On March 18, Dr. Amina Wadud gave the Friday sermon to a mixed gender audience at Sundaram Tagore Gallery in New York. She also led the Friday prayer to the joint congregation. Dr. Wadud, an Islamic studies professor in the department of philosophy and religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, is nationally and internationally known for her book "Quran and Woman: Re-reading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective". She knows the meanings and implications of her ijtihad in the eyes of God, and she will be judged according to that. Those who disagree with her ijtihad would be judged according to their own understandings as well.

This controversy cannot be cast as Islamic or un-Islamic, because there is no one to judge people's actions and intentions but God Almighty. However, what one can discuss is the effectiveness of such an action in proving points pertaining to the status of women in the eyes of God or believers.

If it meant to prove to God that He created everyone equal, then it is futile. He already knows that everyone is equal, and the spiritual status of people in His eyes is not determined by where people stand and how they stand, but what they do.

If it is meant to prove to adversaries that women's equality cannot be compromised, then again it is a futile effort, especially in a country where the First Amendment allows each individual to express his or her individuality in whatever manner and form as long as it does not violate the laws of the land. In this Christian majority country, people have the right to produce movies against Jesus or burn the national flag or even burn the religious scriptures. Similarly, Muslims who want to practice their religion in a particular form can do so without any restriction as the law of the land allows them to so.

However, if the purpose of the organizers is to improve the status of the average Muslim women, then this is neither the issue nor the place to make the point.

The Muslim establishment in general will simply describe this action as un-Islamic and will urge its followers to oppose it tooth and nail. Perhaps it may even impose more restrictions upon women who want to use masjid facilities to express their spirituality.

Those who describe them as moderates would most probably remain quiet, as they don't want to alienate either traditional or so-called progressive Muslims.

In a global community where 73 percent of women are illiterate, the controversy about women leading the prayer or giving Friday khutbah is irrelevant. In an ummah where 64 percent of women live below the poverty line, this controversy is useless. And in a nation where 79 percent of women suffer from lack of adequate health care, this controversy is a non-issue.

Those who are seriously concerned about improving the status of Muslim women should devote themselves to identifying with the impoverished, underprivileged and powerless women that are scattered all over the world. To talk about equality in a country that protects equality through constitutional means is a meaningless effort. However, to identify with those who suffer at the grassroots is heroic.

Muslim women who suffer from all kinds of ills that a patriarchal society has imposed upon them have often been betrayed by those who claim to be religious leaders, or by those who want to denounce religious establishment for its lack of commitment to Islam. Indeed, both have betrayed Muslim women. During the last several decades, both have watched Muslim women lose their dignity while they have conducted debates about Islam and its relevance for the world at large. Both have failed to identify with those invisible beings whose whole existence has become subject to the prevailing ignorance.

True empowerment will not come from imposing this new controversy. Rather, it will come when intellectuals who are genuinely concerned about the plight of women identify with women at the grassroots level. The real battle is not in mosques here in the United States. This is a free country. Everyone is entitled to do whatever he or she wants to do. The true battle is against those centuries-old traditions and attitudes that have deprived women of their creativity and role in the reconstruction of a new civilization that can surpass all previous civilizations. It is time that we realize what our priorities are, and devote our intellectual and material resources to execute them.

However, if we continue to impose controversy after controversy upon a community that has no leaders and no teachers, we will plunge ordinary people into a crisis that we will not be able to control.

The divine teachings are for guidance, and not for settling one's personal differences. Much of what we see in our organized activities is nothing but a reflection of our egos and super egos. We fail to do the most obvious and fight over the most trivial, because it serves our egos to see people humiliated, or degraded or proven wrong. We have got to change our entire attitude to the divine message if we truly want to be ambassadors of Islam.

God wants a group of selfless people who can share the divine teachings with the rest of humanity - beyond their personal likes, dislikes and egos. Until that group emerges and takes its rightful place in the community, we will all be plagued with non-issues and trivial controversies.

Is there any documented case of a woman leading prayer of a joint congregation during the life of prophet? or during the period of the 4 caliphs? or since then? or *EVER*?
I wonder what she is basing her ijtihad on? or even if she is qualified to DO ijitihad? I also wonder who her sheikh is/was that gave her religious guidance? and finally which fiqh she follows or if she is one of the new-age 'self-guided' scholars......

You've got to be kidding me roomih. After reading the entire article, you go on to ask all the wrong questions. How?

this amina wadud is not a scholar has no knowledge what so ever if she did she wouldnt have lead the juma congregation not with a speech or the prayer.
we already know the ruling of women praying salat together and when they are praying alone and if they are supposed to raise thier voice while praying or not,,, obviously all that went out the window, and ijtihaad who is she to make ijtihaad Allah knows best but the time for ijtihaad is gone or there are only a select few entitled to do so with the knowledge Allah has given them yes Allah only knows what the intentions are but we all know what the act was any man out in that crowd sitting there and being led in salat by a women is ignorant as well not because she is a woman and we are men no it is from what the prophet alaihi asalam said any nation that is led by a woman is a lost nation so what youre going to challenge that now????
The man and woman are not equals, if they were then the woman would not have a monthly period where she cant even pray or fast and she doesnt have to make up the prayers she misses because of it, thats just one thing islam puts women in a high place and gives them rights but since islam has been put in a blender of western ideaologies and "progressiveness" this is where we get these innovations in Islam because the true islam that Muhammad alaihi asalam came with isnt good anymore or outdated authubillah,
widespread ignorance such as this is one of the signs of the coming of the day of judgement where we have ignorant fools claiming they are scholars or have an authority to make ijtihaad.. check yourselves this isnt a step forward for muslims wallahi it is a step away from what the Prophet alaihi asalaam came with.

I ask the questions I ask to highlight what Dr. Abdullah ends the article with. Until a group of leaders emerge with the RIGHT qualifications to be leaders, we will be plauged with trivial issues. I already know the answers to my questions.

This entire event is just another marketing/promotional gimmick. The idea is to create so much controversy that people will buy her book to see what the fuss is all about. Yet another example of people exploiting religion for personal (financial) gain. And if this is NOT for personal gain and if she *really* wants to 'help' the Muslim ummah then ANSWER MY QUESTIONS.

I really would encourage everybody near the NYC area NOT to attend/protest/ or do anything to draw attention to this event and to her and her book.

Do we really want to find out Dr. Amina Wadud's ideological basis? Do we need to? 5 inutes on google showed me this:

1. "[Dr. Amina Wadud] stated that despite the fact the QurÌan explicitly asks for cutting off the hands of thieves, she did not agree with the QurÌan"
2. "Saying "No to the Qur'an" when one disagrees with it."
3. "she declared that she could not intellectually or spiritually accept some things in the Qur'an"
4. "Wadud, answering a question, criticized Canada's proposed Shariah laws and expressed support for same-sex marriage."

(http://www.muslimwakeup.com/main/archives/2005/02/i_am_a_nigger_a.php)

Needless to say, I would never pray behind such a person.

or read a book written by them

or attend their speech.

jazaakAllahu khairan roomih... wallahi people who fall for this kind of falsehood are doomed

Do either of you two have wives? Just curious.

With respect to Dr. Abdullah, his article rests upon the assumption that there is no causal relationship (or indeed, any relationship) between the status of women in Islam and the statistics he cites. In his words,

"In a global community where 73 percent of women are illiterate, the controversy about women leading the prayer or giving Friday khutbah is irrelevant. In an ummah where 64 percent of women live below the poverty line, this controversy is useless. And in a nation where 79 percent of women suffer from lack of adequate health care, this controversy is a non-issue."

But if his assumption is incorrect, then what this controversy represents is precisely the issue.

I suspect that someone like Dr. Wadud looks at these statistics and asks whether the religiously mandated exclusion of women from leadership roles (by many religions besides Islam,) may in fact play a role in the disproportionate burdens faced by women in terms of illiteracy and poverty. It is a question that is at least worth looking into, and not dismissing before the discussion has even begun.

I used to respect Dr.Wadud, however after she pulled the race card in Toronto a couple of weeks ago, in responce to criticism of her ignorance....its apparent she's just another arrogant charlatan with delusions of grandiuer.
Wadud is in bed with the munafiq "pro-regressives." Thank God we still have some decent Muslim woman who have devoted their energies towards real issues, like Dr.Ingrid Mattson.

when i heard of this woman leading the jumuah prayer and giving khutbah i thought it was a joke , but when i found out it was a fact i was very appalled and sad that this was true . since when did woman take the positions of men in islam ? does this aminah know islamic law ? wait dont answer that i will answer it for you .NO she doesnt because if she did she would know that woman do not lead prayer and the voice is apart of the awrah. im very ashamed for the weak men who let this woman lead them in prayer and submitted to her fitnah they should be very ashamed and embarrased and feel like weak little fools but they dont becuase they think they just set some record or did something great for woman in islam and islam period but in fact they just made a fool out if themselves in the face of the rest of the ummah and for any non muslim who are reading this article this is not islam so dont think it is this is a very embarrising hameful thing that some unknowledge woman and her colleagus have done

Biomouse2; Alhamdulliah, 1/2 my religion is complete. why do you ask?

The more common use of that phrase would mean that you are, indeed, married. Am i correct in that?

DriveBy,

I know nothing about Wadud except what i've read here and at the link to the article on her at MWU. However, this is hardly an issue on which she is the only voice speaking; so i think it better to address the issue itself rather than her specific deficiencies or merits.

I think that the Muslims from abroad have brought their male-dominating ideologies and culture into this country and have established teh religious infrastructure along teh same lines. In most mosques, women do have very limited role or even visibility. It really looks very odd to treat women, about half of our work force, in such a humiliating manner.
The event in NY of a woman leading the mixed gathering is just a reaction against this bigoted attitude towards women by our religious heirarchy.
Instead of attacking the lady, or condemning such attempts, because such acts will only increase with time, it will serve the Muslims better to reflect on how we can change some of those outdated practices of our religion, namely denegrading women's status in our society.
I will end my comment by a recent example. I just read the news from UAE, where a woman house keeper was given a sentence of 150 lashes and then deported for adultory. What surprized me, as it always does in similr cases, is no mention of the male culprit. How can any Muslim judge or scholar even consider punishment in such cases unless both parties involved in teh crime are standing side by side. It is unIslamic and even Quran prefers forgiving. It speake volumes about the hypocracy of our system, when we don't give women due rights because we consider them inferior to men, but prefer them for metting out punishing them for crimes they can't even commit on their own!

>>I think that the Muslims from abroad have brought their male-dominating ideologies and culture into this country and have established teh religious infrastructure along teh same lines. <<

Ah, but these so-called Muslims are also bringing their creative western-friendly version of Islam to us, based on the culture they grew up in.


>>The event in NY of a woman leading the mixed gathering is just a reaction against this bigoted attitude towards women by our religious heirarchy.<<

And thats what we need right ? Reactionary individuals, taking us to the extreme of religion. No thank you.

>> just read the news from UAE, where a woman house keeper was given a sentence of 150 lashes and then deported for adultory. What surprized me, as it always does in similr cases, is no mention of the male culprit. How can any Muslim judge or scholar even consider punishment in such cases unless both parties involved in teh crime are standing side by side. It is unIslamic and even Quran prefers forgiving.<<

Why are you extrapolating and projecting what happened in the UAE on the entire Muslim world ? The UAE is hardly an Islamic state, but I guess the sale of alcohol and pork is hardly offensive to the sensibilities of pro-regressives who cast every issue in a man vs. woman light. With reformers like these, who needs neocons ?

Biomuse2: yes, that is what it means; I apologize, I had no idea that you were outside the true faith.

Ayesh123: I feel sad to see that you are missing the point. Perhaps DrDrivebay is correct: Common sense is not that common. Can you tell me why is it that people with little or no religious qualifications are claiming leadership?

It is a sad state of affairs that the Muslims are very quick to dismiss anyone with a differing point of view and brand them as pro-western or so-called Muslims. We must recognize that Islam is a much broader and vast belief system in which no one group can claim that their version is teh absolute truth. I don't believe that being pro-western is necessarily bad or unIslamic. Intelligent people agree that the main reason the West has progressed more is because they have embraced more true Islamic ideas than our societies traditionally. This "Us vs Them" mentality has kept the Muslim mind in a backward state. Western culture can be as Islamic as any culture.
Again, condemning the lady who led the combined Muslim prayers in NY merely as a reactionary and dismissing her will miss the the crux of the problem. I agree that it was an extreme gesture, but the concerned should reflect on the root causes that drive some to that point.
Dr. driveby is questioning the extrapolation of the recent report on the UAE woman getting 150 lashes , without her male accomplice and dismissing it again by claiming that "UAE is hardly a Muslim country". Oh, really brother? Name a Muslim country where such horrendous atrocities in the name of Islam are not being committed against women on a daily basis.
Nigeria had a similar case where the Islamic sharia court had condemned a woman to die, only to be saved by world pressure at the last minute. Whether we like it or not, it is a fact that honor killings are common and shameful practices in most so-called Islamic
cutures.
The best example ofcourse comes from our great Suadi Arabia, the champions of this great religion, where the religious police let some girls die in a school fire since they couldn't be rescued by the firefighters of the opposite sex without proper hijab!
Pointing these is definitely not "casting every issue in a man vs women light nor equating them with neocons.
Lastly, since when, being progressive has become shameful in Islam? Last I checked, Islam remained the most dominant reigion while it remained "progressive". Its downfall only came after the socalled scholars adopted "regressive" attitude and refused to do "ijtehad" and stopped growing with time.

Thanks, Jalal for that last comment.

Now, it would be nice if Dr. Aslam Abdullah could respond to Sarah Eltantawi's rebuttal of the points he brought up in this posting. If he claims not to have read them yet, he can do so at http://www.muslimwakeup.com/main/archives/2005/03/no_we_dont_have.php

Chicken much?