Na'eem Jeenah is a well-known academic and leader in the Muslim community and the anti-capitalist and anti-war movements in South Africa. Biography Na'eem Jeenah is currently the Executive Director of the Afro-Middle East Centre, a research institute dedicated to studying the Middle East and North Africa and relations between that region and the rest of Africa. He previously worked as Director: Operations for the in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has also taught Political Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Jeenah was born in the South African coastal city of Durban. Under South Africa's Apartheid Population Registration Act he was classified "Indian". He became involved with political protests in the 1980s when, while he was still in secondary school, the country erupted into almost a decade of nationwide student protests, followed by widespread resistance in trade unions and communities. After school, Jeenah entered the highly politicized University of Natal Black Section, the medical school (only for black students) that was attached to the (predominantly white and Coloured) University of Natal. Through his activities with the Muslim Students Association of South Africa and the Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa, he was thrust into the political limelight as these organizations became increasingly involved in the anti-Apartheid struggle. After spending two years at the medical school and a year at the University of Durban-Westville, Jeenah dropped out of university to find a job and get married. He married Shamima Shaikh, whom he met for the first time when the couple was arrested during a trade union-led consumer boycott campaign against White businesses. Shaikh became one of South Africa's most well-known Islamic feminists. She died in January 1998, leaving Jeenah with two sons. Jeenah rose in the ranks of the Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa to become its national general secretary and, later, its president. He was also, for a period, the editor of the Movement's mouthpiece newspaper, Al-Qalam. He steered the movement in a way that increased its political activism during the anti-apartheid struggle. He also, along with Shaikh and others, founded the Muslim Youth Movement Gender Desk, the foremost organization of Islamic feminism in South Africa at the time. It was also during the 1980s that Jeenah helped his organization and the Muslim community in South Africa to get involved in inter-faith activities - particularly through the South African chapter of the World Conference on Religion and Peace.