حضرة ابو بكر سلطنتیں

Sheikha Munira Al-Ateeqi (1): Sheikha Munira Bint Sheikh Abdel-Rahman Bin Saleh Bin Saif Bin Hamad Bin Muhammad Al-Ateeqi was born in Kuwait around the middle of the first half of the thirteenth century after the Hijrah (before the year 1250 AH / 1834 AD). She was from the Kuwaiti branch of the Al-Ateeqi (Atiqi) family, which traces its lineage to Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq.

Sheikha Munira grew up surrounded by her noble family’s rich history in the field of scholarship and education, further enjoying kind and generous care from her uncles on both sides of the family. From the time she was young, she was nourished with a steady diet of knowledge, education, and refined manners, raised by her family to be a modest young lady with impeccable morals and virtues until she finally reached maturity.

She moved to Makkah Al-Mukarramah with her family, where they settled in the village of Shi`b Bani `Amer. Sheikha Munira was generous and hospitable, always maintaining the ties of kinship with her family and relatives and gaining people’s admiration because of the many types of charity and good deeds she performed. She often hosted pilgrims and visiting relatives who would come from Kuwait and Najd with their guests and stay in private areas set aside for them, where they would be showered with generosity.

Sheikha Munira’s home was known as the Home of Begum Al-Ateeqi. Begum was an honorific title of respect used by the Ottomans for women of noble lineage on both sides, and her mother, Lulua Bint Saif Al-Ateeqi, also held the same title.

Sheikha Munira was a generous philanthropist who established many endowments in Shi`b Bani `Amer for the poor and needy. She also freed a number of male and female slaves that she had owned. Sheikha Munira lived nearly 75 years during which she performed various good deeds, ranging from charitable endowments, hosting pilgrims, and freeing slaves to sponsoring reciters of the Noble Qur’an, maintaining the ties of kinship, and hosting guests until she died in 1326 AH / 1908 AD.

Source: Kitab Al-Sulala Al-Bakria As-Siddiqia – Part II, by Ahmed Farghal Al-De’abassi Al-Bakri

Date of Publication

1 Ramadan 1438 AH / May 26, 2017 AD

(1) Cited from the Al-Ateeqi family website; biography prepared by: Dr. Imad Bin Muhammad Al-Ateeqi

On April 14, 2011 (under the heading “From Kuwait We Begin. And in Kuwait, We End”), Al-Watan newspaper reported that Sheikha Munira was “Aunt Munira Bint Abdel-Rahman Bin Saleh Bin Saif Bin Hamad Bin Muhammad Al-Ateeqi, who was born in the State of Kuwait and raised in a family that traces its lineage to Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq.” Also see the April 22, 2011 issue of Al-Watan newspaper in which a speech by Salah Al-Ateeqi appeared regarding the biography of Sheikha Munira.