Female imams: the contexts and discourses of arguments in favour and against female ritual leadership and religious authority in Islam.

This research is on the controversial issue of female imams (prayer leaders) and aims to analyse, critique and contextualise the arguments provided by classical and contemporary Muslim writers in favour of, and against, female ritual leadership in Islam.

Publications on the topic of female ritual leadership or female religious authority in Islam are few and marginal. There is no academic monographic study on female imams, on women in positions of ritual leadership and on religious authority. My work over two decades on gender and Islam and female religious authority, has equipped me for this new project. The originality of this project rests not only on its subject matter, but also on the variety of the sources analysed, the issues raised and the approaches used.

Most Islamic legal schools theoretically accept that pious Muslim women can lead other women in ritual prayer, though this is not necessarily practised. However, the overwhelming majority of classical and contemporary Muslim scholars as well as ordinary believers would not accept that a Muslim woman may lead a mixed congregation in prayer. The reasons they provide range from concepts of female ritual purity, historical precedence (or lack thereof), social customs and traditionally accepted roles for women. These will be analysed and critiqued. There have been alternative voices such as legal scholars Abu Thawr al-Kalbi (d. 854) and the well known Abu Ja'far al-Tabari (d. 923) who have supported the legitimacy of a woman leading a mixed congregation. Significantly, they report the historical precedent of Umm Waraqa, a contemporary of the prophet Muhammad, who was instructed by him to lead her household (of women and men) in prayer.

The issue of the legitimacy of female imams is not mere scholastic and theoretical speculation. In New York, in 2005, a Muslim female academic publicly led a mixed congregation in ritual prayer. The mass media extensively covered the event and arguments were made widely available on the world wide web. Such arguments are almost the same as those the classical authors have provided since the 9th century.
I aim to analyse not only those classical and modern arguments, but also to uncover what lies behind the positions of scholars presenting them. How do they justify their stance? Were those in favour of female imams relying on specific sources they considered authoritative? Were they interpreting those sources in accordance with their specific legal, theological or other agendas? Did the theoretical issue have any practical or communal relevance? And in a modern context to what extent are arguments provided to suit specific agendas such as feminist, modernist, progressive, traditionalist, or even anti-Western agendas?

These and other questions are aimed at presenting the issue of female imams in context. Over the centuries, the very meaning of the term imam and the role an imam is expected to play within the community have greatly expanded, particularly among minority Muslim communities. Which roles could a female imam play which couldn't be fulfilled by a male imam? A number of interpretative approaches will be used in answering such questions, such as hermeneutics, textual and contextual analysis.
Contemporary muftis such as Yusuf al-Qaradawi (b. Cairo 1926) and the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia Al-Allamah al-Shaykh and progressive thinkers like Jamal al-Banna have voiced their opinions on the topic and have selectively used some of the arguments provided in the classical sources. To analyse those classical sources will provide a historical, legal and theological context to the present debate. The present debate itself will be analysed in its own terms and contexts. The outcome of my research will therefore be of particular interest not only to academics and researchers but also to those interested in gender studies, human rights, modern movements, developments and trends in Islam.