Moyra Dale has made a decisive and remarkable contribution to our understanding women and their experience of Islam. We, in the When Women Speak … network, benefitted from Moyra’s passion that women engaging with their Muslim friends anywhere should have the opportunity to become learners in their context and from their friends. She was not so much about telling you what you should know but providing a space in which you could discover and learn and go on learning.
Moyra was herself a life-long learner. She was the quintessential practitioner-scholar with a deep desire that we should all have some of the tools of ethnography in order to see our context, to be able to see and hear, ask questions and learn so that we could better inhabit spaces of learning and sharing faith.
Her incisive intelligence and passionate communication was embedded in a deep love for the Lord Jesus and those she taught and did life with. Moyra poured out her life to equip many women to serve in gospel ministry around the world, especially in Islamic contexts.
The When Women Speak… network was co-founded by Moyra and myself, and I had the privilege of imaging a different future for women living under Islam and for those who work with them. We enjoyed a deep understanding of scholarship and practice, and the network reflects shared dreams, gifting and creativity.
Moyra’s passing in August this year was a great loss for so many. We in the When Women Speak… network lost a friend, colleague and fellow-pilgrim in seeking to be faithful in walking with God so that we could represent him well to the women around us. Since the start of the network in 2015, Moyra has been a rich contributor to our blogs, webzine, book reviews, and in the courses and trainings.
We are taking the opportunity of the next weeks to share with you again some of the insightful blogs Moyra wrote. As we share these blogs with you, one of the women in the network will be sharing something from what she learned through the particular blog. Our next webzine will be dedicated to the articles Moyra contributed, so we invite you to watch our for that and learn from the rich insights of our friend and colleague.
If you haven’t yet been introduced to Moyra’s book Islam and Women: Hagar’s Heritage, visit the website here and order you copy, and watch the videos produced for each chapter. Next year we will run some book reading groups to learn together in reading and reflecting on this book.
Cathy Hine
November 3, 2022
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