9 'jihadis' everyone should know about

As co-chair of the Women's March on Washington D.C., Sarsour was instrumental in mobilizing hundreds of thousands in peaceful demonstrators against Trump's administration. 

Prior to the Women's March, Sarsour has been a leading activist in New York, successfully campaigning for the city's schools to recognize Muslim holidays and to end the police departments controversial mosque surveillance program.

She has used her national platform to advocate not only for Muslims but the rights of all minorities. Sarsour told protestors in D.C. to keep their voices raised for "black women, for native women, for undocumented women, for our LGBTQIA communities, for people with disabilities."

"You can count on me, your Palestinian Muslim sister, to keep her voice loud, keep her feet on the streets, keep my head held high, because I am not afraid," she said. 

Although some have raised concerns that Ali's powerful Muslim legacy is being hidden in the wake of his death, the truth will not disappear.

As a Black American Muslim convert, Ali was a resounding political voice and activist as much as he was a world heavyweight champion. By standing up to power in the face of societal oppression, he became a symbol to his generation. 

Ali remained an active political voice in the United States, vocally speaking against extremism and right-wing politics that demonize Islam.

"Speaking as someone who has never been accused of political correctness, I believe that our political leaders should use their position to bring understanding about the religion of Islam and clarify that these misguided murderers have perverted people’s views on what Islam really is," Ali said in 2015 after inflammatory attacks against Muslims by American politicians.

Ali also stood firmly with Palestine, even visiting Palestinian refugees in Lebanon in the 1970s. 

While Ali may be remembered as a fighter, it's important to note that he ardently opposed the violence his government inflicted on others, particularly within the context of the Vietnam War. He refused the U.S. military draft in 1967 – even though it cost him greatly – relating his personal struggle as a Black man and his religious convictions as the justification for his decision.

"I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality," he famously said at the time.

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai was appointed a UN Messenger of Peace to promote girls' education back in April.

At 19, she is the youngest person to receive the honor. She was also the youngest person to win the Nobel peace prize in 2014 when she was just 17.

Accepting the accolade, Yousafzai said, “[Bringing change] starts with us and it should start now."

The Pakistani education activist has become a prominent global figure in the years after she was shot in the head as she left her school in Pakistan's Swat valley, northwest of the country's capital, Islamabad. Yousafzai who was fourteen at the time of the attack was targeted for her campaign against efforts by the Taliban to ban girls from attending school.

During the April award ceremony, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Yousafzai that she is "not only a hero," but also "a very committed and generous person."

An imam and a scholar, Suleiman is at the forefront of social justice movements in the U.S., for the Muslim community and other minority groups.  

He currently serves as the president of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research and a professor of Islamic Studies at Southern Methodist University. Suleiman is also the resident scholar of the Valley Ranch Islamic Center and Co-Chair of Faith Forward Dallas at Thanks-Giving Square, a multi-faith alliance for peace and justice.

Suleiman was instrumental in organizing protests at airports across the U.S. in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's ban on immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries earlier this year.

Working in coordination with leaders from other religions, Suleiman believes strongly in coexistence, dialogue and working together toward common goals.

"My experience with religions allowed me to always sort of have a love and appreciation for people of other faiths and how they developed, how they came to their conclusions," he told D Magazine in an interview published this month.

Khatahtbeh launched the blog Muslim Girl in 2009. Relying on the help of friends from her local mosque, she grew the blog from 1,000 readers to 1 million unique users today. 

The New York Times has called her a "media titan" and she has grown the site to a team of some 50 editors and writers. Muslim Girl covers a range of issues from anti-black racism in the Muslim community to coping with your period as a Muslim woman. 

Most importantly, the site provides a platform for Muslim women's voices to be heard.

"If there’s one thing our movement proves, it’s that nobody is ever voiceless – just silenced," Khatahtbeh told StepFeed earlier this year. 

"Muslim Girl shows the magic of what can happen when underrepresented narratives are passed the mic and young people have the courage to be authentically who they are in the face of adversity."

Rashid has become a prominent voice on Twitter, defending Islam and Muslims head on from misinformed – and often blatantly ignorant – attackers.

As a best-selling author, lawyer and academic, Rashid challenges Islamophobia by shifting the narrative and addressing misconceptions. He regular speaks about Islam at various universities and houses of worship, while also regularly talking to mainstream American media outlets, providing a valuable Muslim perspective.

But he doesn't just call out critics of Islam.

In March, Rashid wrote a strong reminder to Muslim men that it applies to them first.

"Hijab is a critically important Islamic teaching. No one denies this. But, it seems to me that too many men forget it applies to us first," Rashid wrote in an op-ed for The Independent in March.

"Let’s stop obsessing over women, and worry about reforming ourselves first. That apparently novel idea is indeed the true jihad and true meaning of hijab," he wrote.

Mona Haydar, a Syrian Muslim-American poet and activist broke the internet this spring, when she released an epic rap video. 

Rapping about wrapping her hijab, Haydar – who was noticeably pregnant at the time – became a viral sensation, raising awareness about the struggles of Muslim women in the West, and specifically hijabis. 

"Covered up or not don’t ever take us for granted," she raps in the video.

But this wasn't the first time Haydar challenged stereotypes surrounding Islam. Alongside her husband, who converted to Islam in 2012 after meeting her, she has been trying to "conquer fear through conversation."

Following the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, the couple started the #AskAMuslim initiative, where they set up booths around Cambridge, Massachusetts to talk to people who have questions. 

"We just wanted to talk to people and we didn’t see any harm in doing that," said Haydar, according to the Boston Globe. 

"We are just normal people. There is definitely fear [in America], and I want to talk about it, because it’s actually misplaced and misguided — I am really nice!"

Prominent journalist Mehdi Hasan hosts the Al Jazeera English shows The Café, Head to Head and UpFront. He is also a published author and the political editor of the Huffington Post's UK version.

While his journalistic work covers a range of political and societal issues, he has become an important voice defending Islam and other minority groups against misconceptions and hateful attacks. 

Hasan has been an adamant critic of the Western media's misrepresentation of Muslims and their double-standards in emphasizing attacks by so-called Muslims terrorists while glossing over attacks by White supremacists. 

"These days, members of the ‘Blame Islam’ crowd don’t even try and hide their evident glee when a terrorist attack occurs. They assume that the attacker’s Muslim name in and of itself is a vindication of their anti-Muslim bigotry. Their claim that 'Islam is the problem' has now gone mainstream," Hasan wrote in a recent article for The Intercept.

Through his journalism and commentary, Hasan attempts to address Islamophobia while showing the West a different perspective of Islam.

With jihad literally being part of her name, it's no wonder that Ayyad has made waves at such a young age as she reports on the oppression of her people. 

She made headlines around the world last year as one of the youngest journalists in the world. At just 11 years old, Janna is already active in resisting and protesting the Israeli occupation.

"Not a lot of journalists are sending our message from Palestine to the world, so I thought, 'why not send my message … and show them what is happening in my village'," Janna told Al Jazeera.

The death of her cousin and uncle due to Israeli violence triggered her activism.

"My camera is my gun," she said. "The camera is stronger than the gun ... I can send my message to small people, and they can send it to others."