I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
This month we’re looking at women’s history making this weeks book I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb. So let’s do this.
To understand Malala, you need to understand her father. I think more than most people, Malala is a product of parental love. Now, this is true of virtually everyone...whether that love is a positive thing or a neglectful thing, or a sad thing….for better or for worse, your parents shape you. And in Malala’s case, it was very much for better. Her father adored his daughter. While a lot of men, not just Islamic men, but men in general, want their first born to be a son, whether that’s for manly pride or because tradition says a man should have a son, Malala’s father, Ziauddin...and sorry if I mispronounce any names, I’m pretty sure that’s going to happen...but her father, Ziauddin….loved his daughter from the moment of her birth. She was the light of his life, regardless of being born a girl, from the moment she came kicking and screaming into the world.
And I have no doubt that part of that is that her parents, unlike the traditional arranged marriages found in Pakistan, were a love match. But part of that was that her father was also an educated man. And his greatest passion and driving force in life was to oversee the education of children, regardless of gender. A passion which would see him pushing back consistently against religious extremists who would eventually come to the Swat valley of Pakistan, where his family would make their home, in the small village of Mingora.
As a dedicated educator, Ziauddin was administrator for a school he founded and built up to three distinct schools over a period of nearly 20 years before it all came crashing down with three shots fired by the Taliban on October 9, 2012. But to get there, we have to explain why the Taliban targeted Malala.
So Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997 in Mingora, Swat Valley, Pakistan, to Ziauddin Yousafzai and Toor Pekai Yousafzai. Yes, the entire family is Muslim, and something like 95% of Pakistan is Muslim, the country having been brought into existence in 1947 after a split with India, whereby the Hindu population of Pakistan went to India and the Muslim population of India went to Pakistan. This was the agreement between the two nations when the split occurred, which sounds lovely on paper, but in reality saw hundreds if not thousands massacred during their various migrations to the countries of their religion.
Pakistan is the first state that was founded as an Islamic nation, a point of honor for Pakistan. When people say “not all Muslims…” in regards to the various horrifying acts which have been tied to Islamic extremists, it’s towards Pakistan they look, as Pakistan has fought a long, brutal battle against the islamic extremists known as the Taliban which were found well within her borders. And at the forefront of that battle was Ziauddin.
Every time the Taliban tried to restrict freedoms, he was there, pointing out that what they were saying was false, that what they were preaching was not in the Quran, and then saying what WAS in the Quran. And his fierceness in the battle arena of ideas rubbed off on Malala. Which is appropriate. While her name like literally means and translates into sadness, she was actually named after an Afghan heroine, Malalai of Maiwand, who rallied the Afghan people during the Battle of Maiwand against the British and Indian troops in 1880.
So Malalai...and her 100 years hence namesake Malala...are kind of bad ass women figures of Pashtun, the region of modern day Pakistan that produced both of these women.
And because Malala is very much her father’s daughter, she grew up loving the gift of education that was bestowed upon her by her father, and was a dedicated student. And her father fought to make sure she could get the education that he genuinely believed she, and all children in Pakistan, were entitled to. But he especially fought for the girls. Because in a country surrounded by Islamist extremists, it was only a matter of time before those extremists started crossing into Pakistan and preaching their version of Islam. Which to one degree or another, found a receptive audience.
Now, to be clear...they didn’t come in immediately with the extreme version of Islam. They started small, with like all good Muslim men should grow beards. Which seems like a simple enough religious request. But Ziauddin literally saw through it, and saw that by giving an inch on something as simple as facial hair, then eventually they would take a mile. And the mile he saw coming was the closing of schools, especially to girls, but mostly, the extremists wanted to open only madrasas….which, as I have learned through my various readings, does NOT simply translate as school. It specifically means a religious school where they study nothing but the Quran.
So...yeah. Ziauddin saw the problems that would occur when everyone is only taught the Quran, and not things like literature, science, math, and history, then society at large is harmed. For the record...the same goes for only teaching the Bible or only teaching the Torah. It’s fine to learn any one religion and religious book, but not to the exclusion of all other knowledge. Which is what the Taliban was looking for.
The first attempt to close their school came from mufti, which is an Islamic scholar, Ghulamullah. And he tried several times and ways to get the girls school closed or, barring that, getting the girls forbidden from attending school. He ideally wanted the school turned into a Madrasa. But was willing to settle for having the girls forbidden from attending. The compromise Ziauddin came up with, because if he didn’t come up with something, the town leaders might have caved to the mufti, was that girls would use the side door.
Continuing the assault on the freedoms of the people in Mingora was the local cleric Faqir Mohammad, who ran a popular radio program. And he used his radio program to preach the Taliban’s ideals. And then, in a moment of natural disaster, the Taliban had a chance to be the good guys. See, on October 8, 2005, a massive 7.6 earthquake shook Pakistan. It lasted just about a minute but left complete devastation in its wake. And when the government did not step up, the Talib did. Which gave them even more leverage. For a time.
But...well...terrorists gonna terrorize. And eventually, they began bombing and attacking the people of Swat valley. In response, the people of Pakistan who were NOT insane, started reporting in newspapers against the Taliban. One of them was a friend of Ziauddin, Abdul Hai Kakar, a BBC radio correspondent. And he wanted to publish a diary from either a female teacher or a schoolgirls perspective of what life was like under the Taliban. Malala was not actually the first to volunteer. That was her teacher Madam Maryam’s younger sister Ayesha. However, there was a lot of fear of the Taliban, and when Ayesha’s father found out he was scared for his daughter, and refused his permission. So Malala stepped up, and began writing under the pen name Gul Makai.
Her father and Kakar insisted that she keep her anonymity and not tell anyone that she was really Gul Makai, which she didn’t really understand. She couldn’t see why anyone would attack a child.
Until the bombings started getting really bad, resulting in the Pakistan military responding, and forcing Malala and her family into becoming internally displaced persons (IDP). So refugees in their own country. Fighting in the Swat valley was fierce but at the end of it all, the Yousafzai family did return to Mingora and resumed living their lives.
Now, obviously my summary here is exactly that. A Summary. There is a lot more detail and heartbreak and courage that leads up to the singular event that saw Malala headed towards fame she never sought. All she ever wanted was the right to go to school and learn, like every other child. But because she kept speaking out, publicly and loudly, the Taliban targeted her. Her father too, but he was never going to back down, and he was pretty consistently moving, between his schools, and public works, and political meetings.
But Malala’s schedule was pretty set. School. Home. Homework. The stress and fear was definitely getting to her, as it would. 15 years old and a price on her head by religious extremeists who did not think she was qualified to do anything beyond birthing babies and feeding them. And on October 9, 2012, as she was on the school bus home, two Talib stopped the bus. One of them climbed in back and asked “Who is Malala?” No one said anything, but the girls all looked at Malala. Look...no one is blaming them, certainly not Malala. The fear of the moment would have made it impossible NOT to look at her.
Now...I’ll say one thing for the Talib...they are shit gunmen. He fired at her three times, only hit her once. The other two shots went into her seat mates, so that three girls total were injured that day. The shot that went into Malala entered above her left eye and skimmed her skull, coming to rest in her shoulder where it remained lodged. She had been hunching over when the shot was fired, which explains the physics of it. She was shot with a 1911, .45 caliber pistol. Which makes her survival absolutely remarkable.
But it was not an easy survival. This was not a flesh wound. While she’s incredibly lucky the bullet did not directly penetrate her skull, it did cause bone fragments to enter her brain. More on that in a bit. In the moment, the very second the Taliban left, their bus driver, Usman Bhai Jan, punched it to the Swat Central Hospital. They ended up with a police escort when they police stopped the bus, and her classmate felt for a pulse and said she’s still alive, we need to go!
From there, it became a battle for Malala’s life as she was moved to progressively better hospitals. The Swat Central Hospital did a basic set of x-rays but knew they were not equipped to help, and Malala was flown via helicopter, with her father and teacher Maryam, to the military hospital in Peshawar. Why Madam Maryam and not her mother? Maryam had been on the bus with Malala, and there was not time to get her mother to the helipad. So Maryam went as a surrogate mother and Malala’s mother caught up with them later that day or the next.
The military hospital was not the originally intended hospital, originally it was supposed to be Lady Reading Hospital, which had a qualified neurosurgeon on staff, Dr. Mumtaz. But the government stepped in and basically insisted. Which kind of freaked her dad out, but ended up being the right call, for several reasons. Starting with security. The security was TIGHT, with military snipers standing guard any time Malala or her family was moved around. And, the military hospital had military combat doctors, and the one who oversaw her care was Colonel Junaid. Who looked incredibly young, but had 11 years experience in combat medicine AND neurosurgery. He had removed bullets from brains before. And was happy to have Dr. Mumtaz assist for the ease of Ziauddad’s mind.
Additional xrays were taken and they discovered the bone fragments that had entered her brain and adopted a wait and see. Which is medically correct. But when her brain started to swell, there was no more waiting, and surgery was performed. And she came out of it fine.
But then started foundering post surgery. And once again, God stepped it, in the form of Dr’s Javid Kayani and Dr. Fiona Reynolds, both from hospitals in Birmingham England, who happened to be in Pakistan assisting with setting up liver transplant programs. Dr. Javid is an emergency care consultant and Dr. Fiona is a specialist in children’s intensive care. And the consensus is that the after care was killing Malala. The hospitals in Pakistan simply were not equipped to monitor her correctly to ensure her survival.
Now, many countries offered their assistance, Johns Hopkins offered her free medical care. That was right out. Things were tense with America still after the SEALS had flown in and killed bin Laden without consulting Pakistan on the plan. And because Drs Javid and Fiona had made a positive impression, Ziauddad and Pakistan...the government was very much involved in this decision at this point because of the high press coverage that immediately exploded following the shooting… England was chosen as the best possible place for Malala.
But how to get her there? Logically, a military medical transport would have been ideal. They are already equipped with everything needed and the knowledge of how to transport the wounded safely. But the Pakistan government did not want to rely on any other military. To reflect on the impact Malala’s campaign for girls education had had on the world up to this point, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates stepped up and offered his plane, which was fully equipped with a medical suite.
And with that, Malala was flown out of Pakistan under the care of Dr. Fiona. Her family joined her 10 days later. The only reason they didn’t go immediately was government delays in passports for her mother and brothers. And her father was very worried if he left his wife and sons, Pakistan might not ever give them passports. Pakistan was worried the Yousafzai’s were going to seek political asylum in England.
Fortunately, Pakistan came to her senses. Shortly after the Yousfzai’s landed in England, Ziauddad was offered the position of education attache, which gave her father a diplomatic passport and a salary to support the family. Pakistan also paid all Malala’s medical bills.
And she began the journey of recovery, which included lots of physical therapy and follow up surgery to repair the nerve that had been severed by the bullet and was causing partial paralysis on the left side of her face and her left arm. It was not an easy road to recovery, but she did it. At some point, she realized she would not be returning to Pakistan...not yet. Not sure if she’s been back since this book was published in 2015...originally in 2013 but published with new forward and reading guide in 2015.
This book was excellent. I do have to wonder if members of the Taliban are capable of self-reflection. If they are, it might occur to them that if they are on the right path, God sure went out of his way to thwart their plans when it came to Malala. First, her bus driver didn’t hesitate to drive her to the hospital. There was no waiting for the police to show up. He MOVED. For which, as of publication, he was still under house arrest, suspected of colluding with the Taliban.
The local hospital immediately recognized they were out of their depth, and acted quickly to get her to someplace that could help her. The government got her a highly qualified combat doctor. Dr’s Javid and Fiona were, by providence, in the country and immediately available to offer their professional assistance. The UAE sent their plane to get her to safety….If any one of these things hadn’t happened, Malala might not have survived. So, it kind of seems like God used this moment to tell the Taliban they were on the wrong path. But did they listen?
Well….in among the thousands of letters Malala has received after she was shot, was a letter from a Taliban commander, Adnan Rashid, offering her forgiveness is she came back to Pakistan, wore a burqa, and went to a madrasa. So...no. They decidedly did not listen to God’s plan. And as much as she misses her home, according to the Internet, she has only been back twice since the shooting. Once in March 2018, and once in March 2025. It’s just too dangerous for her to remain there.
