An Imam is a religious leader who leads congregational prayers on Friday and the obligatory prayer times in masjids (mosques). Besides prayer, the Imam will perform marriages, funeral rights, five advice, give sermons (kutbahs), and various other religious needs. A pastor would be equivalent, yet in Islam or atleast in Sunni Islam there is no clergy. Meaning technically a mosque can function without and Imam. Many small mosques don’t have Imams, like the one mosque I attended when I first converted. The person who leads the prayer tends to be the one who has memorized the most chapters and is willing to recite.

These mosques tend to give the lecturer position on Fridays to men who are more “knowledgeable” than the rest, leading to men who don’t have degrees in Islam, Religion, or Near Eastern Studies to give a lecture on Islamic topics that they are unqualified for. These very men will preach Wahabi and Salafi rhetoric and often quote weak hadiths. This is where the importance of the Imam comes in. Throughout Islamic history, the Imam was generally a well-educated man on Islam and sometimes dabbled in sciences. They were not always scholars of Islam, some governments tried to regulated Imam training and schooling. Imams in modern times tend to have degrees in Islam, near eastern studies, anthropology, and some other related field. The importance of having educated Imams in religion, prevents unknowledgeable men from leading followers away from Islam and sometimes towards extremism. There are Imam training programs that teach hadiths, Quran, and Islamic theology for Afghani Imams to combat the Taliban. These programs are successful.

So where do women fit into this equation? Can women become Imams, like there are female priest and rabbis? Yes, there is no Quranic verse that denies a woman the right to be an Imam. In fact, the Quran doesn’t even support male Imams. Imams are meant to help lead a community, not control. There are also no authentic hadiths that tell us that women can’t be imams in their own right.

There is, generally, no question that a woman can lead prayer at home. Women tend to not be encouraged to lead prayer at home or give adhan at home. Women are also technically allowed, by scholars, to lead a prayer of all women. These two cases have been reported in authentic and strong hadith sources. Ibrahim An-Nakhi reported that Aisha (r) used to lead women in prayer during Ramadan. Al-Hakim reported that Aisha (r) used to call the adhan and iqamah and then would lead women in prayers. It was narrated that Umm Salamah (r) led women and men in prayer while standing among them in the same row.

Despite authentic hadiths narrating that women led prayers Scholars like Ibn Hannibal did not recommend it. Hanafi scholars also considered it undesirable. These scholars focus on weak hadiths to maintain a patriarchal and prejudice world view, one of the main problems in Islam, like on reported by Jabir ibn Abdullah (r) ” the Prophet (s) addressed us in a speech and stated, ‘A woman may not lead a man in prayer'” Another version says ‘A man may not be led by a woman in prayer, nor may a muhyjer be led by a Bedouin, nor may a committed believer be led by a corrupt person unless one is coerced by a ruler and fears his sword or whip.”

These hadiths are popular in a scholarly and social circles are “weak” and dont match the authentic hadiths reported. A popular saying “move them in back to the rear designated for them by Allah” is not a hadith nor in the Quran, but yet is used to justify women being shoved out of mind and sight.

Ibn Taymiyyah supported women leading men in prayers. As did the Haruriyyah sect founded by Habib Ibn Yazid al-Haruri who held that women can lead prayer as long as they are able to carry out the duties and had the knowledge. The wife of the founder Ghazala al-Haruriyya led her male warriors in prayer in Kufa. Shaffi juristic school allowed women to lead in prayer as well. Ibn Arabi declared that female prayer is permissible: “There are those who unconditionally permit women to lead men [in prayer], which is my opinion as well. There are those who completely forbid her from such leadership and there are those who permit her to lead women, but not men. The reasoning (behind the unconditional permission) is that the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) testified that some women attained perfection just as he testified regarding some men – even though the later were more than the former. This perfection is in reference to prophecy, and prophecy is leadership (imama), thus a women’s leadership (in prayer) is sound. The default state is that her leadership is permissible, and one should not listen to those who prohibit it without proof, for there is no text to support their claim, and any evidence they bring forth [is not female specific, and] could include them in the prohibition as well, thereby neutralizing the evidence in this regard, and maintaining the default state of her leadership’s permissibility”

The Hui of China established female-only mosques and female Imams as early as the 1700s. The women did so because they were barred from the masjids and felt it unfair. So they created their own Mosque that functions the same as the male mosques, complete with the cleaning of the dead. In modern times women around the world have become Imams. Some women decide to lead only women and some women lead mixed groups. Notably, Imam Amina Wadud led a mixed congregation in New York.

The rise of the female-only mosques around the world has led to the need of female imams to lead and perform religious acts in such building. Female only mosques are created because of the lack of equality in space in the male dominated mosque. This is only one aspect of why female only mosques are established, some are established to help abused and battered women and serve as women shelters. Others are establishing masjids to promote Islamic literacy among women, to make new immigrants feel comfortable expressing concerns on any range of topics.

At the end of the day can women become Imams? Yes, they can because there is no evidence suggesting otherwise. The use of weak hadiths to promote this ideology of anti-Female imams is wrong. We look upon first what the Quran teaches, and nothing teaches against women leading prayer. Then we look at Muhammad (s) and his companions (r) as an example, we see that the women did, in fact, lead other women in prayer especially during Ramadan and at home, they led mixed-gatherings.

Muslims should encourage women to seek Islamic knowledge, as they encourage their men. Girls should be encouraged at home to lead prayers, even if she has no desire to become an Imam. Women should be able to lead a prayer at a women gathering, yet many of us are too afraid or uncomfortable to be in that position. Muslims don’t have to promote female imams for a mosque (yet), but they should help women become comfortable with leading prayers. If the wives of Muhammad can lead prayers on Ramadan, in mixed gatherings, at home, and with a group of women then women should also be able to do the same.