Super Soul Special: Malala Yousafzai: What is Your Defining Moment?

Oprah's Super Soul

Oprah

Society & Culture

4.6 • 33.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2026

⏱️ 31 minutes

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Summary

In every life, there are defining moments when a person must decide whether to stand up for what is right or remain silent. At a young age, Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai began boldly advocating for girls' access to education, which had been denied by the Taliban, an extremist Islamic group. The consequences were grave. In October 2012, the Taliban shot Malala point-blank in the head because of her outspoken beliefs. Miraculously, Malala survived and would go on to become the co-founder of the Malala Fund, which seeks to advocate and provide education to millions of young girls globally who are denied an education because of poverty, violence or tradition. Two years after the attack, Malala became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Malala describes to Oprah the last moment she remembers before being shot. The young activist says her recovery taught her that "there is nothing greater than the love and the prayer of people." Later in the podcast, Malala's father, Ziauddin, joins the discussion and explains why he felt closest to God on the day Malala was attacked.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Oprah Winfrey. Welcome to Super Soul Conversations, the podcast. I believe that one of the most
0:07.8	valuable gifts you can give yourself is time, taking time to be more fully present. Your
0:16.1	journey to become more inspired and connected to the deeper world around us starts right now.
0:24.5	Malala Yousafzai was a young Pakistani girl not afraid to speak her truth.
0:30.7	She was a straight-A student growing up in her beloved Swat Valley of Pakistan.
0:35.7	Her father, Ziyadhine, ran a school. Her mother, Torpachai, looked after Malala
0:42.6	and her two younger brothers. Malala describes her childhood as peaceful and happy, until the
0:49.5	Taliban came when she was 11 years old. Within two years, people were beaten and murdered in the public
0:56.8	squares. Televisions were set on fire and schools were destroyed. When the Taliban banned
1:04.1	girls from getting an education, Malala bravely spoke out. Then on the afternoon of October 9, 2012, two masked gunmen stopped
1:13.6	Malala's school bus and shot her point-blank in the head. Two of her friends were also shot
1:19.6	in that attack. Both of them also survived. Malala, just 15 years old, was rushed to the hospital and then flown to Birmingham,
1:29.0	England for further treatment.
1:31.3	In what doctors called a miracle, Malala not only survived but suffered very little permanent
1:37.3	damage.
1:38.3	Malala embodies the strength, the power, and courage of the human spirit. Is there a part of you now that believes that you are, first of all, more connected to
1:50.5	humanity in a way that you weren't before the attack, but that so much of your life belongs
1:55.8	to the world?
1:57.1	Do you feel that?
1:58.5	What's, I think, unfortunate or fortunate, I don't know how to explain it, but I have gone through
2:04.6	these experiences of being deprived of education and seeing terrorism, seeing schools being blown up.
2:11.6	So when you see that situation, it helps you to know what other people and how other people feel when they go through the same circumstances in their life,
	...

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