Muslim Woman Conducts Friday Prayers In Kerala For First Time

Women are breaking the glass ceiling in every field today. While at one end a team of BSF women for the first time rode bikes and showed stunts on Republic Day, on the other end in Kerala's Malappuram district a Muslim woman led Friday prayers for the first time in history.

The famous Juma prayers -- that have so far been a male-dominated space -- now has Jamida Teacher, state general secretary of Quran and Sunnat society as the Imam holding Friday prayers at Quran and Sunnat society headquarters at Cherukode. Apart from this, she will also read Khutba, the speech during Juma prayers.

While Quran is free of any biases, it is men who brought patriarchal mindset into the religious acts, says Jamida Teacher

Jamida, happy with the decision, said that men lead Juma prayers in all parts of the country and this decision has questioned patriarchy. Quran does not propagate gender bias in any of its beliefs and worships. In fact, it wants every Muslim to perform prayers, Haj, zakat (charity) and fasting, addressing them as ‘believers’.

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She added that while Quran is free of any biases, it is men who brought patriarchal mindset into the religious acts.

Progressive Islamic cleric Chekannur Maulavi founded the Quran and Sunnat society. He received fame for his controversial and unconventional interpretation of Islam. Maulavi suddenly disappeared in 1993 and is now declared dead.

It was not until 2005 that the society conducted Juma prayers but then US-based Muslim scholar and professor, Amina Wadud, arrived who led the first Juma prayers.

In 2016, Denmark’s first women-run mosque—Mariam mosque in Copenhagen—also saw two women Imams leading the Friday Adhan in clear feminine voice. It is one of the very few mosques led entirely by women in the world. Sherin Khankan and Saliha Marie Fetteh are the two Imams who sang the Juma prayers. Khankan sang the adhan and made an opening speech, and Fetteh delivered the khutbah, or sermon, on the theme of “women and Islam in a modern world”, reported The Guardian.

Picture credit- The News Minute