Amal Aqilyare

Ustadha Amal Abdifatah was born in Virginia and raised in Minnesota, and traces her roots to Degehabur in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. She has had a lifelong interest in the Islamic sciences. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Strive Sisterhood, a nonprofit organization and Islamic women’s learning center dedicated to spreading Islamic knowledge to Muslim women.

Her work with SEED grows from the same conviction that has shaped Strive Sisterhood: that education is the foundation of a dignified life, and that communities are strengthened most durably when their women and children are educated. She brings to the board the experience of building and leading a learning institution from the ground up, and a deep understanding of how knowledge is transmitted, valued and sustained in Somali and Muslim communities.

Ustadha Amal received her elementary, middle and high school education at Al-Amal School, a private Islamic school in Minnesota. She went on to study Islam traditionally, enrolling in and graduating from the five-year Alimiyah Program at Qalam Institute in Dallas, Texas. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies from the University of Minnesota, with a focus on Islam, and is currently a Master’s student at the Islamic University of Minnesota, where she studies Hadith with Sh. Tariq Awadullah.