Queen Rania of Jordan has for some time had her own channel on youtube and has done a number of broadcasts attempting to clarify the reality of Islam, to present a modernist vision of the place of women in Islam, and to combat extremist interpretations of her religion.
The queen, who (like me) is a graduate of the American University in Cairo, worked at Citibank and Apple Computers in the region before marrying Abdullah bin Hussein of Jordan in 1993 (he is now King Abdullah II). She has been lauded for her work for women’s rights in Jordan, and she is a new breed of queen, holding the rank of colonel in the Jordanian armed forces.
The queen was given award as a visionary at the youtube streaming video awards show recently, and accepted it with grace and humor, doing her take-off on David Letterman’s top ten list.
Also check out her more serious interventions. Here is part I of Queen Rania’s interview with Fareed Zakaria on women and Islam on CNN:
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