Yasmine Mohammed

Yasmine Mohammed is a Canadian university instructor, human rights activist, and author. Mohammed, who escaped a forced, abusive marriage to an Al-Qaeda operative, became an advocate for women's rights through her non-profit organization Free Hearts, Free Minds. She is a Center for Inquiry Speaker's Bureau member "and on the board of advisory for the Brighter Brains Institute.

Through her initiative Free Hearts, Free Minds, she supports closeted ex-Muslims from Muslim-majority countries and co-ordinates an online campaign called #NoHijabDay against World Hijab Day. She also has a website and hosts an online series on YouTube called Forgotten Feminists. Yasmine'sMohammed has been interviewed by Sam Harris, Seth Andrews, and several news outlets from multiple countries, and in 2019 self-published the book Unveiled: How Western Liberals EmpoweIn addition, Yasmine's Islam.

Yasmine's mother is Egyptian, the niece of former President Mohammed Naguib, and her father is Palestinian, born in Gaza. She was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. The family lived a secular life until her father left when she was two, leaving her mother with three young children. 

Yasmine's mother sought community and support from a local mosque, where she met a man who said he would support her. But, unfortunately, he was already married, with three of his own childrYasmine'sasmine's mother became his second wife. Yasmine was nine at the time and stated tmother'smother's situation improved because her new husband was not abusive towards her like her first husband was.

However, Yasmine states in an interview with Sam Harris that her stepfather was physically abusive toward her and her siblings. She said that her mother became what could be described as a "born-again" Muslim, which changed Mohammed's" life. She was no longer allowed to go outside to play with her friends and had to pray five times per day. In addition, she was forced to wear a hijab and was beaten for failing to memorize the Quran. As a result, she started attending an Islamic school established in the mosque.

When she was 13, she told a trusted teacher about the abuse she was experiencing and showed him her bruises. The police were called, and the case went to court, but Mohammed stated that the judge ruled that because her family was Arab, they had the right to discipline her in that manner. She says it made her feel that she didn't matter as much as other children due to this negligence from the Canadian authorities.

Yasmine has often described the way she was raised as "evil." She started wearing the niqāb at 19, after being introduced to her future husband. When Yasmine was 20, she was forced to marry a member of Al-Qaeda and had a daughter with him. She later escaped the marriage to protect her daughter from the threat of female genital mutilation.

She changed their names and moved to a different city, worried her daughter would be kidnapped and raised a Muslim. Even though she believed her husband was in prison, she remained frightened because he was a member of Al-Qaeda. Following her escape, she secured student loans. She attended the University of British Columbia, where she took a history of religion class and started to examine Islam more critically for the first time.

After watching Ben Affleck and Sam Harris debate Islam in Real Time with Bill Maher, Yasmine started speaking out. She has criticized Islam and the left - whom she accuses of inadvertently enabling radical Islam through their work to fight Islamophobia. Mohammed is a vocal opponent to the practice of wearing a burka or hijab and attempts to promote its use, viewing the hijab as "a tool of oppression, a garment that perpetuates rape culture." To protest against World Hijab Day, she promoted the hashtag #NoHijabDay as a social media extension of a campaign launched by Maryam Namazie and the Council of Ex-Muslims.

Yasmine also raised money to accommodate Rahaf Mohammed, an asylum seeker who fled to Canada from Saudi Arabia to escape her abusive family. According to Erich J. Prince, Mohammed has frequently commented on Islam's relationship with the West, particularly in Canada.