Seeing how excited my daughter gets when she hears a woman reciting Qur'an, or sees a shaykha, or learns about someone like Sahar Al-Faifi​​, highlights over and over again how important it is for Muslim girls to see Muslim women active in religious/social/political spaces.

I want *every* Muslim girl to grow up not only that female scholars, reciters and activists exist, but that they are present and accessible.

I want every Muslim girl to grow up knowing that she has equal claim to Islamic knowledge, to elevate her voice in the recitation of Qur'an.

I want every Muslim girl to know that when she has fears or doubts or worries or even the most mundane of religious questions, she can turn around and find women of Islamic knowledge to listen to her, understand her, and be a safe space of guidance for her.

I want every Muslim girl to be able to say, "Oh yeah, I know Shaykha So-and-So! Yes, let's ask her!"

I want every Muslim girl to know that she has every right to pursue a future in the Islamic sciences; that she won't be dismissed because of her gender; that her contribution will be viewed as just as valuable and meritous as that of any male.

I want her to know that her Lord loves her and will elevate her for piety just as He elevated Maryam (as), Hajar (as), Asiya (as) and so many women who drew close to Him in love, worship, and obedience.

I want every Muslim girl to know that her questions and her concerns are not a source of fitnah, but a motivation to pursue a deeper understanding of the Deen.

I want every Muslim girl to know that her tests of emaan are not because she is inherently corrupt, but because she is being pushed to seek more than kneejerk reactions or shallow responses. She is being pushed to learn more about her Lord and His Wisdom and Justice. She is being pushed to learn what she needs to know to increase in love for her Creator.

I want every Muslim girl to know that her faith should not be dictated by or dependent on men telling her what she should feel or think or whether her faith is "strong enough";  rather, her relationship with Allah should always be nurtured and strengthened positively.

A Muslim woman's faith should not be the battleground on which the socio-religious politics of liberalism vs traditionalism is fought.

A Muslim woman's faith is precious, and should be fought *for* - not over.

And the only way to fight this war - not of gender, but of tawheed against shirk - is to remember that our women are not weak, but warriors.

Our girls carry within themselves the faith of Khadijah, the sacrifice of Sumayyah, the courage of Nusaybah, the ferocity of Hind.

Let us give them, then, the foundations that those women had; the support and the protection of their brothers, their fathers, their husbands and their sons.

Let us give our girls the knowledge and the respect and the wisdom that those women held, and passed down.

Let us raise our daughters not to live eternally on the sidelines, but to fight for their own faith, to learn it, to teach it, and to carry it forward for the next generation of Muslims, male and female, and the generation after that one, and the next, and the next.

{The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and establish prayer and give zakah and obey Allah and His Messenger. Those - Allah will have mercy upon them. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise.} (Qur'an 9:71)