Thank You Sheikh Gum'a

By Ahmed Nassef

While most North American Muslim organizations 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.