SUNIAH AYUB

TRUSTEE

Suniah Ayub was born in Rockville, Maryland to a Muslim family. Her mother is from Karachi, Pakistan and her father is from Agra, India. She grew up in a multi-generational home, with her grandmother, Razia Omer, being a huge influence on her religiosity and spirituality. Her grandmother was a former headmistress of a public elementary school in Pakistan. Accordingly, she taught her, her sister, and other Muslim children in the DC community how to read Arabic, how to pray, and how to interpret the Quran. Her combination of kindness, humor, and educational rigor taught Suniah at an early age that religion and spirituality are not set in stone and are open to individual interpretation to fit one’s life. Her grandmother would often say “Namaz (Salat) and the connection to Allah are food for the soul.”

Suniah is now a mother of two beautiful children (Sarah and Gabriel) and part of an interfaith marriage to Adam, a Christian, that was officiated by MPV. She is an assistant professor of surgery and a practicing breast surgeon in Atlanta, GA. The warmth and acceptance provided by MPV inspired Suniah to join the Board and to find any way she can to serve the Muslim community. The MPV missions of equality, inclusion, compassion, and justice are inspiring and necessary to allow the beauty of Islam to reach all people and not just those who fit a very specific and narrow demographic.