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Can a Woman be an Imam?
Debating Form and Function in Muslim Women’s Leadership*
Ingrid Mattson
ISNA Vice President
One day We shall call all people according to their Imams. Whoever is given his book in his right hand will read it and will not be subject to the slightest injustice. But whoever was blind in this world will be blind in the next and completely astray from the path. (Qur’an 17:71)
Islamic tradition is replete with references to the responsibility each Muslim bears for finding or establishing a group of Muslims with whom he or she can worship and fulfill communal obligations. According to the Qur’an (3:104, 110), it is within the community (ummah) of believers that society can be transformed for the better. As is the case with many issues, however, the Qur’an gives only general guidelines, not details about the way Muslims should organize themselves and choose their leaders. Among the principles of leadership established in the Qur’an is the requirement that believers obey their leaders (4:59) and that leaders consult with their followers (42:38). The Qur’an describes leadership as a proper aspiration of the believing community (25:74), just as it describes Isaac and Jacob in particular, and the Children of Israel in general, as having been leaders (a’immah—plural of imam) inspired by God to guide others (21:72-73). The Qur’an does not designate clear distinctions between political and religious leaders, and many of the prophets are shown to have exercised both spiritual and political authority. 1
Political leadership, in the sense of state power, is not the concern of this study; rather, we will attempt to formulate a framework for discussing religious leadership in the American Muslim community, as it affects women in particular. This distinction between political and religious leadership is not unnatural to Islamic societies, despite the common wisdom that there is no separation between “church and state” in Islam. In fact, throughout most of Islamic history, there was an identifiable class of religious scholars who placed significance on maintaining (at least the appearance of) independence from political authorities. i These religious scholars, the ‘ulama, were joined in guiding the Muslim community by spiritual leaders (“shaykhs”—Sufi or otherwise), in addition to a variety of religious professionals: imams, khatibs (preachers), Qur’an reciters, mu’adhdhins (prayer callers), spiritual healers and others.
Of course, this does not mean that Muslim political authorities over the centuries had no role in shaping religious institutions and legitimizing religious professionals. ii This dynamic, however, is not the concern of this paper. Rather, we are primarily interested in examining women’s religious leadership within voluntary communities of Muslims in secular societies, especially in America. Again, this does not mean that the political leadership of secular societies refrains from trying to influence the dynamics of leadership within voluntary religious communities. The actions taken by countries su