Being ME Muslimah Empowered The Gift of Optimism: Positivity in Despair

Contributed By: events coordinator
Organizing Institution: Being ME Muslim Empowered Toronto
Contact email: [email protected]
Start Date: January 28, 2024 (1:00pm)
End Date: January 28, 2024 (2:00pm EST)
Cost: $15.00
Website: https://muslimlink.ca/events/ottawa/event/19352-being-me-muslimah-empowered-the-gift-of-optimism-positivity-in-despair
– ---

Description:

BME Girl Talk is excited to share its first ever course for Winter 2024. The “Beloved Gifts” offers enriched perspectives on how the Quran and Sunnah establish the gifts of optimism, community solidarity, and Ramadan spiritual preservation as Muslim women.

For ages 10 to 16 years old

Sunday, 28 January 2024

1 pm EST/ 11 am MST/ 10 am PST

Dr Mona Rahman

TOPIC: The Gift of Optimism: Positivity in Despair

In seeking out ways to inspire optimism within our communities during times of hardship, we warmly invite you to join in on discussions about:

1. How our exemplary role models in the Seerah and Islamic History inspired their communities to rise above fitna.

2. How sustaining optimism during despair deepens our optimism and trust in Allah SWT.

Registration Required

About the Speaker:

Dr. Mona Rahman is the Research Awards Officer in the Vice Principal Research Portfolio at Queen’s University and a lifelong member of the Islamic Society of Kingston (ISK), for which she is involved in the Islamic Information and Outreach Committee and the Education Committee. She served as inaugural interim Co-Chair of UCARE (University Committee for Anti-Racism and Equity) at Queen’s.

Mona was born and raised in Kingston; some might say she was also born and raised at Queen’s University as she was born while her father was in the midst of graduate studies. She followed in his footsteps by studying at Queen’s as well, completing a BSc (Hon) degree in Biochemistry for which she garnered the Governor-General’s Silver Medal, the Prince of Wales Prize and the Medal in Biochemistry. In third year, she was one of ten Canadian third year biochemistry and chemistry students in Canada to be granted the Merck Frosst Medal. After her undergraduate degree she went directly into the PhD program in Biochemistry which she defended in 2001. After a post-doctoral fellowship in Vascular Biology at the Robarts Research Institute (London, ON) she returned to Kingston where she worked in a multidisciplinary research group in the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Science at Queen’s before transitioning to the Vice-Principal Research Portfolio in 2017.

Mona works with both children and youth in the Muslim community, as the Coordinator of the Muslim Children’s Circle and a teacher at the ISK Evening & Weekend school. Mona makes regular presentations on Islam, Muslims, and relevant topics to various audiences (i.e., schools, on campus, etc.). She is Co-Chair for the Give30 Campaign in Kingston, which aims to raise money for local Food Banks during Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. She also serves on the Board for Family and Children’s Services of Frontenac, Lennox and Addington (FACSFLA) and is Co-Chair of the Community Equity Advisory Committee of the Limestone District School Board.

In addition to her scientific publications, she has contributed a chapter entitled “Activism: A Part of Life” in a collection of essays entitled: “Muslim Women Activists in North America: Speaking for Ourselves” edited by fellow Queen’s alumna, Dr. Katherine Bullock. Most importantly, she is the mother of two teenage boys whom she labels as “Barbangali”, descended from grandparents who came from Barbados and Bangladesh, respectively.