Friday, the 18th of March, 2005, shall be remembered as a watershed in the Islamic discourse on the role of woman in religious life, as the first-ever Friday congregation was led by a Muslim woman scholar that day.
The woman prayer leader, Amina Wadud, professor of Islamic Studies at the Virginia Commonwealth University, was considered a heretic by many, as she challenged the halo of sanctity around the male-centric, and in some cases, misogynic constructions of Muslim religious teachings.
Right or wrong, Wadud went ahead with leading a Friday congregation of around 100 faithful, evenly divided into men and women, in Manhattan, New York. The venue of the prayers had been changed over and over again, as three mosques refused to host the …show more content…
it's not proper for them to look at the woman whose body is in front of them".
It appears that for Sheikh Tantawi the issue is more of men being able to look at a woman's body than woman being religiously or spiritually incompetent to be a prayer leader.
Wadud bases her case on traditions from the Prophet Mohammed. The issue of gender equality is a very important one in Islam and Muslims have unfortunately used highly restrictive interpretations of history to move backward," Wadud said before the service started. "With this prayer service we are moving forward. This single act is symbolic of the possibilities within Islam."
Asra Nomani, author of a widely-selling book on women in Islam, Standing Alone in Mecca, is another Muslim woman who is working to improve what she believes are women's rights in Islam. She began by trying to break a gender barrier by filing a discrimination complaint against the mosque founded by her father 23 years ago for asking women to enter by a side door.
Last year Nomani, 39, her mother and niece entered the mosque through the front door and began praying
The woman prayer leader, Amina Wadud, professor of Islamic Studies at the Virginia Commonwealth University, was considered a heretic by many, as she challenged the halo of sanctity around the male-centric, and in some cases, misogynic constructions of Muslim religious teachings.
Right or wrong, Wadud went ahead with leading a Friday congregation of around 100 faithful, evenly divided into men and women, in Manhattan, New York. The venue of the prayers had been changed over and over again, as three mosques refused to host the …show more content…
it's not proper for them to look at the woman whose body is in front of them".
It appears that for Sheikh Tantawi the issue is more of men being able to look at a woman's body than woman being religiously or spiritually incompetent to be a prayer leader.
Wadud bases her case on traditions from the Prophet Mohammed. The issue of gender equality is a very important one in Islam and Muslims have unfortunately used highly restrictive interpretations of history to move backward," Wadud said before the service started. "With this prayer service we are moving forward. This single act is symbolic of the possibilities within Islam."
Asra Nomani, author of a widely-selling book on women in Islam, Standing Alone in Mecca, is another Muslim woman who is working to improve what she believes are women's rights in Islam. She began by trying to break a gender barrier by filing a discrimination complaint against the mosque founded by her father 23 years ago for asking women to enter by a side door.
Last year Nomani, 39, her mother and niece entered the mosque through the front door and began praying