American Muslim Women, Religious Authority, and Activism: More than a Prayer. By Juliane Hammer

Abstract

In March 2005 in New York City, a Muslim woman scholar, Amina Wadud, led a mixed-gender group in the Friday congregational prayers. This event—diverging from the general practice of male prayer leadership—was promoted (albeit inaccurately) as the “first time” a woman had led such prayers since the age of Prophet Muhammad. Simultaneously provoking praise and condemnation, the event spurned impassioned discourse both within and beyond the American Muslim community. In American Muslim Women, Religious Authority, and Activism, Juliane Hammer revisits this event. Rather than contributing another evaluation of the merit of the event, however, she utilizes the prayer as a “lens” for examining the multifaceted ways that some American Muslim women engage questions of authority, tradition, community, leadership, and representation (206). In doing so, she argues that the 2005 prayer was not anomalous or insignificant. On the contrary, the symbolic enactment of woman-led prayer was part of a larger trajectory of ongoing debates, events, and developments. Moreover, she contends that the prayer significantly “focused and changed” existing discussions on broader issues, “ranging from women's interpretation of the Qur'an, leadership, mosque space, and religious authority to gender activism and media representations” (1).