(Washington, D.C.; 9/19/2022) – The US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), held its first annual National Muslim Woman Achievement Awards ceremony in New York City on Sunday 18 September before a, adrenalized audience that cheered its five diverse American awardees and gave thunderous applause to its internationally headlining “Outstanding Humanitarian Award” selectee Emine Erdogan, the first lady of the Republic of Turkiye.
“Our religion tells us that the best competition among people is to compete in good deeds,” said Erdogan. “In this sense, our record is full of examples of a charity race that astonishes people.”
USCMO Secretary General Oussama Jammal called the event the culmination of a main objective of the Council: acknowledging the outstanding human and life contributions of the long-ignored Muslim woman.
“Since before our founding, USMO leaders have – and this is written in our earliest planning notes – had this intention to recognize the most unsung, overlooked, and best of our community, nation’s and world’s most compassionate, erudite, and socially uplifting people. And I say unabashedly. It’s the Muslim woman.”
| A packed joyous crowd shouted its agreement with the presentation of every awardee.
They loudly hailed First Lady Mrs. Erdogan’s humanitarian visits to the lethally persecuted Rohingya in Myanmar and the camps of Bangladesh, her “zero-waste” fight against plastic pollution and climate change, and her tireless work for childhood, especially girls, early education. |
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They roared for human rights and social justice leader Aisha Al-Adawiyah, founder of Muslim Women, Inc. and anointed “Queen Mother of Harlem,” whose yeoman work for Islam’s presence in the prestigious Preservation of the Black Religious Heritage Documentation Project of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. |
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They saluted and acclaimed the Mississippi-born daughter of a civil rights era family, Ayesha Mustafaa, Managing Editor of the Muslim Journal weekly, and the newspaper’s longest tenured editor ever, and also a major da‘wah force and educator for the incarcerated and a pivotal women’s leader for Imam Warith Deen Mohammed. |
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They boomed their approval for infectious disease physician, vaccine public educator, high school and child education and school Eid holiday advocate, and refugee resettlement humanitarian Dr. Uzma Syed. |
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They shouted hurrah for NASA Headquarters Earth Science Program Executive Dr. Tahani Amer, who currently guides not one but three crucial NASA land, air, and sea missions: Geostationary Carbon Cycle Observatory (GeoCarb), Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT), and Atmosphere Observing System (AOS). Dr. Amer joined via zoom due to business travel. |
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They rollicked in the isles for 2021 multimedia journalist of the year, NBC news Austin, Texas affiliate broadcaster, and first hijab-wearing U.S. TV reporter Tahera Rahman for her intrepid coverage of the tragic Uvalde school children mass-shooting, her Black Lives Matter protest reports, and, most of all, for her insistence to wear her hijab and become a TV reporter in the face of countless television executive “no’s.” Tahera joined via zoom due to work schedule. |
| “We hope this inspires both social leaders at home and abroad and our own community,” said Jammal. “Let them recognize the great, able, smart, and compassionate resource that is the Muslim woman of their societies. And may the daughters of this Muslim community feel empowered by the stellar example of these women to pursue their dreams to serve God by serving His creation.” |
