In honour of Islamic Heritage Month, Leenas Hijabs is doing a series on Inspirational Muslim Women. To start off, we are highlighting the legacy of Muna El-Kurd.

Muna El Kurd is a Palestinian Muslim who has garnered attention for being one of the faces of the Palestinian resistance. Muna, along with her brother, was recently named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People. Born in 1998, this 23 year old has had a painfully long history fighting to protect her land. Since she was born, she has experienced war crimes and humanitarian crimes against her people.

In 2009, when she was only 11 years old, Israeli settlers took over half her house under the pretext of a building without a permit. Her fight against the occupation continues to this day, and most memorably worldwide in May of this year when Israel ordered eviction for her along with 11 other families. 

The El Kurd twins have continuously raised awareness on the ongoing fight through social media. Muna launched an electronic campaign in the duration of this period, #SaveSheikhJarrah, as a means to spread awareness and have eyes on the situation.  She is one of the activists who played a significant role in protesting these evictions along with her brother, which ultimately led her to being arrested on June 6 by the Israeli occupation forces under the context that she had been participating in riots. Her arrest caused global outrage. She was eventually released after questioning, along with her brother. 

Muna continues to make herself accessible to news outlets and has assimilated the responsibility of a journalist by the residents of Sheikh Jarrah to encourage international support. Despite the constant harassment of Muna El-Kurd by the Israeli occupation forces, she has refused to back down and we now know her as a woman of strength. She is an inspiration to muslim women as she stands up for what is rightfully hers, by protecting her neighbours and protesting the oppression Palestine faces every day.