Not Heroic Enough?

By Amine Tais

The outrage in the American Muslim communities over an event featuring a woman delivering a sermon and leading a prayer service in the 21st century would seem unbelievable to many outsiders. However, by the standards of many of those running mosques and Islamic organizations in America, this is nothing short of blasphemy.

All around the country, imams took it on their shoulders to warn their audiences against the forces of evil trying to destroy Islam. During their Friday sermons, they vehemently attacked Amina Wadud who is scheduled to lead a local congregational prayer on the 18th. In New York, some even called on the worshippers to physically interfere and stop the event. Others prayed to God to send his punishment on the evil Virginia Commonwealth University professor before Friday in order to stop this kufr. Some college-educated Muslim women called on the male imams to protect them and to strongly denounce this act of defiance to God!

While many of the condemnations were nothing more than the usual rant against the giant conspiracy of the enemies of Islam, some voices that are considered moderate tried to start a civilized debate over this issue. One of these voices was Dr. Aslam Abdullah who published an article on Islamicity.com.

In this article, he stated that only God could judge if the decision was Islamic or not. He looked forward to hear Dr. Wadud’s basis for her ijtihad but also indirectly questioned the motives of the organizers. Moreover he doubted the usefulness of the event. For him, this action will lead to disunity and Muslims should rather focus on bigger issues like supporting the impoverished and illiterate Muslim women all around the world.

With all due respect to Dr. Abdullah, I strongly disagree with his views. I am aware of the complexity of the debate and studied the views of the competing interpretive camps. But, I will leave it to Muslim law experts and jurists to discuss the legality of women’s right to lead prayers. Instead I am interested in discussing the way Dr. Abdullah approached the issue as well as some of his conclusions.

Dr. Aslam Abdullah contends that it is useless and even counterproductive to spend time and energy working for women’s rights in this fashion. Muslims should rather focus on more important and heroic actions like standing with the Muslim women that face poverty, illiteracy and lack of healthcare. To be sure, this is a lofty goal and it is indeed worth striving for. The Problem is that Dr. Abdullah disregards the fact that the abysmal situation of Muslim women in their societies is fundamentally linked to the decision to organize this woman-led prayer. In many parts of the Muslim world, women are treated as inferior on ideological and theological grounds.

All over the Muslim world, old archaic interpretations of Islam are seen as nothing less than God’s true laws. Issues of marriage, divorce, guardianship, polygamy, chastity, public participation and others heavily influence the way women are treated. Furthermore unlike what apologists claim, many of these problems are grounded in traditional Islamic fiqh and traditions attributed to the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. It is about time women are allowed to search for the Divine will without scholarly guardianship from men and patriarchal institutions. Over the last decade, many Muslim women in the academia developed new and varied interpretations of women’s rights in Islam that are both grounded in the Islamic tradition and challenging to the currently dominant androcentric interpretations. Unfortunately, most of their efforts only reach small elites of academics and intellectuals. One reason for this situation is that the pulpits are dominated by rigidly conservative elements. This new trend started by Dr. Wadud and the organizers of the event on the 18th will open new vistas for novel interpretations to find practical grounding in living communities. Alhamdulillah this is possible in a society that, as Dr. Abdullah states, gives equal constitutional rights to women. But unlike Dr. Abdullah’s affirmation that it is a useless exercise to prove women’s worth in America, I believe the event to be a statement to defend Muslim women’s right to have the same equality other women enjoy today in their communities after a long struggle. Dr. Abdullah is aware that many Muslim women don’t even have access to a comfortable and dignified prayer space, let alone active participation in the decision making at any level. One might see a big difference between access to a mosque and actually leading a congregational prayer. However, only a superficial reading of the situation would lead to such a conclusion. Both are intrinsically related since women are seen as unfit to be the complete intellectual and spiritual equals of men. It all finally comes down to how one perceives God and humanity.

The other point I want to discuss is Dr. Abdullah’s claim that such an event leads to disunity and Muslims ought to be united. I have to admit that I am tired of calls for Muslim unity in this manner. This is a call to uniformity and acceptance of the status-quo. Real unity must be based on pluralism and the acceptance of diversity. If Dr. Abdullah seeks unity, he should call on American imams to tolerate and even celebrate diversity. If someone disapproves of Dr. Wadud’s decision, let them state their opinion in a gentle way (as Dr. Abdullah asked). In all cases, individual Muslims will have to decide on the value of each argument presented.

It is my belief that changes within Islamic thought are necessary to keep Islam a vibrant and life-affirming faith. These changes must be grounded in the humanistic heritage of the Islamic tradition through genuine, critical and fearless intellectual efforts. The academic work of Dr. Amina Wadud is part of such efforts and so is organizing the first woman-led Jum’ah prayer. It is as heroic and important as any other struggle to make this world a better place for all. And God knows best.

Amine Tais is a bookseller, freelance writer and a student of Comparative Religion and Islamic Studies based in Seattle, Washington.