OXFORD: An American academic has become the first woman to lead British Muslims in mixed congregational prayers and deliver the Friday sermon, organizers said.
Amina Wadud, who converted to Islam more than 30 years ago, addressed a group of about 15 men and women at the Oxfordshire Masonic Centre in Oxford, central England.
There is nothing in the Quran or the hadith that forbids me from doing this.
The prophet did it himself during his time, when he assigned a woman to lead a mixed prayer, Wadud told Saturday s Guardian newspaper.
This is not a movement, it is just a reality. It is part of the living tradition of Islam, Islam has not died. It is important British women take up the mantle and fulfill the possibility of prayer leadership.
Wadud, 56, a professor from Virginia Commonwealth University, was the target of death threats when she lead a similar service in New York in 2005, but only a handful of Muslim women protesters demonstrated on Friday.
The sermon marked the start of a two-day conference on Islam and feminism organized by the Muslim Educational Center of Oxford. – AFP
