Dr. Amina Wadud
Dr. Amina Wadud created some controversy at the Islam and Aids international conference held in Kuala Lumpur in May. Sharizal links to some interesting press coverage, and wonders where to find Dr. Wadud’s original presentation. Muslim Wake Up has it here. I was not fond of her presentation, and I give some reasons why in the comments section there.
Muslim Wake Up has an interview with her. The comments section there has drawn some lively debate about the NGO Sisters in Islam, which Dr. Wadud helped found. I would hate to see SIS disregarded solely because of their prior connection to Dr. Wadud. Organizations are bigger than their founders. Sisters in Islam was recently in the news for an anti-polygamy campaign they launched, which I support. Altmuslim has more on that. Still, Sisters in Islam suffers from some of the same problems Dr. Wadud has, particularly, that they are trying to influence muslim opinion while disregarding a basic element of religious practice, the hijab. In matters of religion, personal character is as important as anything you have to say. Or as a feminist might say, the personal is political.
Muslim Wake Up also has a description of the conference by Farid Esack. I found it useful for visualizing the scene there, even if his writing gave me the sensitive-new-age-guy heebie-jeebies. One statement by him jumped out at me though:
“A surprisingly enlightened keynote address was delivered by Mohammad Kamal Hassan, the Rector of the International Islamic University on ‘Creating a Caring Ummah: Transforming the Response.’ He espoused a favorite idea of ours in Positive Muslims, the idea of a ‘theology of compassion.’ (I say ’surprisingly’ because of that university’s reputation.)”
Now that was a cheap shot! The International Islamic University, or IIU, is a very exciting university. It is the only university I know of that combines western style academic standards and disciplines with traditional Islamic knowledge. It is the model for higher learning in an Islamic society. I have yet to hear the slightest criticism of its program by its graduates, or of its graduates by anyone else I’ve met. I would venture that UIA has an excellent reputation among Malaysian universities, despite it only being 20 years old. What has Esack heard, I wonder, to insult it like that?
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I read those articles too and I pretty much agree with your take. It’s possible to be politically moderate and religiously orthodox at the same time. Unfortunately, some commentators especially in the West seem to want a sort of “Reform Islam” along the lines of Reform Judaism. If that’s what they want, I’m afraid they won’t like me.
I must add that the Sister in Islam campaign is really more about pro-monogamy, rather than anti-polygyny (I was told that polygyny is more politicaly correct term) because Islam does allow men to marry more than one, albeit within certain guidelines.
SIS aims to educate the Malay masses into thinking that polygyny in Islam is not a right but a responsibility and men should attempt to treat it as such by consulting with his wife(s) rather than eloping with another to Thailand.
Having said that, when men do decide to have a polygynous marriage the syariah law must also recognise that some women are emotionally affected by it and must make necessary provisions and enforcements so as to be fair to all parties.
am not sure but brother esack was probably referring to the surrender of one of the IIU’s students to the US authorities a while back (at the start of the ongoing malaysian chapter of the ‘war on terror’). probably. but i could be dead wrong.
m, you’re probably talking about Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal, one of a sorry bunch of Oregonians who tried unsuccesfully to get to Afghanistan after the war started to help the Taliban. Bilal had enrolled in IIU and was hoping for asylum. He didn’t get it and was deported back to the US in Oct. 2002. Given Esack’s leanings, I’m guessing he wouldn’t hold a grudge against IIU for that. Neither do I, for that matter.
CBS has coverage of the affair.
OH MY GOD GREGORY, YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT HORRORS HAPPEN INSIDE THE INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY. AS A CAUCASIAN MUSLIM CONVERT, YOU WILL NEVER EVER BE ALLOWED TO WITNESS A LOCAL MALAY STUDENT GETTING ‘FLOGGED’ EMOTIONALLY JUST BECAUSE A HUGE MAJORITY OF THE MALAY STUDENTS THERE SUBSCRIBE TO A CERTAIN BRAND OF HOLIER-THAN-THOU ATTITUDE AND ARE ALWAYS ON THE LOOK OUT FOR OTHER STUDENTS’ ‘SINS’ WHEN THEY THEMSELVES ARE WROUGHT WITH WRONGDOINGS. WORSE, THESE ‘HOLY’ ONES CITE SOME QURANIC INJUNCTION OR THE SUNNAH TO PIN OTHER STUDENTS DOWN WHILE THEY FEEL THAT THEY THEMSELVES ARE ABOVE THE LAW. THEY ARE ALSO INFESTED WITH THE NEGATIVE SYNDROME OF PERASAAN HASAD DENGKI OF THE WORST TYPE. HYPOCRITES, ISLAMIC VOGUES, AND WHAT NOT – ALL OF THEM ARE A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS, OXYMORONS AND PLAGUES OF THE MUSLIM AND MALAYSIAN COMMUNITY. I CAN’T EVEN BEGIN TO EXPLAIN HOW BAD IT IS. IT IS THE MOST SICKENING THIN THAT CAN HAPPEN TO A PERSON DURING HIS FORMATIVE YEARS. IIU ITSELF IS CONCEIVED ON A VERY BEAUTIFUL CONCEPT AND ITS FACILITIES ARE ADMIRABLE. ALAS, THE PEOPLE HOUSED IN IT ARE NOT READY FOR SUCH GRAND IDEAS. THE ORIGINAL CONCEPT NEVER TOOK OFF AND IT REMAINS IN THE SORRY STATE THAT IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN SINCE THE BEGINNING. AS SUCH, FOR NOW AT LEAST, IIU’S MOTTO ‘GARDEN OF VIRTUE AND KNOWLEDGE’ COULD BE BEST MODIFIED TO ‘GARDEN OF ASKEWED KNOWLEDGE AND IMPOSED VIRTUE’.
Artemis, you don’t have to shout, and my name’s not Gregory. That’s my father. Still, thanks for writing. I can relate to what you are saying about IIU, although I have never attended classes there. I wasn’t the right kind of muslim either for my peers when I was in college. That wasn’t IIU, but a big ten American univeristy that shall remain unnamed. What you describe is not unique to IIU or Islam. I met someone who experienced this kind of ostracism for not being down with the sexual politics of Antioch university down in Ohio. College campuses can have this kind of intense cliqueish atmosphere, and it is certainly undesireable. Nonetheless, I think my point still stands that IIU is a model for modern Islamic higher education, that its academic programs are solid and that its graduates are sought after. As for the students themselves, well, I accept what you have experienced, but I have also met far too many graduates from there who are exceptional human beings to change my opinion, not the least of whom is my wife.
Sorry about the caps brother.
I understand what u mean artemis and even though I am Malay, I’m not angry at you. The truth is, it is done by all muslim nations. Thinking that their nation is more Islamic than others. But artemis, leave the bad side, look at the bright side. in every nation, there is some thing good u can follow. For example, Jewish people are good in supporting their nation socially and economically, which I think is something we should learn from them.
I don’t agree with the anti-poligamy campaign. I prefer the “husband understanding wife & vice versa campaign”..
Dr Amina Wadud “..the job of a women is to spread their legs for their husbands…” hehehe I don’t find this in the Holy book.. perhaps she’s sick of the culture of muslims from male-dominant countries.. but culture is culture..
I don’t agree with the anti-poligamy campaign. I prefer the “husband understanding wife & vice versa campaign”..
Dr Amina Wadud “..the job of a women is to spread their legs for their husbands…”I don’t find this in the Holy book.. perhaps you are sick of the culture of muslims from male-dominant countries.. but culture is culture.you don’t have right to change it.
Dr Amina Wadud…you are going against the Islamic rule.If u want to be in publicity this is not the right way.here you got the publicity,but for how much year you’ll alive.one day every one have to die.how could you show your face to Allah.
There is so many way by which u can dominate the mail.its my advise to you,don’t go against the islam.you are already populer then why do u want to do this shameful thing.
If so many people are against you.there might be some reason.atlest u should think.
If you are psychic consult any psycaterist.
YOU ARE SHAME FOR ALL THE WORLD MUSLIMS.
Posted by: Nazish Sayeed (Delhi) India
Artemis, kindly brush-up your English. For your information, the word “oxymoron” which you employed IS NOT SYNONIMOUS with the offensive word “moron”. While moron simply means “a mildly mentally retarded person” OR “a very stupid person”, the noun “oxymoron” has nothing offensive about it as it is a rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined, as in a deafening silence and a mournful optimist.
As a Reform Jew, I support any effort at building an honorable liberal religion or religious movement. Dr. Amina Wahud is to be commended for her efforts at helping to build a truly Progressive Islam where folks can debate and follow their personal beliefs without fear. This is not just a Western effort. Indeed, even in Iran, there are kids looking to live a liberal and free lifestyle. Once, there was an evil aide to the Shah of Iran, Ahasaurus, many centuries ago, who wanted to put a whole bunch of Iranians to death because they believed and thought differently from the rest of Iran’s people. This man was named Haman. Now, the Shah- who lived before Muhammad – had a wife named Esther, from this very group of different-believers. She told him about the genocide plot. Ahasaurus believed his wife, and ordered Haman hung on his own gallows. The holiday of Purim, which is today, celebrates this triumph of good over evil, of diversity over intolerance. Dr. Wadud, now, bothers people because she is different, because she stands up to intolerance. Well, good: by standing up to the bullies, she is standing up for the right to practice religion the way one feels comfortable; the way we were made by G-d or Allah or Whomever is responsible, in a large part, for what we find comfortable in religion. Now, Wadud was made a woman. She feels comfortable leading services. Obviously, if G-d didn’t want us leading services, G-d would’ve made us so that we wouldn’t walk far enough, so stupid that we wouldn’t be able to reason and speak, and so hoarse that we wouldn’t be able to be understood. Obviously, G-d doesn’t mind women leading services. Muhammad misunderstood what G-d intended to say, which is nothing new, as every prophet in every age has misunderstood Her.
Jacquelina, please do not speak about things that you are not fully understand. Don’t talk like you know Islam well enough to say that Allah (or to you G-d) intended ‘this’ and ‘that’ like you have been seeing or speaking to Him. I don’t know about Jew, but did you see I debate anything that its somewhat ‘different’ followers of Jews do? I’m sorry for being so harsh but Islam is about Al-Quran and Hadith where it is the guidelines to all Muslims. How can you say it is okay for one (especially muslim) to practice religion in a way one is comfortable? That is not how it is in Islam. Everything happen is for a reason and has its logic, you may never see it now, but someday you will. How can you know that Allah (or G-d) intended Prof Amina leading services? it has never been stated that a woman should never lead a service, not in almost 1500 years. But how do you well know that Allah (or G-d) intended that Prof Amina should lead any service? She is just a single female muslim that has a role and part in this good world. That I can accept. But still she doesn’t have the rights to play man’s role, something as important as leading Friday prayers for both male and female. Now, Islam is a unique religion as it is flexible. A woman can be a leader in this world, even become a president it is not a problem and Islam will never discourage it but in terms of religion, muslimin (female muslim) should learn to accept that it is man’s job to lead any kind of Islamic services. Where’s the flexibility that i had mentioned? Well, muslimin can lead their own prayers consists of muslimin and it is recommended. This is one of other things that Islam gives women to play their role and some of it important (some of it is delivering life or babies to this world, something man cannot do and it such an admirable deed to do it). Man can lead Friday prayers to both man and woman since man has the will to bid the task given by Allah as man represent the symbol of hardship of real world. Woman plays different role most of it is to shape this world by teaching the young ones the way of Islam until they are ready to be leaders of the world and this is an admirable role. This is stated in Quran and cannot be change, not by tiny and frail humans like us. In Islam the world we see now is not everything and as Islam stated, Allah will reward those who bid his bidding, which is to live in harmony, good will, and many other good things. And some of this is including letting go such impulse to lead something we one to believe but we know it is not our duty to do it. But as a reward in the afterlife, it is promised that people who sacrifice and do Allah’s bidding will live in harmony and have a very happy life. Women who respect Islam are few of the first who will get this reward. Earth we know today is just a long bridge that we must cross where else the afterlife is our true destination. We should live life the fullest but also prepare ourselves by becoming a spiritual person. I can see all of Prof Amina’s belief is based on the emotional impact she sees living in her environment. I cannot blame her. What I heard and saw through photos on certain part of this world shows that muslimin (female muslim) has been mistreated all through out their life. I am very sad this is happen. But this is not about religion, if muslim women is being mistreated in their country, it is because of their incompetent government a.k.a their country leaders. Everything happen to them is because of their government’s inefficient policy of protecting women. Where I come from women are treated equally as world leaders but equally accepted man as their religion leader. And never have I heard complained about this because of the stability of my government toward women’s rights. I have so many points to give out so that you or anybody will understand what Islam represents and how one should deal with it but I’m just a single frail muslim whose knowledge is limited. But I do know that Islam is also about flexibility and equality to both man and woman. If there are any religious question I can surely redirect it to the ulama’ (the Islamic elders) because we have quite many of such admirable ulama’ here in Malaysia.
P.s: Please respect other people’s religion.. The holy prophet Muhammad has never misunderstood anything unless it is Allah’s will to let Rasulullah misunderstood it.
Hypsiphrone, please brush up your reading comprehension skills. You chastise Artemis for not knowing English when in fact he used the word in question in perfect context. Furthermore, your own post has several spelling and grammatical errors. This presents yourself precisely as your wrongly inferred meaning of the word.
On the subject, perhaps this would help, the opinion of a MUSLIM WOMAN:
A rather interesting response to the recent hype about woman leading a Jumaat prayer. Read on to find out.
Title: Female-Led Prayers: A Step Forward for Women?
Question: On March 18, 2005 Amina Wadud led the first female-led Jumu`ah Prayer. On that day, women took a huge step towards being more like men. But, did we come closer to actualizing our God-given liberation?
Date: 2005/3/28
Name of Consultant: AAI Editorial Staff
Content of Reply
This answer was kindly provided by Sister Yasmin Mogahed, a member of Ask About Islam Editorial Staff. Yasmin is an Egyptian-American journalist based in Wisconsin, USA. She is currently studying for a Master’s degree in Journalism.
Salam, Sarah.
Thank you for your inspiring question!
Well, answering your question, I can say that I don’t think so.
What we so often forget is that God has
honored women by giving them value in
relation to God,not in relation to men. But as Western feminism erases God from the scene, there is no standard left but men. As a result, the Western feminist is forced to find her value in relation to a man. And in so doing, she has accepted a faulty assumption. She has accepted that man is the standard, and thus a woman can never be a full human being until she becomes just like a man?the standard.
When a man cut his hair short, she wanted to cut her hair short. When a man joined the army, she wanted to join the army, and so on.
She wanted these things for no other reason than because the “standard” had it.
What she didn’t recognize was that God
dignifies both men and women in their
distinctiveness, not their sameness. And on March 18, Muslim women made the very same mistake.
For 1,400 years, there has been a consensus of scholars that men are to lead Prayer. As a Muslim woman, why does this matter? The one who leads Prayer is not spiritually superior in any way. Something is not better just because a man does it. And leading Prayer is not better just because it is leading. Had it been the role of women or had it been more divine, why wouldn’t the Prophet have asked Lady `A’ishah or Lady Khadijah, or Lady Fatimah?the greatest women of all time?to lead? These women were promised heaven and yet they never led Prayer.
But now, for the first time in 1,400 years, we look at a man leading Prayer and we think, “That’s not fair.” We think so, although God has given no special privilege to the one who leads. The imam is no higher in the eyes of God than the one who prays behind. On the other hand, only a woman can be a mother. And the Creator has given special privilege to a mother. The Prophet taught us that heaven lies at the feet of mothers. But no matter what a man does, he can never be a mother. So why is that not unfair?
When asked who is most deserving of our kind treatment? The Prophet replied “your mother”
three times before saying “your father” only once. Isn’t that sexist? No matter what a man does, he will never be able to have the status of a mother.
And yet even when God honors us with
something uniquely feminine, we are too busy trying to find our worth in reference to men, to value it or even notice it. We too have accepted men as the standard; so anything uniquely feminine is, by definition, inferior. Being sensitive is an insult, becoming a mother is a degradation. In the battle between stoic rationality (considered
masculine) and selfless compassion
(considered feminine), rationality reigns supreme.
As soon as we accept that everything a man has and does is better, all that follows is just a knee jerk reaction: if men have it, we want it too. If men pray in the front rows, we assume this is better, so we want to pray in the front rows too. If men lead Prayer, we assume the imam is closer to God, so we want to lead Prayer too. Somewhere along the line, we’ve accepted the notion that having a position of worldly leadership is some indication of one’s position with God.
A Muslim woman does not need to degrade
herself in this way. She has God as a
standard. She has God to give her value; she doesn’t need a man here.
In fact, in our crusade to follow men, we, as women, never even stopped to examine the possibility that what we have is better for us. In some cases, we even gave up what was higher only to be like men.
Fifty years ago, we saw men leaving the home to work in factories. We were mothers. And yet, we saw men doing it, so we wanted to do it too. Somehow, we considered it women’s liberation to abandon the raising of another human being in order to work on a machine. We accepted that working in a factory was superior to raising the foundation of society?just because a man did it.
Then after working, we were expected to be superhuman?the perfect mother, the perfect wife, the perfect homemaker, and have the perfect career. And while there is nothing wrong, by definition, with a woman having a career, we soon came to realize what we had sacrificed by blindly mimicking men. We watched as our children became strangers, and soon recognized the privilege we’d given up.
And so only now?given the choice?women in the West are choosing to stay home to raise their children. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, only 31 percent of mothers with babies, and 18 percent of mothers with two or more children, are working fulltime. And of those working mothers, a survey conducted by Parenting Magazine in 2000, found that 93 percent of them say they would rather be home with their kids, but are compelled to work due to “financial obligations.” These “obligations”
are imposed on women by the gender sameness of the modern West and removed from women by the gender distinctiveness of Islam.
It took women in the West almost a century of experimentation to realize a privilege given to Muslim women 1,400 years ago. Given my privilege as a woman, I only degrade myself by trying to be something I’m not, and in all honesty, don’t want to be?a man. As women, we will never reach true liberation until we stop trying to mimic men and value the beauty in our own God given distinctiveness.
If given a choice between stoic justice and compassion, I choose compassion. And if given a choice between worldly leadership and heaven at my feet, I choose heaven.
Its clearly stated that jacquelina misintreped alot about the truth of Quraan and Islam…
lets here from Amina, may SHE HAS ALREADY ASKED allah swt to forgive her, inshort she is supposed to read under instructer,If a woman is to lead a prayer then Aisha ra, swa`s wife should have done it.
i wonder if jacquelina read the thing i posted…?
akum,
to amina n her supporters:
‘Go to hell la u all’
ahaks…
Let’s try to keep things civil please, akupun.
islam is a religion, is not an idea that every one can contribute. Dr.amina did something new in our religion(Bidca), so should ask forgiveness for allah. there is none one single versus in quran, and even one hadith, that can tell us a women can lead a prayer.
Long comments posted by Zayd at April 11, 2005 02:50 AM is very refreshing and eye opening. Excellent explanation on the role of women in Islam and how God has elevated the position of women some 1400 years ago and yet the West and some so called liberated or progressive muslim did not realized.
excellent post zayd
Dear Amina or other.
I want to know about Amina Wadud. But I can’t find her biography. Please help me to find everything about her. If you know about this side, please write me.
Kind regards
Lazizbek
Aminia Wadud is feminism under the cover of progressiveness, innovation for the sake of innovation. We can see clearly in the Quran that God never sent a female human messenger, even though he made women saints (Mary). This is because God knows that men have big egos. Look at the hard time they gave their messengers, even killed many of them. They would never follow a woman. Women have never led prayers or done Qutbah, so why start an innovation now? There are other ways to prove they are equal
On a larger scale, Dr. Amina Wadud’s adventures
are part and parcel of one of RAND Corp’s
ttempted experiments to corrupt the core of
Islam.
RAND Corp in their manual: Civil Democratic Islam,
give clear instructions on how to fight authentic
Islam, not by going head-on, but by attempting to
change it’s core from within. They know that it
would be futile to officially go to war with Islam
like they did with Communism.
They have basically divided Muslims into:
secular, moderate, traditional and
fundamentalist.
They propose the funding, material and political
support of one against the other.
Dr. Amina Wadud and her followers fall into one of
these categories, and she and her supporters
have practically been given the media to broadcast
that a “new and improved” Islam, friendly to the
Capitalistic-colonial (portraying itself as
benevolent) agenda “is on the rise.” They are
trying to falsely protray a breeze of hot-air as
a huge storm.
But as Allah says:
“They (the disbelievers) want to extinguish
Allah’s Light (Islam) with their mouths, but
Allah will not allow except that His Light should
be perfected even though the Kafireen may hate
it.” [At-Taubah:32]
“.. and they plotted and Allah, too, plotted;
and Allah is the best of planners.” [Al-Anfal:30]
Let’s see who wins: Islam vs. Kufr
I think that the objective of her conduct is absolutely good that is to enhance the image of Muslim women in America.The Americans should accept the variety culture of the Muslims there because they come from various countries in the world,some are truly modern,some might be still developing and some still in ‘low’ thinking.BUT,the important thing that i really not agreed about is ‘how come she can be an Imam for men?’that’s really out of what our Prophet saw taught the Islamic followers.I think that woman has their own rights for education,politics,inheritance etc but Allah did say in AL-Quran that woman has low aqal and religion than man,that is why in every solat,the imam should be conducted by man.We should accept that,as logically speaking,woman has low strength & physical body as well as intellectual thinking than man.
Replying to those who really gives bad comments towards International Islamic University Malaysia students especially Malay students.I want to say that not all of them are bad as he/she descibe…but i want to confirm him/her that it was only 10% out of Malay students have a bad attitudes such as get ‘flogging’ or involved in that ‘holier’….i think all of the university around the world have the same problem.It is difficult to educate perfectly all more than thousands of students with various background!What i know is,most of the Malay students in IIU are really concern about their studies,concern about cleanliness,concrn about modernization and civilization without put aside their own religion.Besides that,most of them prefer to pray congregationally and pray just after the azan.I do not know about the culture of the converts students as well as CAUCASIAN MUSLIMS very well but i do salute at them because of their understanding about the concept of Islam and perform well the life of Islam.BUT what i want to criticise here is the life of FOREIGN students especially the blacks and whites!i really do not want to bias or racial discriminate them,i really hope that those students and Malay students could unite together because Islam did emphasize on unity without any bias.Why don’t the foreigners (i.e:the Blacks and Whites)be friends with the Malays?They come to our country so they should respect and be friends with the Malays.Don’t just ignore them and pretend that everything in the university belongs to them.Please…follow the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah correctly and enhance the unity among the Muslims from all over the world!!
i have read and enjoyed ur article. please send me a biography of Amina Wadud.
Yours Sincearly,
Jade
I am a student of post graduate at IAIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya Indonesia, I take islamic study. For that, I hope u sent me the biography of DR. Amina Wadud, because I interested with her thought. Thanks
Mr. Bin Gregory, it appears that there are a lot of ‘fire and forget’ type of people posting here.
Yeah, I should close the comments for this thread. I don’t really have anything to add, and the comments are not really responding to my initial post but rather to the jumaat controversy that happened much later.
To those asking for biographical info on Dr. Wadud: I don’t have any, sorry.
An article about Three Roods Farm by Garrison Benson.
Interesting critique of consumerism, counter-culture and the culture-jamming movement:
[Via]
Vaguely related in ways I can't fully articulate to themes in Yursil's ongoing series on Suburban Capitalist Islam.
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