CAIR-LA is pleased to feature Muslema Purmul as the SoCal Muslim of the Week.
Of all the responsibilities Muslema Purmul balances, being a mom is the toughest challenge.
“Parenting is harder than all of them,” Purmul says. “It’s harder, but I don’t know of anything else in life that can make your heart melt that way. I have no words to describe it.”
Purmul and her husband, Jamaal Diwan, are co-founders of The Majlis in Orange, where Muslims are able to study Islam, hear public speakers and lectures and attend events and programs based on traditional sources of understanding the faith.
“It’s lovely,” Purmul says of the center, which opened in January. “We wanted to open a center that felt and looked more like a home.”
She and Diwan also are co-founders of Safa Center for Research and Education, an online platform that explores issues related to Islam and Muslims. Purmul also has written numerous articles on Islam, taught classes and spoken nationally and internationally about issues related to Islamic law and ethics.
A graduate of the University of California, San Diego, Purmul earned bachelor’s degrees in religious studies and Middle Eastern studies. She also served in various capacities at UCSD with the Muslim Students’ Association and the MSA West.
After graduating from UCSD, she completed the bachelor’s program in Sharia from al-Azhar University in Cairo. She also finished graduate work at American University in Cairo in Islamic studies.
Previously, she worked as a Muslim chaplain at USC, UCLA and UC Irvine through the Institute of Knowledge.
Personal: Purmul and her husband live in Irvine with their two children.
Last book read: “Hearts Turn: Sinners, Seekers, Saints and the Road to Redemption” by Michael Sugich
Quotable: “I wouldn’t be who I am without my faith. If you were to ask where my identity is rooted, it’s specifically rooted in my faith.
Do you know someone we should highlight? Nominate them at: http://bit.ly/MuslimoftheWeekNominate