Canadian Muslim Leader Khadija Haffajee passes away

Pioneering Canadian Muslim leader, Khadija Haffajee has passed way in Ottawa and was buried on Friday.

Khadija Haffajee, originally from South Africa, was an educator and community activist in Ottawa, Canada and across Canada. 

Ms. Haffajee was also a member of the Board of Directors for the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), and on the national Board of Religions for Peace-Canada. 

She has given lectures on Islam in many schools, churches and universities locally, nationally and internationally. 

Additionally, Ms. Haffajee mentored university and college young women and reverts through study circles, book clubs, etc. 

For decades, Ms. Haffajee has held leadership positions in local, national and international Muslim associations. 

In 1997 she was the first female elected to the Majlis ash Shura of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and continued there until 2008. Ms. Haffajee worked with Afghan refugees in Pakistan during the Soviet War. She was sent on a lecture tour of Malawi and Zimbabwe in 1985. 

Ms. Haffajee also represented Canadian Muslim women at the UN conference on Women in Beijing China in 1995, the International Muslim Women’s Union in Sudan in 1996, and the World Conference on Religion and Peace in Amaan, Jordan in 1999. As a member of an interfaith team of women she worked on a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funded project in Afghanistan in 2003. Ms. Haffajee has received awards from many organizations as well as the City of Ottawa.