Alaa Murabit is founder of Voice of Libyan Women, focused on using words, not guns, to achieve diplomacy, cooperation, peace and security.
Murabit is convinced, and has proved, that “soft power” is more reasonable than violence. She knows education is key to economic and political stability, and that by walking into their homes she can motivate extremists with dialogue, intelligence and a job, even a volunteer one.
“The strongest tool in our arsenal is challenging misrepresentation and misuse of Islamic verse to promote extremism,” she said.
Murabit’s International Purple Hijab Day, a campaign against domestic violence, affected the Libyan prime minister so much he wore a purple tie. Then Queen Noor put the program in effect in Jordan. Now tens of thousands of Muslims are talking about subjects they didn’t dare talk about before.
“Prosperity, dignity, rights. We all deserve it,” Murabit said.
Photo courtesy of cartercenter.org