ASIYA ANDRABI: : After my graduation I was planning to go to India for my studies because biochemistry was not offered in Kashmir University in those days. My brother, who is a doctor, didn't allow me to go to India for further studies as he was aware of what was happening in India to Kashmiris, especially to Muslim girls. So after a few days I went into my father's library and found this book, "The Inner Feelings of a Woman," compiled by Indian author Miya Faribad. One of the lead stories was of Mariam Jamilah and how she converted to Islam from Chistianity. She had a conversation with Maulana Maudoodi and they spoke and wrote letters and she was converted. When I read this whole it was the turning point of my life. And I made up my mind that Insh'allah I too would spend my whole life devoted to Islam. Before that I did not even know the ABC's of Islam, and that too from such a family that was known for their prominence in Islam (Andrabi's say they are part of the Sayyid clan, originally from Afghanistan ). And then I decided that a Muslim is incomplete unless he or she knows Arabic, because most of the books and key Islamic works are in Arabic. So I started reading Arabic. My father too was an Arabic scholar, and he guided me very properly, and I graduated in Arabic from Kashmir University.

ASIYA ANDRABI: In 1981 I started a school, a madrassa in Srinagar, and the response was very warm from the women folk. And then I started my organizational work. I went door to door and I went to the mosque and delivered speeches from the loudspeakers. I talked to women just to tell them the status of women in Islam, and how we were exploited by West as well as East – everybody exploits us. So let us see what Islam has given us.