Europe's First Woman Imam
A mosque in southern Belgium has named a female Muslim professor to the post of imam, the first such a move in the northwestern European country.
"Hawaria Fattah has been granted the rank of imam," Abdel-Jalel Al-Hajaji, the curator of Al-Sahaba Mosque in the southern city of Verviers, told IslamOnline.net on Saturday, October 25.
"It is the first move of its kind in Belgium and Europe."
Chosen along with two male imams, Fattah, a mother of three, will supervise the preaching activities for women at the mosque.
"But she will not deliver the sermon of the Friday prayers or lead the prayers," stressed Hajaji.
"Her role will focus on supervising the preaching and guidance activities for women at the mosque."
Fattah's selection was approved by the Belgian Justice Ministry, which is responsible for the country's religious affairs.
Born to an Algerian father and a Belgian mother, Fatah, 35, is a professor of social and Islamic studies.
She has worked as a preacher for Muslim women at a mosque in Verviers.
Pioneering
Muslim leaders said Fattah's appointment shows that Islam is treating men and women on equal footing.
"Her selection stems from our conviction that men and women are equal in Islam," said Hajaji.
The Muslim leader said that the move will help Muslim women gain a foothold at mosques.
"This pioneering move will help enable women gain a foothold in preaching activities, while abiding by religious teachings."
Fattah's selection won plaudits from Belgian Muslims.
"We welcome and praise this smart move," Karim Chemlal, leader of the Muslim League of Belgium, told IOL.
"It will show the bright image of our Islamic faith."
Belgian Muslims are estimated at 450,000 — out of a 10-million population. Most of Belgian Muslims are of Moroccan and Turkish origins.
Belgium was the first European country in 1974 to recognize Islam among other state religions in the country.
Source: http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=12246942721...
Lol Oryx
Only God Can Judge Me
الله فقط يمكنه محاكمتي
I am you and you are me, if you love i love, if you suffer i suffer
أنا أنت, و أنت أنا, إذا أحببت نفسك أحببت نفسي, إذا عانيتَ عانيتُ
1st- Stop taking my words as an attack to Islam.
2nd- Reading this post, my first idea was that it's positive to see that finally women are getting their freedom, just like they have at Europe and America, than, my friend Realsome clarified that it's forbidden in Islam, just as still is in Catholicism, i do belive that women should be treated as equal, if people are pure, why would it affect the gender of the preacher? And no, i'm 100% man and never changed sex.
Only God Can Judge Me
الله فقط يمكنه محاكمتي
I am you and you are me, if you love i love, if you suffer i suffer
أنا أنت, و أنت أنا, إذا أحببت نفسك أحببت نفسي, إذا عانيتَ عانيتُ
What is absolutely amazing is something vaguely interesting has actually happened in Europe's most boring country - Belgium... WOW!!!!
The freedom of speech is upto the tip of others nose. You are not authorized to talk about islam becuase you are not a muslim and you just read books about islam only to get marry with a girl who nameed to be a muslim. I never argued about any other religion. You understand plato. Being a muslim I have the right to protect against the bashing on Islam. Why are you worried when I say something which is truth. If you owe truth tell to the public. I don't care. But if you continue to criticise islam I won't stop reacting on it. You can not stop me on this ok. I am a muslim and I do not blame any other religion for anything.
"Like several folks already stated to you and some other "blind" people being muslim doesn't make you more or less than anyone from any other religion." I never said that I am special. But I will react if you continue to criticise islam. Because am a Muslim. Not like you. My belief is based on the teachings of Almighty, not related to a girl like you...
Nice to Nice: Once again i ask you, who are you to tell me that i can't give my own opinion or reply to a religious subject? Are you God? Why you think you owe the trueth? Like several folks already stated to you and some other "blind" people being muslim doesn't make you more or less than anyone from any other religion.
Freedom of speech allows me to state my opinions and my natural curiosity takes me to make questions regarding subjects that i ignore.
Only God Can Judge Me
الله فقط يمكنه محاكمتي
I am you and you are me, if you love i love, if you suffer i suffer
أنا أنت, و أنت أنا, إذا أحببت نفسك أحببت نفسي, إذا عانيتَ عانيتُ
Islam doesn't need any evolution. It is completed 1400 years ago.... Plato, Don't use your little knowledge about islam which acquired to marry a 'muslim' girl to discuss Fiqh related issues.....
Liberalization or evolution of Islam?
Only God Can Judge Me
الله فقط يمكنه محاكمتي
I am you and you are me, if you love i love, if you suffer i suffer
أنا أنت, و أنت أنا, إذا أحببت نفسك أحببت نفسي, إذا عانيتَ عانيتُ
I think the woman who did the mistake of leading Friday prayer in a church was Amina Wadud..... Not this lady.
Thanks Realsomeone posting those Holy verses and Hadith which clarified the doubts.....
I could see liberalization in islam in the west which will cause more troubles later...
logic i have not seen any confusion in this matter, most scholars are united in the believe that a women cannot lead men in prayer. the four schools of the islamic system are also united in this.
Poverty is not for the sake of hardship. No, it is there because nothing exists but God. Poverty unlocks the door -- what a blessed key!
- Jalaluddin al-Rumi
I confused her with the Belgium one but as the article says she is a PHD holder in Islamic studies and is a University Professor
I wonder why there so much confusion when it comes to these issues, why is it that Muslim Scholars have no one view on things like this?
"The best way to predict the future is to create it".
thanks for the link, sadly i cant understand arabic, unfortunately this women is trying to take a dangerous adventure given the clear sunnah of the prophet.
by the way, are you sure this women is the same as the one in this article? because this women is in Belgium and the one in your link is in UK?
Poverty is not for the sake of hardship. No, it is there because nothing exists but God. Poverty unlocks the door -- what a blessed key!
- Jalaluddin al-Rumi
Thank you for all the above,
here is the link to the news I read
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/10/18/58439.html
As I said she is quoted as saying nothing in Quran and Hadith prohibits a woman from leading prayers, while you say this is not true ..
i get contradicting messages and is a bit confused ..
And obviously this lady is in the UK is the first lady so this makes this lady second in order ..
"The best way to predict the future is to create it".
So who is in the wrong here then? How did the woman get that far if it is not allowed?
After the other thread about women being thought highly, this sounds completely the opposite!
Well sorry for not responding i was out for Al Sadd, well Logic i havent seen any articles that says this lady believes ur arguments, and as stated in this article this women will be a supervisory imam and will lead prayer for women also, but women cannot lead prayer for men and a list of reasons are given below.
This is due to the following reasons:
1. If it is permitted by Allah or His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), then such permission would have been transmitted from the first generation of Islam.
2. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) never said to a woman or chose a woman to lead Prayers in the mosque during the whole 16 years between the prescription of Prayer in Makkah and his death in Madinah. He could have chosen `A’ishah, the Mother of the Believers, or Fatimah, the master of the women of Jannah (Paradise), to lead the Prayers in his mosque, even just one time to show us that this is acceptable, especially that his mosque was a part of his home. Also, his Companions and their followers did not do this either, showing that it is not permissible for a woman to lead the Prayer at the mosque.
3. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "No nation shall succeed that is led by a woman" (Al-Bukhari and Muslim). This is even more binding in Prayer, since the imamate of Prayer requires a far more slavish imitation and following than the greater imamate.
4. The known practice in Prayer is that women should stand behind men; therefore it is obvious that their being at the front is not permitted.
* The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Keep them (women) behind insofar as Allah has kept them behind.”
* The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "The best of the men’s rows is the first, and the worst is the last; and the best of the women’s rows is the last, and the worst is the first” (Muslim). The last rows are the best for women because they are farther away from the men as against the first rows that are nearest to the men. This explicitly states that if women are in the front they are in the worst position to pray. So how can she be delivering the khutbah (sermon) facing the worshipers and then praying ahead of even the first row of men?
* Narrated Anas (may Allah be pleased with him): "Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed and an orphan and I prayed behind him and Umm Sulaim (may Allah be pleased with her) was behind us” (agreed upon).
5. It is better for women to pray in their houses than to attend congregational Prayer, even though it is permissible for them to attend the mosque. And it is not right that the leader of the Prayer be precluded from such excellence to begin with.
* The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Do not prevent the women from going to the mosques although their houses are better for them.”
* Umm Humaid As-Sa`diyyah came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, "O Messenger of Allah, I love to pray with you. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “I am aware of that, but your Prayer in your residence is better for you than your Prayer in your people’s mosque. And your Prayer in your people’s mosque is better than your Prayer in the (larger) congregational mosque.” In this hadith the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) encouraged the women to pray in their houses because it is better for them, and whatever the Prophet chose for his Ummah is the best for them, because the source of the Prophetic knowledge is divine, and it is free from all kinds of error. If it is better for them to pray at home, then for women to lead the Prayer at the mosque would not be permissible.
6. `Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "A woman does not lead as imam."
7. It is not allowed for anyone to make the Adhan or the Iqamah except a Muslim male who is adult and sane, who can pronounce the letters of the Adhan and the Iqamah properly. And the proof for that is that women were never asked to make the Adhan for men. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said addressing his male Companions, “If you start Prayer, one of you should make the Adhan, and the oldest (male) of you or the most versed in Qur’an should be your imam.” So if the woman is not allowed to make the Adhan or the Iqamah, how can we say that she is allowed to lead the Prayer?
8. The hadith of Umm Waraqah does not have clear indication that women can lead men in the Prayer at the mosque. `Uthman ibn Abi Shaibah said: Waki` told us, Al-Walid ibn `Abdullah told us that his grandmother told him and `Abdur-Rahman ibn Khalid Al-Ansari about Umm Waraqah that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) carried out the battle of Badr she said, "Would you allow me to go with you so that I take care of the wounded and look after the sick? Perhaps Allah will grant me the bounty of martyrdom." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Stay in your home, Allah will grant you martyrdom status." So he (peace and blessings be upon him) used to call her “the martyr.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) then ordered her to lead the Prayers at her home. She used to have a muezzin to call the Adhan for her, and she used to lead her family until a slave boy of hers and a female slave killed her. We can conclude the following from this hadith:
* The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explicitly told her to stay home and not even to go out to the mosque to pray. How can this be seen as evidence for women to go out and lead Prayers in a mosque? He could have asked her to go to the mosque and be the imam(ah). Instead, he (peace and blessings be upon him) instructed her to stay home.
* Scholars of usul al-fiqh call the explicit meaning of a text the “zhahir,” which is the meaning that is explicitly mentioned in a text even if the text is not specifically stated for it. The nass of a text is what the text was specifically intended and said for. Nass is stronger than zhahir and has to be considered before it in the case where the meaning appears to conflict. In this hadith, staying home is nass, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was explicitly answering a request to go out to war.
* The claim that this hadith proves that women can be imams is unsubstantiated, as that meaning is not a zhahir of the text; that is, no word in the hadith states that women can be imams in mosques and that men can pray behind them. This is an implicit meaning that is much lower in consideration to both zhahir and nass, and has to be considered in consolidation with other evidence of Shari`ah.
* Al-Qurtubi said, "Ash-Shafi`i said a man who prays behind a woman has to repeat the Prayer. Abu Thawr said, no he does not have to repeat it (this does not mean that it can take place in the first place, it only means that if it happens by mistake he does not have to repeat it). Our scholars consented upon the ruling that women cannot lead Prayers, not even for other women. They look at the hadith of Umm Waraqah as a special case that stands alone, specific to her status as a living martyr, so she was ordered to stay home and lead her family in Prayers … not other people."
* The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered her to lead only the members of her household in Prayer, but he did not order her to lead the Prayer in the mosque. If it had been permissible for her to do that, or she had understood that from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), then she would have done it to show us that is permissible to lead the Prayer in the mosque.
* The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) allowed Umm Waraqah (may Allah be pleased with her) to lead the women of her household in Prayer as ibn Qudamah said in Al-Mughni, just as `A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) used to lead women in Prayer and stand with the women in the middle of the first row. Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her)
and with all these reasons the most important for a Muslim men/women is this verse (O you who believe, obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those in authority among you. And if you are in dispute over any matter, refer it to Allah and His Messenger if you are actually believers in Allah and the last day. That is better for you and more seemly in the end) (An-Nisa’ 4:
and the prophet's word The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “I have left among you two matters, that if you adhere to them, you will never be misguided: The Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet.”
with all due respect i am not a scholar nor an islamic expert more details of this are available here. http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1119503549612&pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaEAskTheScholar
Poverty is not for the sake of hardship. No, it is there because nothing exists but God. Poverty unlocks the door -- what a blessed key!
- Jalaluddin al-Rumi
I liked the article. I think it shows that women do have a role to play in Islam and especially in the religious arena.
I don't really see the point of digging deeper and going over the same old arguments.
This lady believes that women in Islam have the right to lead men in prayer. Many scholars will disagree with that.
It is pretty similar to some Catholics, Protestants believing that women should be ordained as priests and other disagreeing.
I would suggest that rather than going over the same discussons we always get into, why not do some research. Find out where in the Quran it says that women can lead men in prayers, post it to this thread and then let the discussion begin in earnest.
she was quoted as saying nothing in Quran prevents her from leading men in paryer ... she already lead men on Friday prayers .. so she does not believe in separation of men and women ...
I see women are getting better at understanding their rights and are seeking it .. a good thing to see..
Hope to see more of this in the future
"The best way to predict the future is to create it".
What don't you understand logicsays. Islam believes in the seperation of men and women, so of course a women would only be allowed to preach to women. Even I understand that.
I do not believe any muslem woman does not seek equality as men it is just an illusion or they have been brainwashed over and over again ..
I see the article posted is contradicting itself, don't you see tha same and I have raised my concerns and asked for clarifications but seems realsomeone is having difficulty finding answers to my question ..
"The best way to predict the future is to create it".
So, this puts that other thread about muslim women not needing to be the same as men as crap really doesn't it! Good on her!
I have posted the web that published the news, I have raised a concern and asked for your references, hope you can enlighten us on that matter ...
"The best way to predict the future is to create it".
Good on her! :)
and I do not see obvious reasons other than seeing women as inferior to men !!! which I disagree with and the lady herself has been quoted as sying nothing in Islam prevents a woman from leading men in prayer and this is why she did it .. if you have something in Quran that confirms women should not lead men in prayers please provide us with your reference ..
"The best way to predict the future is to create it".
she did not lead friday prayer dont know where you got that. and its not discrimination women can lead prayer for other women, not with men and there are plenty of reasons for that. a reasonable mind can guess the most obvious.
Poverty is not for the sake of hardship. No, it is there because nothing exists but God. Poverty unlocks the door -- what a blessed key!
- Jalaluddin al-Rumi
and that caused lots of problems .. if she qualifies why wouldn't she lead prayers ... wouldn't this be discrimination against women?
"The best way to predict the future is to create it".
Yes but its not only limited to leading prayers and also i guess she will be leading prayers for other women.
Poverty is not for the sake of hardship. No, it is there because nothing exists but God. Poverty unlocks the door -- what a blessed key!
- Jalaluddin al-Rumi
I meant that for many , the title "Imam" conjures up visions of leading prayers etc..(rightly or wrongly)
why is it misleading brit. they are claiming she is the first women to be given the imam position in europe or is there other before her?
Poverty is not for the sake of hardship. No, it is there because nothing exists but God. Poverty unlocks the door -- what a blessed key!
- Jalaluddin al-Rumi
Good move..Hope it works out.. The title is misleading though.
Quite Literally!
Did you Google it first?
I believe its good move to the right direction. God bless her.
Poverty is not for the sake of hardship. No, it is there because nothing exists but God. Poverty unlocks the door -- what a blessed key!
- Jalaluddin al-Rumi