Most Inspiring Person of the Year 2003

FINALIST:
Shirin Ebadi
Human rights activist


In May 2000, Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi was arrested and served almost a month in solitary confinement for opposing Iran's hard-line clerics. She had been collecting evidence that some of the clerics were ordering attacks on people working for freedom of speech and other reforms.

Ebadi knew the risks she was taking with her own freedom and safety--including anything from prison time to physical assault--but she persevered. "Any person who pursues human rights in Iran must live with fear from birth to death," Ebadi said, "but I have learned to overcome my fear."

Ebadi, an observant Muslim woman and a non-violent activist, believes that, even in fundamentalist Iran, change from within is possible. One of the country's first female judges in Iran (she was forced by the regime to resign in 1979), as well as a lawyer and law professor, Ebadi is known in Iran for her work in human rights, defending the rights of women, children, and political prisoners, and fighting for freedom of speech.

This year, in recognition of her years of work for human rights, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Shirin was at a conference in Paris when the Nobel award was announced; when she returned to Tehran, 10,000 people-many of them young women for whom she is a role model-came to the airport to welcome her home. But others in the government denounced her.

"She shatters all the stereotypes of Muslim women," Beliefnet contributor Omid Sofi wrote of Ebadi. "This award inspires the silent majority of Muslims worldwide who want to live quietly dignified lives, without having to be defensive about Islam as a religion of terrorism."

As the first Muslim woman to win the prize, Ebadi gives the world a chance to learn about the role of human rights in Islam. In Ebadi's words, "There is no contradiction between an Islamic republic, Islam, and human rights. If in many Islamic countries human rights are flouted, this is because of a wrong interpretation of Islam."

Beliefnet member Iman80:
The most inspiring person to me this year is Nobel Peace Prize Winner Shirin Ebadi. She's a strong character, speaking up for those who cannot speak up for themselves. She's a successful and reknowned lawyer and at the same time a devout Muslim. She's not afraid to speak up against injustice, putting her own life at risk, sometimes. Ebadi is therefore acting in the true spirit of this religion (compassion, mercy and faith in God).

More on Shirin Ebadi: A Huge Prize by Omid Safi