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Will this tour be a sellout?<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

In a major city like New York, a Friday prayer of around 100 people would usually be no big deal. But last Friday\u2019s groundbreaking prayer<\/a>, featuring Dr. Amina Wadud leading a mixed-gender congregation, was no ordinary one. It caused quite a stir<\/a> among many in the Middle East, who weren\u2019t prepared to see pictures of a woman leading Friday prayers, along with men and hijab-less<\/a> women shoulder-to-shoulder<\/a> for full dramatic effect. It\u2019s all part of a movement<\/a> designed to counter the growing segregation<\/a> of women in US mosques and their denial of leadership positions. \u201cIt\u2019s not about telling other Muslims how they should worship,\u201d said Ahmed Nassef, one of the event\u2019s organizers and editor of Muslim WakeUp<\/a>. \u201cWe just need to be open to new ideas.\u201d Scholars from around the Muslim world, such as Qatar\u2019s Yusuf al-Qaradawi, were somewhat unanimous in their opposition, mostly focusing<\/a> on women\u2019s posteriors \u2013 unfortunately, no pun intended \u2013 as their main reasoning behind the ban. (Wouldn\u2019t putting men behind that increasingly popular mosque partition<\/a> solve that problem?) And a rumored endorsement<\/a> of the practice from Sheikh Ali Gum\u2019a, Egypt\u2019s top Islamic authority, was offset by an apparent denial<\/a> the next day. Reaction from Muslim organizations within the states was somewhat muted, aside from the occasional form-letter position paper<\/a>. So what happens now? Will women-led Friday prayers continue? (Organizers pledge<\/a> to do so.) Will they start appearing in other cities across the country? (Secret women-led prayer sessions are rumored to be planned for various cities across North America.) Will the move catch on in mainstream mosques? It\u2019s unlikely<\/a>, though one effect that is certain to occur is that the rights of women in the mosque \u2013 if only on paper \u2013 will generally increase<\/a> to make them seem \u201cmoderate\u201d in comparison to the \u201cextreme\u201d position of the progressives. And despite which side of the debate you\u2019re on, that can only be a good thing.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n

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