OBITUARIES
Tayyibah Taylor 1952-2014
Life of Azizah Magazine Leaves the Earthly Abode
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ayyibah Taylor — trailblazer, entrepreneur, leader, interfaith activist, peace advocate, role model, writer, teacher, mother, sister — succumbed to colon cancer Sept. 4. She was 62. Life seemed its normal busy rush in April 2014 for Taylor. While writing drafts for her next presentation, arranging meetings, working on Azizah magazine and caring for her granddaughters, her industrious schedule was interrupted with a sharp pain in her side that just would not subside. What started with a light “flu” became something much more serious. After tests, Taylor was diagnosed with colon cancer, and advanced-stage neuroendocrine tumors that metastasized to her liver. Taylor, who served on the ISNA Convention Program Committee, was the founding editor-in-chief and publisher of Azizah magazine launched in October 2000. The magazine was the winner of two Folio Eddie Awards and a New America Media Award. She was named one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World by the Middle Eastern think tank The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies. In 2013, Huffington Post named Taylor one of 10 American Muslim Women You Should Know. Through Azizah, Taylor realized her vision of providing a vehicle for the voice of Muslim American women that portrays their perspectives and experiences, and shatters commonly held stereotypes. She blended her passion for spirituality, women’s issues and communication to further the causes of Muslim women. She appeared on CNN and other news media outlets commenting on current affairs and visited 37 countries. She presented lectures on Islam and Muslim women at national and international conferences, including ISNA Conventions, the Harvard Divinity School’s Islam in America Conference; the International Islamic University of Malaysia’s Islam and Muslims in the
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21st Century Conference, the Belgian-US Muslim Dialogue, the Lecture Series at the Women’s College of Shariah and Law of the International Islamic University of Islamabad, and the Fulbright Symposium in Perth, Australia. Taylor worked on several interfaith initiatives and traveled to Turkey, Spain, Morocco, Jerusalem, Greece and Jordan with various groups of Jews, Christians and Muslims. In the spring of 2010, she was one of eight Muslims to meet the Dalai Lama at an IslamBuddhism Common Ground event and was invited to the White House Iftar in August 2011. In the last two years, she travelled to Belgium, Tajikistan and Afghanistan to speak about women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship, and to Jerusalem for studies. The Trinidad-born Taylor grew up in Toronto, and studied biology and philosophy at the University of Toronto. She lived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for several years. Taylor was an avid adventure seeker who went skydiving for her 50th birthday. She also loved to ride horses, parasailing and enjoyed family fun nights on Fridays. Taylor served on the board of directors of Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters, the board of trustees for the Georgia Council for International Visitors, the board of the Faith Alliance of Metro Atlanta, and the steering committee of WISE, an organization that convenes global Muslim women leaders and fosters Muslim women’s participation in Islamic law and contemporary debates. She served on the advisory board
of the Interfaith Community Initiatives. She received numerous awards for her work. She is survived by her daughters, Mariam Abdul-Aziz Brailsford, Atiaya TaylorMcGhee, and Saara Abdul-Aziz, sons, Adam Abdul-Aziz and Yusef Abdul-Aziz, and five grandchildren.
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ISLAMIC HORIZONS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014