i dag for måske første gang.
Fra New York Times, - henvist fra
www.muslimwakeup.com, en siden for og med
moderne muslimer:
Muslim Group Is Urging Women to Lead Prayers
By ANDREA ELLIOTT
Published: March 18, 2005
s they do every Friday, Muslims will answer the call to prayer at mosques
around the city today. But in a bold move, some plan to break with
convention and attend a service led by a woman at a conference hall on the
Upper West Side - an act that has stirred a modest but fierce debate about
the role of women in Islam.
....
Major Muslim organizations have declined to sponsor today's scheduled event
or speak publicly about it. In the search for a site, the organizers were
rebuffed by three New York mosques and several university student
organizations, Ms. Nomani said. Even the head of the most established Muslim
organization for women in New York, Women in Islam, said she would only
attend the prayer as an observer, not as a participant.
"My concern is a backlash," said Aisha al-Adawiya, the executive director of
Women in Islam. "This kind of change has to come from within the community.
It's being driven from outside."
The view that the event is somehow being orchestrated from outside the
Muslim community is commonly expressed and may reflect a challenging schism
between immigrant Muslims and their children and grandchildren.
"A new generation of Muslims is coming into its own," said Yvonne Haddad, a
professor of history who specializes in women and Islam at Georgetown
University. "The children of the immigrants are looking for new ways to
create an American Islam, one in which they feel comfortable in an American
context."
This voice has sounded loudly in New York City. A New Yorker, Ahmed Nassef,
a co-founder of Muslim WakeUp! also started the Progressive Muslim Union in
November.
Quoting studies that show that only 10 percent of Muslims attend mosque
every week, Mr. Nassef said he believes that the Muslim community is in a
crisis. The root of the problem, he said, is that the nation's mosques and
Islamic centers are largely run by immigrants who are out of touch with the
new generation of Muslims.
"Many of our institutions really don't speak for us," he said.
In some ways, Imam Ahmed Dewidar, of the Islamic Center of Mid-Manhattan,
personifies the split in the community between old and new. Mr. Dewidar
immigrated to the United States from Alexandria, Egypt, a decade ago. "I
have never heard of this before," he said, regarding the idea of a woman
leading Friday prayer. "It's so strange."
But Mr. Dewidar has been urging Muslims at his mosque and elsewhere to be
nonconfrontational should they attend the prayer.
"We are living in a very open-minded society, and everybody should believe
whatever he or she wants as long as they are not harming others," he said.
On the other hand, he plans to educate his congregants on the "truthful
teachings" of the Prophet, he said: "It's been very well known in the
history of Islam that even the wife of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon
him, did not lead the prayer."
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