Meet the courageous patriot and the founder and CEO of the American Muslim & Multifaith Women's Empowerment Council
Independent Women’s Forum is pleased to announce that Anila Ali, founder and CEO of the American Muslim & Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council (AMMWEC), is the latest entry in our popular series of Champion Women profiles.
Ali founded AMMWEC in 2009 to help Muslim women “build a bright future together with Americans of all backgrounds.” AMMWEC is intensely pro-American and addresses both the immigrant experience and international affairs. The group’s mission statement says that “as Americans by choice, our work is a tribute to our great country and our heritage.”
After the October 7th massacre in Israel, Anila bravely spoke at the March for Israel gathering on the National Mall in November, even though she knew she would make enemies by doing so. She is proud of having become an American citizen, saying, “This is the freest place in the world for Muslims. I don’t want to live in a Muslim country because I would not be as free as I am in America.”
Anila Ali has a fascinating background. Her father was Qutubuddin Aziz—a diplomat, prominent author, journalist, and leading figure of the Pakistani Movement, which furthered the creation of Pakistan from Muslim-majority areas in 1947. Anila, who taught members of the royal family in Saudi Arabia, came to the United States in 1996 and taught in public schools in California.
She was extremely distressed by the anti-Israel protests at Union Station when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Congress. “The last couple of days in Washington D.C., after seeing the destruction of everything, the burning of American flags, American flags being replaced by Palestinian flags, I felt like I’m living in Gaza,” she told IWF in an interview a few days afterward.
We know you will enjoy learning more about this brave patriot.
