That don't impress me much: Malala Yousafzai wasn't pleased by ‘Time’ magazine ranking
She was on the cover of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People list in 2013.
By PTI |
Agencies
In 2012, Malala was shot for standing up to the Taliban by continuing to go to her father's school and Ziauddin almost lost the very person for whom his fight for equality began.
NEW DELHI: When Malala Yousafzai came to know that she was on the cover of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People list in 2013, it hardly impressed her as she told her father, "I do not believe in such categorisation of human beings".
Her father Ziauddin Yousafzai talks about this interesting fact in his new book "Let Her Fly: A Father's Journey and the Fight for Equality".
Malala was on the cover and inside she was ranked number 15. President Barack Obama was 51st.
A driver named Shahid Hussain in Britain showed a copy of the magazine on his phone to Ziauddin who in turn showed it to his daughter. For over 20 years, Ziauddin has been fighting for equality, first for Malala and then for all girls throughout the world living in patriarchal societies. “While Malala was in the hospital, first full-time, then visiting for ongoing treatment, (wife Toor) Pekai and I needed somebody to drive us to and from the facility. One day, our driver, Shahid Hussain, who had become our friend, arrived with news of TIME magazine's 2013 list of the 100 most influential people in the world,” Ziauddin writes.
“Please I request you show this report to her. She will be so happy,” Hussain told Ziauddin. He gave his mobile phone to show her.
ADVERTISEMENT
Ziauddin took the phone and showed it to Malala.
“I was so proud of what was on the screen. She took the phone from me and studied it. And then she put it down. ‘Well,' she said, ‘I do not believe in such categorisation of human beings',” he writes in the book published by WH Allen.
Happy Birthday, Malala! A Tale Of Grit & Glory
1/7
A Nobel laureate at 21, the youngest recipient of the prestigious award, Malala Yousafzai is an inspiration to women and children all across the globe. Her undying spirit, courage and grit have made her a worldwide phenomenon. The Pakistani activist who, while a teenager, spoke out publicly against the Taliban's prohibition on the education of girls and has also survived an assassination attempt at the age of 15. Did you know that Malala is named after Afghan folk hero Malalai of Maiwand who rallied Pashtun fighters against British troops at the Battle of Maiwand and become a legend?
(Image: Instagram/@malalafund)
A Nobel laureate at 21, the youngest recipient of the prestigious award, Malala Yousafzai is an inspiration to women and children all across the globe. Her undying spirit, courage and grit have made ..
Read More
Malala was born in Mingora, Pakistan on July 12, 1997. Being born as a girl in conservative Pakistan was not easy. However, her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, was determined to give her every opportunity a boy would have. The one thing that her father did from the day was to let her fly and never clip her wings.
(Image: www.malala.org)
Malala was born in Mingora, Pakistan on July 12, 1997. Being born as a girl in conservative Pakistan was not easy. However, her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, was determined to give her every opportunity..
Read More
When Malala was 11, her father took her to a local press club in Peshawar to protest the shutting down of the schools and that is when she gave her first speech -"How Dare the Taliban Take Away My Basic Right to Education?". In 2008, The Taliban commence a campaign to blow up all government institutions. They focus their wrath on girls' schools which they say go against Islamic teachings. Malala's school, operated by her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, remained open, but was under constant threat.
(Image: www.malala.org)
When Malala was 11, her father took her to a local press club in Peshawar to protest the shutting down of the schools and that is when she gave her first speech -"How Dare the Taliban Take Away My Ba..
Read More
Malala had learned English by the age of eleven, and was already by that age a strong advocate of education for all. Before she was 12, she began a blog, using a pseudonym, Gul Makai, writing of her daily life for BBC Urdu. When the Taliban, an extremist and militant Islamic group, came to power In Swat, she focused her blog more on the changes in her life, including the Taliban's ban on education for girls, which included the closing of, and often physical destruction or burning of, over 100 schools for girls.
(Image: www.malala.org)
Malala had learned English by the age of eleven, and was already by that age a strong advocate of education for all. Before she was 12, she began a blog, using a pseudonym, Gul Makai, writing of her ..
Read More
Amidst all the causes that Malala is associated with, she hasn't lost the innocence and playfulness of the 21-year-old that she is. Currently, basking in FIFA fever, she is seen here showing off some legwork with the football and looks like she can kick some action on the field like a pro.
(Image: Instagram/@malalafund)
Amidst all the causes that Malala is associated with, she hasn't lost the innocence and playfulness of the 21-year-old that she is. Currently, basking in FIFA fever, she is seen here showing off some..
Read More
Nearly six years after a brutal attack that left her on the verge of death, Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai returned to Pakistan in March 2018. Yousafzai, 21, gave an emotional, heartfelt speech on her return to her country of birth, where she is still under threat of violence. In a speech in which she often had to pause for tears, the activist hailed the fact "more than 6 million dollars" has been invested on education in Pakistan in recent years, adding she hoped "we all join hands for the betterment of Pakistan for our future, to empower our women so they can earn and stand on their own two feet."
(Image: Instagram/@malalafund)
Nearly six years after a brutal attack that left her on the verge of death, Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai returned to Pakistan in March 2018. Yousafzai, 21, gave an emotional, heartfelt s..
Read More
As Malala celebrates her birthday today, the makers of her biopic have released the poster of the film. The poster reads, "One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world." The biopic will capture Malala's journey from Pakistan's Swat Valley to her efforts in getting the children of Pakistan to school. Her efforts got her worldwide recognition and admiration. The moving poster brings forth Malala's fight for education and peace in a Pakistan plagued by several terrorist groups.
As Malala celebrates her birthday today, the makers of her biopic have released the poster of the film. The poster reads, "One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world." The biop..
For over 20 years, Ziauddin has been fighting for equality, first for Malala and then for all girls throughout the world living in patriarchal societies.
ADVERTISEMENT
Taught as a young boy in Pakistan to believe that he was inherently better than his sisters, Ziauddin rebelled against inequality at a young age. And when he had a daughter himself he vowed that Malala would have an education, something usually only given to boys and he founded a school that she could attend.
Then in 2012, Malala was shot for standing up to the Taliban by continuing to go to her father's school and Ziauddin almost lost the very person for whom his fight for equality began.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Let Her Fly” is Ziauddin's journey from a stammering boy growing up in a tiny village high in the mountains of Pakistan, through to being an activist for equality and the father of the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and now one of the most influential and inspiring young women on the planet.
Told through intimate portraits of each of Ziauddin's closest relationships - as a son to a traditional father; as a father to Malala and her brothers, educated and growing up in the West; as a husband to a wife finally learning to read and write; as a brother to five sisters still living in the patriarchy – the book looks at what it means to love, to have courage and fight for what is inherently right.
