Cape Town - Two leading feminist Muslim scholars led Jumu’ah, the Friday prayer service of Muslims, for a non-segregated and entirely mixed-gendered congregation in a bid to break gender stereotyping.
In the congregational service which was co-hosted by the Oxford Institute for British Islam (OIBI), Cape Town’s Open Mosque was led by Zurich University Shari’ah Law specialist Professor Elham Manea, while Islamic activist and singer Ani Osman-Zonneveld recited the athaan, or call to prayer.
Jumu’ah is traditionally led by men. However in their statement, the Open Mosque which describes itself as “autonomous, non-sectarian, gender-equal, interracial and unaffiliated to any specific school of thought (madhab) ideology or denomination” said it was happy to co-host the historic open-air service.
“For the first time, the weekly Friday worship in Islam will be led and performed exclusively by leading feminist Muslim scholars,” it said.
This historic open-air religious service took place at St John’s College, Oxford University, where about 20 people attended in person, but it was broadcast via the Zoom platform.
The invitation to the service, which was sent out to both Muslims and non-Muslims, urged them to arrive early to participate in or observe a “truly momentous religious occasion. It is history in the making”.
Despite a women-led Jumu’ah being controversial, the service in Oxford passed off without incident.
Manea began the khutba (sermon) by reminding the congregation that it was nearly 30 years since American Muslim philosopher Professor Amina Wadud delivered her historic and still controversial khutbah at the Claremont Main Road Mosque (CMRM) in August 1994.
CMRM, has a reputation as a supporter of an egalitarian approach to Islam, but while in 1994 news of the khutbah, which was delivered to a mixed-gender congregation, was met with praise and enthusiasm by Muslim women, the backlash was intense.
Manea said: “At that time the focus of the media was on the outrage, the threats and condemnation.
“Absent from that coverage were the voices for the right to lead the prayers.”
This time, however, reaction from Muslim scholars appears to have been quite moderate in comparison.
Head of Cape Town Ulama Board, Mufti Sayed Haroon Al Azhari, said: “Islam has and will always hold diverse views, which may or may not be accepted by other Muslim persuasions.” He said that the Cape Town Ulama Board, together with the vast majority of the South African Muslims, did not align with the views of the Open Mosque.
“Discussions of Islam, gender-politics and women, who are also Muslim, form part of a greater and politically-charged discourse in which Islam is largely described as archaic.”
Al Azhari said bearing in mind that Islam does not have one monolithic Universalist understanding, “in the face of such depictions, the dynamism of Islam along with its multi-valued interpretations, expresses its diverse positions”.
He said the perspective of an allfemale Jumu’ah prayer did not conform to the dominant formulations and understanding of Islam, which was practised by the Prophet Muhammad in 7th century Arabia.
Meanwhile, reached for comment, Sheikh Riyaad Fataar of the Muslim Judicial Council said: “MJC is not going to comment on that.”
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za