Khawla Mortazawi

Khawla Mortazawi is a writer, media professional and academic researcher, Head of Media and Publications at Qatar University, Head of the Culture and Arts Branch of the Qatar University Alumni Association, and a doctoral researcher in civilisation, comparative religion, journalism and publishing. She has served on media and cultural committees, developed and implemented media plans, and examined graduation projects by media students in Qatar University’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Her professional responsibilities included participation in numerous media and cultural committees and the development and implementation of media plans. She also served as an examiner for many media students’ graduation projects in Qatar University’s College of Arts and Sciences.

She grew up in a family committed to learning, culture and religious formation, where Qur’an memorisation, devotional songs and reading were actively encouraged. Her father was her example and strongest source of support. From childhood he called her ‘the teacher’, and at university he began calling her ‘the doctor’, opening horizons she might not otherwise have imagined. When she entered media, he supported her public appearance, speech and expression and rejected social restrictions on women’s visibility. Her mother was equally fundamental to the course of her career.

Much of childhood was spent with her maternal grandparents, whose influence created a parallel world within a rich imagination. Her grandmother’s stories and her grandfather’s wisdom shaped enduring principles that continued to guide decisions more than thirty years later. As the eldest child, she also assumed early responsibility for teaching younger siblings and monitoring their academic progress. The trust placed in her by her parents developed perseverance and accustomed her to considering the needs of the family as a whole.

Those foundations were reinforced within the extended household. Her grandmother Aisha taught her to love prayer by inviting her to worship from the earliest years. Her grandfather Abdul Rahman told stories of the hardships faced by his generation and of the mercy and generosity through which God had repeatedly delivered them.

She graduated with distinction from Qatar University in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in mass communication, then joined the university’s Communication and Public Relations Department. Professional study included master’s-level qualifications in business administration and in leadership and management from Cambridge College in Britain, as well as a professional diploma in international public relations from Majer Training Center. She also completed two academic master’s degrees with distinction: comparative religion at Hamad Bin Khalifa University and journalism and publishing at Omdurman Islamic University. In 2015, the Alumni Association honoured the Media Branch she had chaired since 2014 with its Distinguished Branch Award. In 2017, Qatar University presented her with the Distinguished Young Alumna Award for outstanding service during the ten years after graduation.

The accumulated reading, her grandparents’ stories and her parents’ confidence produced an ambitious and disciplined writer. She published seven literary and scholarly books and contributed to seven collective academic volumes. Her subjects included Islamic studies, interfaith dialogue, Islam and mental images, women in Islam and Christianity, comparative religion, Islamic media, journalism and new media.

Among the books to receive particular critical attention was ‘Qatari Press and New Media’, a descriptive and analytical study of how Qatari newspapers used new media in press services. ‘An Introduction to the Study of Religion through Psychological Approaches’ appeared in Arabic, English and French. ‘Exit Inwards’ collected articles and social-media posts moving between politics and conscience and addressing the blockade of Qatar; ‘Exit into the Light’ brought together specialised writing on religion and media; and ‘Ink Feather’ collected social articles.

She also wrote directly for children. ‘For the Love of the Homeland’ addressed national identity, while ‘Our University’ introduced young readers to Qatar University’s history, disciplines and programmes. Her collective work included all five volumes of ‘The Arab Book of Social Responsibility’, to which she contributed specialist articles on media and social responsibility. At conferences and symposia in Qatar and abroad, and in refereed journals and specialist websites, she published research on Islamic electronic media and representations of Muslim women; new media as a news source in Qatar; tolerance in Arab-Islamic thought; civilisational dialogue and international harmony; marriage in Islam and Christianity; psychological approaches to the study of religion; media coverage of disability; fair representation of people with disabilities; and the role of universities in preparing young people for responsibility.

Alongside research and participation in national and international forums, she wrote regular columns for several publications. These included ‘Ink Feather’ in the Qatari newspaper Al-Watan and ‘Exit Inwards’ in the Saudi newspaper Al-Youm until May 2017, as well as specialist articles for International News, BATH, a regional diplomatic magazine, Intellectual Environment, Doha Cultural Magazine and NAMA, a journal concerned with revelation and human studies.

She regards knowledge, continuing education and culture as the most effective means of self-realisation, service to society and honouring one’s family. Useful commitments may be demanding, but she considers them a source of good for the individual, community and nation. Rather than allow unhappiness, idleness or despair to take hold, she uses the pressure of a crowded life to renew faith, determination and hope.

One of the most painful moments of her life came when she learned of her father’s death while travelling to Malaysia. Returning to an empty place in the family home left her devastated. A very different experience also changed her perspective: she supervised the production and direction of ‘Prisoners’ Fingers’, a documentary filmed inside Qatari prisons to record the creativity of prisoners and the work made by their hands. The encounters moved her to tears.

Although the two events were far apart, each initially broke her sense of stability and then contributed to a more mature understanding. Pain, loss and shock became sources of strength, wisdom and a greater ability to meet the varied struggles of life.

The constant pressure of work, study and family left her in a race against time. Days crowded with responsibilities and intellectual projects could feel too short, yet she believed that blessing and mercy could enlarge what time alone appeared unable to contain.

She describes part of her daily work as breaking the ‘idols’ created by society when it confines women to particular occupations without a sound legal or religious basis. Media never caused her fear. Knowledge, determination, confidence and trust in God allowed her to confront social definitions of what was permissible and to challenge comparable restrictions in areas close to her professional life.

Research itself sometimes opened a clear path and at other times produced a maze. Moving through successful and unsuccessful experiences developed both intellectual and emotional maturity. She learned that, however dark or complex the route became, faith and a good opinion of divine decree remained essential. Alongside those who placed obstacles in the way, she encountered generous people whose counsel and encouragement helped her continue.