Amina Wadud
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Amina Wadud is an Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, Virginia. She was the cause of controversy in March of 2005 when she led a Friday prayer for a group of Muslims in New York City, a job usually reserved for men. She joined VCU in 1992 after leaving her assistant professorship at the International Islamic University in Malaysia, which she had held since 1989. She has specialized in Gender and Qur'anic Studies, having written a book on the subject, Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, and during graduate school, she studied Arabic in Egypt at the American University in Cairo, Cairo University, and Al-Azhar University. After publishing her first book, she spoke at universities throughout the United States and abroad.
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[edit] Friday Prayer
Wadud was the subject of much debate and Muslim juristic discourse after leading a Friday prayer congregation of over 100 men and women in the Episcopal cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York on March 18, 2005, breaking with the tradition of having only male imams. Three mosques had refused to host the service, while an art gallery was persuaded through a bomb threat to refuse the service as well. (The event was not the first time in the history of Islam that a woman had led the Friday prayer. See Women as imams for a discussion of the issue.)
In August 1994, Wadud delivered a Friday khutbah (sermon) on "Islam as Engaged Surrender" at the Claremont Main Road Mosque in Cape Town, South Africa. At the time, this too was largely unheard of in the Muslim world. As a result, there were attempts in Virginia by some Muslims to have her removed from her position at Virginia Commonwealth University.
There has been much objection from Muslims around the world to Wadud's imamate; Muslims all over the world even declared it to be blasphemous, while others outside the Dar al-Islam who adopt Western norms may consider it Ijtihad, although, according to the Islamic jurisprudence (Fiqh), the exercise of Ijtihad is strictly prohibited in the presence of scholarly consensus and clear-cut textual evidence. Wadud has reportedly been threatened by some conservative Muslims.
Practically all traditional Islamic religious scholars (ulema) and jurists (fuqaha) have reached a consensus that it is unlawful to have a woman imam lead a combined prayer for men and women on the grounds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad never practiced the imamate of a woman in a Salat when there was a male attending it, although some scholars agree that a women can lead a congregation of women only. Certain liberal movements within Islam ignore the traditional view and support various modern, feminist perspectives. Many who support Amina argue, that the Qur'an and the Islamic prophet Muhammad did not forbid this, and therefore mere precedence is not adequate for the prohibition on female imams. There are a number of Hadith which talk about the merit of women praying at home. The counter argument being that not a single Biblical Prophet was a women, and the idea of a women leading prayer for men is has never been practised in Islam. The obivious gender differences are the main reason for this discouragement of such an activity. In general, most of the Muslims around the world disapprove of the way Wadud lead a combined Friday prayer for men and women, because free intermingling of sexes is prohibited in the religion of Islam and other allegedly divine religions. In spite of the criticism, Wadud has continued her speaking engagements, and has continued to lead mixed-gender Friday prayer services. On October 28, 2005, following her talk at the International Congress on Islamic Feminism in Barcelona, Spain, she was invited to lead a congregation of about thirty people.
[edit] Media appearance
She appeared on WNYC radio on July 14, 2006; there she discussed the issue of her activities of bringing women into a gender-mixed Friday prayer service.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Virginia Commonwealth University faculty biography
- Amina Wadud interview
- Woman Imam, BBC Urdu page
- Who is Dr Wadud (Urdu)?
- More Qur'an-only Feminism
- Gender and Reform in Islam
- Associated Press story: Woman leads Muslim prayer service (CNN link)
- WNYC podcast of July 14, 2006 radio appearance:
- [1] (index of podcasts)
- Dr. Amina Wadud and the Progressive Muslims: Some Reflections on Woman-Led Prayer Answered by Ustadha Zaynab Ansari - SunniPath Answers
- An Innovation of Misguidance:Amina Wadud’s Unenlightened Feminism by GF Haddad (PDF)
