appealing than this, but like all contrasts, real understanding often comes only through seeing the opposite. This conference will cover a range of topics that most women can relate to. It is real, hard-hitting and relevant. It is all about personal journeys and experiences and it is where women talk to women, with no pretension.
