ABSTRACT
March 18, 2005, may be a day of no significance, but for Muslims in the United States and elsewhere, it is an important day to remember. The news that Amina Wadud, an African American Muslim, an Islamic scholar, and most importantly, a woman, had acted as an Imam and led prayer for a mixed-gender congregation in New York City on March 18, 2005, dropped a bomb among the faithful. 1 Against the backdrop of the growing visibility of Muslim women in the United States and the increasing influence of Muslim women scholars and social activists, Amina Wadud’s mixed congregation ignited fierce debate on gender in Islam among women and men in Riverside Mosque. “Female Imam” became the hottest topic of the afternoon after salat-ul-Jummah and the next many days. Some were excited by the bravery of Wadud to break the age-old gender barricade; others were outraged by her blatant violation of Islamic tradition and called it heresy. The community was divided into two camps—the progressives and the conservatives—and gender did not matter. Many women were among the strongest opponents of Wadud, while some men welcomed her challenge of a tradition that found no support in the Holy Qur’an. The debates did not stop on issues related to women’s role in congregational prayers, but extended to gender equality in general—an ongoing debate in the community.
