Aisha Al-Mannai

Her Excellency Dr Aisha bint Youssef bin Omar Al-Hamad Al-Mannai is Director of the Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani Centre for Muslim Contributions to Civilisation, Vice-Chair of the Doha International Centre for Interfaith Dialogue, a former member of Qatar’s Shura Council, and an academic and researcher in Islamic doctrine and philosophy.

Through the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue, she supported the social-development path of Qatar National Vision 2030 by promoting a safe, just and ethically grounded society able to engage constructively with others.

She spent a simple childhood in Al Kharaitiyat and was known for shyness and silence. School initially proved difficult enough for her to be temporarily expelled, but her mother appealed to the grandfather who held authority in the family and secured her return. The school then had only twelve girls. Her father died before she was eleven, leaving the family to navigate education and responsibility without him.

Her grandfather later refused for a year to let her attend preparatory school in Doha. He relented only after a cousin enrolled, allowing her education to continue. She had intended to study psychology, but entered the Islamic-studies programme at Qatar University’s College of Education, gained a teaching qualification and became a teaching assistant in the College of Sharia.

Between 1981 and 1990, she studied at Al-Azhar University, completing master’s and doctoral work in Islamic doctrine and religions. On returning, she taught in Qatar University’s College of Sharia and Islamic Studies, became Vice-Dean and then Dean of the College of Sharia and Law, and was the first woman at Gulf and Arab level to hold a deanship in this field.

In 2003, she led the organisation of an international interfaith conference through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The first three conferences established the foundation for the Doha International Centre for Interfaith Dialogue, created by a decision of His Highness the Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. She continued to serve the centre as Vice-Chair.

Her academic and institutional work also included helping scholars establish the College of Islamic Studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University and serving as its dean for one year. She later became head and then Director of the Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani Centre for Muslim Contributions to Civilisation. She encouraged students to place their learning in national service rather than confine it to the classroom.

Public responsibility extended beyond those posts. She served on the committee of trustees for the State Encouragement and Appreciation Awards, joined the National Human Rights Committee and participated in a Europe–Mediterranean–Gulf working group concerned with cultural dialogue.

The interfaith centre delivered fourteen international conferences in Qatar as well as the country’s first Sunni–Shia dialogue conference. Its work used soft diplomacy to counter extremism and terrorism, engaged with the many communities living in Qatar and produced research that brought religious and cultural perspectives into sustained discussion.

Television, radio and the press widened the reach of that work. She delivered lectures and papers in Germany, Italy, Poland, Belgium, Britain, Turkey, Iran, Sarajevo and elsewhere, including a University of Wisconsin lecture on Islam’s position towards other religions.

Recognition included Egypt’s First Class Order of Sciences and Arts, Iran’s Peace and Rapprochement Personality award, a Community Service award in the United Arab Emirates, a Gulf Excellence award, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ Henry Davison Award and an Arab Parliamentary Union award for parliamentary excellence.

Her publications include ‘Abu Hafs Omar Al-Suhrawardi: His Life, Method and Opinions’, written with Dr Ahmed Al-Sayeh, and ‘Principles of Doctrine among the Mu’tazilites and Imami Shi’a’. Her research has also examined family education and the challenges of globalisation, Muslim women and prophethood.

Leadership in a field long dominated by men brought resistance. Some objected to a woman taking part in religious dialogue, while a meeting of Gulf deans of Sharia colleges was delayed for two years because several participants rejected a woman chairing it. When the meeting was finally held, professional and respectful engagement demonstrated that the obstacle could be overcome.