Iman Abdelbagi Ismail currently serves as the Events & Engagement Manager at the Rabata Cultural Center. By training, she is a Muslim chaplain with a Master of Divinity in Islamic Chaplaincy. Before her recent move to Minnesota, she held the role of Program Coordinator at Al-Mujadilah: Center & Mosque for Women in Doha, Qatar, where she coordinated and facilitated the Center’s social and religious programs since its inception in 2023.
Originally from Shemalia, Sudan, Iman was born in California, but spent most of her formative years in Laguna, Philippines. After attending an Episcopalian Eucharistic school, she sought a closer relationship to her deen and to the Arabic language, which fueled her decision to study at Georgetown University in Qatar. Her work and research often focused on the role of Muslim women in advancing Islamic knowledge, the ethics of spiritual care in Islam, and exploring the Quranic worldview through the lens of anti-colonial discourse and liberation theologies.
In her free time (that she chooses to spend productively), you’ll find her practicing tatreez (Palestinian embroidery), calling family abroad, finding new hobbies to spend money on, experimenting with recipes in the kitchen, debating with her husband about Maliki fiqh, and begging her cat Zanjabeel (Zuzu for short) for affection.