Ahmed Nassef has posted the following on a discussion group: While most North American Muslim organisations remain either silent or come up with bizarre arguments against it, Mufti Sheikh Ali Gum'a, Egypt's top Islamic authority, has declared that woman-led prayer of mixed-gender congregations is permissible, so long as the congregation agrees to it.
According to a report by Arab satellite news channel Al-Arabiyya, Sheikh Gum'a declared in an interview on Egyptian television that there is no consensus among religious scholars on the issue of female Imamat of mixed gender congregations, pointing out that respected scholars like Imam Tabari and Imam Ibn Arabi found the practice permissible.
"The Mufti added that, in such issues where there are disagreements, then the situation rests with the specific people concerned. If [the congregation] accepts a woman as imam, then that's their business, and there is nothing wrong with that since that is what they are accustomed to," Al-Arabiyya reported.
EVENT DESCRIPTION:
On Friday, March 18, 2005, Dr Amina Wadud, professor of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, was the first woman to lead a public, mixed-gender Friday prayer. She also delivered the Friday sermon.
Dr Wadud, the author of the groundbreaking book Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective, is an esteemed scholar of Islam who affirms the right of Muslim women to be prayer leaders.
It is a generally held view in the Muslim world and in the American Muslim community that women cannot lead mixed-gender prayer. This custom is pervasive and goes unchallenged.
Research from the Qur'an and the customs of Prophet Muhammad demonstrate that there is no prohibition precluding women from leading mixed-gender prayer and, further, that Prophet Muhammad (SAW)approved the practice of women leading mixed-gender prayer. Over the centuries, Muslim women have lost their place as intellectual and spiritua leaders.
On March 18, 2005 Muslim women will reclaim their right to be spiritual equals and leaders.
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