After a year of waiting, Nadia Kahf, a family law and immigration attorney from Wayne, has become the first headscarf-wearing woman to serve as a state Superior Court judge in the Passaic County, United States (US) of New Jersey.
After being appointed to her new position in New Jersey, Kahf took an oath on Tuesday, March 21, by pressing her hand on the Holy Quran inherited from her grandmother.
“I am proud to represent the Muslim and Arab communities in New Jersey in the United States (US). I want the younger generation to see that they can practice their religion without fear that they can be who they are. Diversity is our strength, it is not our weakness,” Nadia said during a sworn-in ceremony.
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Kahf’s nomination, which came a year ago but was delayed by Senator Kristen Corrado. She was confirmed earlier this month.
Know more about Nadia Kahf
Nadia Kahf immigrated to the United States (US) from Syria when she was 2-year-old.
She has been working in the country’s Islamic foundations for a long time.
Since 2003, she has been a member of the board of directors for the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic civil rights organization where she now serves as chair of the board.
Kahf serves as president of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, one of the state’s largest mosques.
She is also legal counsel for Wafa House, a nonprofit domestic violence and social service agency based in Clifton.
In 2020, New Jersey’s Insider newspaper ranked her among the top Muslims for influence in academia and business, government, law and politics, religion, social justice, and more.
Nadia is not the first Muslim judge
Kahf became the first state judge in the US to wear a headscarf, but she is not the first Muslim judge.
There are Muslim women judges working in different parts of the United States.
Nadia Kahf will be the third Muslim woman to serve on the New Jersey Supreme Court, which hears both criminal and civil cases.
Sharifa Salaam serves as Supreme Court justice in Essex and Kalimah Ahmad in Hudson.
With this achievement, Kahf follows in the footsteps of other Muslim women who have achieved success in the legal field.
In June 2022, Laila Ikram made history by taking the bench as the first female Muslim judge in the state of Arizona.
In January 2023, US President Joe Biden selected eight judicial candidates, including Nusrat Chaudhry who will be the first Muslim woman to serve as a federal judge.
