Prestigious award for Islam For Today contributor Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood.
English convert to Islam and IslamForToday.com columnist, Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood, has been honored by the Muslim News, the leading monthly Muslim newspaper in the UK.

(October 27, 2001) At a recent ceremony at the Savoy Hotel in London as part of the 2001 Muslim News Awards For Excellence Sr Ruqaiyyah, who is the author of some forty books on Islam and other subjects, received the prestigious Allama Iqbal award for creativity in Islamic thought.  The award is named after Muhammad Iqbal, one of the most versatile, creative and original thinkers of modern Islam. He was born in India, knighted by Britain, but is most revered in Pakistan - which he never lived to see, but where his birth is an annual holiday.

Receiving the award Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood said:

"I felt overwhelmed and flattered. I thought it was a wonderful evening and I felt very honored to be selected. It is wonderful encouragement for people like myself who are striving in a private capacity, with no official backing or funding, to do their best for the cause of Islam."

Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood contributes to the understanding of Islam and Muslims through teaching and resource materials. A familiar name in the Muslim community in Britain, Ruqaiyyah is a former Head of Religious Studies at various UK inner city secondary schools.  She is probably Britain's leading authority on GCSE Islamic studies. She has set up a Do-it-Yourself programme to enable students of any age, background or personal circumstance to gain a good foundation in Islam, thus enabling them to gain the GCSE in Religious Studies (Islam). Her textbook on Islam has been on the recommended list for GCSE since the 1980s, and is still going strong. Her back-up Do-it-Yourself course is not only used by private students (including new converts, prisoners, and mature students from all walks of life, but also in State Schools and Muslim Faith Schools throughout the UK, and is being increasingly taken up by madrassah schools where those already studying Islamiat could find new targets and impetus for their work, and easily gain this extra GCSE in their school years 10 or 11*.

Her books introducing Islam to the general market include not only outlines of the faith and explanations of some of the controversial issues, but also counseling for young and old, those with marriage and relationship problems, or facing traumas such as impending death and bereavement. She is particularly involved with issues where Muslim women have been faced with hurt, abuse and exploitation.

Sister Ruqaiyyah identifies with the "battle to preserve Islam as the one true faith, tolerant, noble, and compassionate - in face of the growth of the 'other Islam' which is extremist and intolerant, and which she regards as both false and dangerous".

*UK educational qualification usually taken at age 16.

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Read Islamic articles by Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood at Islam For Today here.

View her book list here.

Visit her Islamic Studies GCSE site here.

Visit her main web site here.