page_title: Women as imams
section_title: Mixed-gender congregations
hierarchical_section_title: Women as imams / Mixed-gender congregations
caption_attribution_description: Egyptian demonstrators praying in Tahrir Square.
context_page_description: There is a difference of opinion among Muslims regarding the circumstances in which women may act as imams, i.e. to lead a congregation in salat. The orthodox position is that women cannot lead prayers, which is justified by the different roles that men and women take in society. A small number of schools of Islamic thought make exceptions for taraawih or for a congregation consisting only of close relatives. Women acting as leaders, teachers, and authorities in other capacities however is not deviating from the Islamic orthodoxy as women have never been restricted from becoming scholars, ulema, jurists, muftis, preachers, missionaries, or spiritual guides. There is a long history of female masters of Islamic sciences teaching men - the four imams of Sunni orthodoxy all were taught by women.
  Historically, certain sects have considered it acceptable for women to function as imams. This was true not only in the Arab heartland of early Islam, but in China over recent centuries, where women's mosques developed. The debate has been reactivated during the 21st century as the west and the world revisit sexism.
context_section_description: On the basis of the following interpretation of the Qur'an, Ibn al-Arabi declares female prayer leadership to be absolutely permissible.
  "There are those who unconditionally permit women to lead men [in prayer], which is my opinion as well. There are those who completely forbid her from such leadership and there are those who permit her to lead women, but not men. The reasoning (behind the unconditional permission) is that the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) testified that some women attained perfection just as he testified regarding some men - even though the later were more than the former. This perfection is in reference to prophecy, and prophecy is leadership (imama), thus a women's leadership (in prayer) is sound. The default state is that her leadership is permissible, and one should not listen to those who prohibit it without proof, for there is no text to support their claim, and any evidence they bring forth [is not female specific, and] could include them in the prohibition as well, thereby neutralizing the evidence in this regard, and maintaining the default state of her leadership's permissibility" - Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad b. 'Ali b.  Muhammad Ibn al-' Arabi, Al-Futuhat Al Makiyya.
  Within the household, if no qualified man is present, is the one exception for women to lead men in prayers. Modern Islamic scholars such as Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, based on the Umm Waraqah hadith mentioned above, consider it permissible for a knowledgeable woman to lead mixed prayers within her own household, as he considers this to largely obviate the danger of the men being aroused by her presence.
  In the early years of Islam, the Haruriyyah sect, a branch of the Kharijites movement, founded by Habib ibn-Yazīd al-Harūrī, held that it was permissible to entrust the imamate to a woman if she were able to carry out the required duties. In 699 A.D. (77 A.H.), the founder's wife, Ghazāla al-Harūriyya, even led her male warriors in prayer in Kufa after having controlled the city for a day, following the example of Abu Sufyan's daughter Juwayriyya at the Battle of Yarmuk. Not only did she lead Muslim men in prayer, she recited the two longest chapters in the Quran during that prayer.
  Well-known early jurists — including Al-Tabari (838–932), historian, exegete and founder of a now defunct juristic school; Abu Thawr (764–854), mufti of Iraq; Al-Muzani (791–878); and Ibn Arabi (1165–1240) — considered the practice permissible at least for optional (nafl salat) prayers. Al-Muthani (d. 878), student of Shafii and contributor to the establishment of the Shafii juristic school, allowed women to unconditionally lead men in prayer. However, the views of these scholars are not accepted by any major surviving group.
  A few fatwas exist permitting women to lead a mixed gender congregation regardless of familial relationship. For instance, Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl recommends that the placement of the imam be made with greater modesty in mind for a female imam. Some traditional scholars caution against Yusuf Qaradawi's methodology and regard him as excessively lenient as he does not limit himself to the positions of the four Sunni schools of fiqh'.
  Adding to the arguments in favor of woman-led prayer of mixed congregations, Laury Silvers and Ahmed Elewa recently published a detailed article in the  Journal of Law and Religion arguing that female imams are permissible in all circumstances.  Their abstract reads:
  This paper, written five years after the Wadud prayer, presents a survey and analysis of the various responses to female led mixed-gender congregational prayers as well as a legal argument for its default permissibility. We show that, in interpreting the Hadiths on woman-led prayer, Sunni schools of law hold a range of opinions on its permissibility. We discuss how Muslim jurists consider historical needs in their rulings, the role of female modesty in this debate, and the nature of juristic consensus. We present our own argument that unrestricted female prayer leadership is legal by default rather than an innovation as many critics have c
caption: Egyptian demonstrators in Tahrir Square, Cairo at prayer. Unusually, the women are in front of the men.
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