Group protests outside church
NEW YORK -- With a heavy police presence keeping about a dozen protesters at bay, a woman went against hundreds of years of Islamic tradition by leading a prayer service yesterday where Muslim men and women sat together and worshiped inside an Upper Westside Episcopal church.
Speaking in soft tones, Amina Wadud, a professor of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, led a 90-minute service at the hall of Synod House at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, an Episcopal church on 110th Street.
''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 just before the service.
The event -- sponsored by the Muslim Women's Freedom Tour, a grass-roots organization, and MuslimWakeUp.com, a website -- has sparked debate and sharp criticism from Muslim leaders. Asra Nomani, an organizer and founder of the freedom tour, said the event was meant to reclaim Muslim women's rights. She released a bill of rights demanding that Muslim women be allowed to be imams, or prayer leaders, and to stand in the front rows of mosque. Generally, women sit separately from men in prayer services and are not allowed to lead a service involving men.
''Muslim women are moving from the back of the mosque to the front of the mosque," she said.
About 100 people attended the service, half of them women, many of whom wore flowing dresses and scarves. Some of the men at times looked nervous or unsure they should be there. Outside the Gothic church, a small group of Muslims held up signs protesting the prayer service. Organizers said three New York City mosques refused to host the event, which was to be held at a SoHo gallery until it received a bomb threat. Those who wanted to attend the service had to send an e-mail notice ahead of time and submit to a body search.
''I thought it was intense and I thought her talk was enlightening, but I could feel some nervousness in the atmosphere. But that is to be expected due to the circumstances," said Abdul Alim Mubarak, 53, of New Jersey, who attended the service. Mubarak, who is African-American, said he believes women should be leaders in every aspect of society, but, he said, ''I still haven't wrapped my brain around the premise that women should lead men in prayer. I am just not sure of that."
Omar Haque, a Harvard University graduate student, said he believed the event made history.
''I think it's a long time coming," said Haque, 25, an American of Pakistani descent. ''It sent a message to the many Muslims who felt their message had been misrepresented." He said he particularly liked the fact that Wadud, who is African-American, used ''he" and ''she" in the service to describe Allah.
But not everyone was happy about the service. Some Muslims stood outside the church holding signs that read ''Mix-gender prayer today. Hell fire tomorrow."
''You always have the men up front and the women in the back. It's been that way for 1,400 years," said Mohamed Nussrah, a 21-year-old protester. ''But this comes out of nowhere and it makes all Muslims look bad."
Widad Aqrad, 40, of New Jersey, said Wadud did not speak for Muslim women. ''We are really angry," she said, minutes after being forbidden from entering the service. ''She doesn't represent us, she represents herself. She represents her rules, her ideas."
Khabira Abdullah, 30, of New York City, however, believed Wadud's action justified what many Muslim women silently believed should have happened long ago.
''I think it was powerful and amazing," she said. ''I was born and raised a Muslim. The message has always been that women have a place in Islam, but it's not in the leadership position. When people asked me why, I used whatever reason to answer, but I never believed it."
Sheik Sayed Tantawi of Cairo's Al-Azhar mosque, one of the world's top Islamic institutions, said Islam permits women to lead other women in prayer but not a congregation with men in it.
''A woman's body is private," Tantawi wrote about yesterday's service in a column in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram. ''When she leads men in prayer, in this case, it's not proper for them to look at the woman whose body is in front of them. Even if they see it in their daily life, it shouldn't be in situations of worship, where the main point is humility and modesty." Some scholars and religious leaders agreed.
But Kolay Tun, 40, a New Yorker and Burma native, said he decided to attend the service after receiving a note from his niece that read, ''Allah is not prejudiced, are you?" Holding the note in his hand, he said: ''I feel good. This is to me like Rosa Parks sitting in front of the bus. This is a great beginning for the Islamic world."
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Published March 19, 2005, Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/03/19/woman_leads_mixed_gender_islamic_service/
