Women leadership in the Mosque

Main Article Content

Jolanda Guardi

Abstract

Starting from the Friday woman lead prayer held in 2005 in New York, I focus in this paper on the role Muslim contemporary women play in shaping Muslim societies and communities to assert their authoritative role “in the mosque”. I begin by setting the scene of the event and, after a brief discussion of its symbolic meaning, I address two main questions: first, how the debate which followed the event contributed and contributes to promote a change inside the Muslim world and outside it, letting emerge some leading figures in the struggle for justice and equity in contemporary Islam; and second which are the theological and legal basis for the role of woman as imāma (prayer leader). Although the issue of women leadership in prayer is far from finding a unanimous consent, the debate demonstrates that some issues can and must be discussed, and that a change is possible only when Muslim women question the male elite power.

 

 

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Article Details

How to Cite
GUARDI, Jolanda. Women leadership in the Mosque. HORIZONTE - Journal of Studies in Theology and Religious Sciences, Belo Horizonte, v. 13, n. 39, p. 1427–1449, 2015. DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2015v13n39p1427. Disponível em: https://periodicos.pucminas.br/horizonte/article/view/P.2175-5841.2015v13n39p1427. Acesso em: 20 aug. 2025.
Section
Artigos/Articles: Dossiê/Dossier
Author Biography

Jolanda Guardi, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain

Doctor in Arabic Language and Literature. Research fellow at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain.