31 July 2015

Why I disagree with having a women-run mosque in Bradford

On Sunday 2 August, the Muslim Women’s Council in Bradford will be holding an event to discuss its proposals for the UK’s first women-managed mosque. Some women have experienced exclusion from male-run mosques, and so on the surface this seems a reasonable way forward. Many Muslims in Bradford would agree that we need to work towards greater involvement and inclusion of women in the life of the Muslim community.

.... All of this is why I support Bradford having a mosque that is led by both men and women, that is used by both men and women, which remains true to the Muslim tradition and religious moral law. Such a mosque would be the first to be inclusive of both male and female leadership and also male and female use, so would be a good example of how other mosques could develop, potentially stimulating change and development across all British mosques.

[TOP RATED COMMENT] "There are some very good examples of female scholarship emerging in the Muslim community within Bradford and beyond."

That would be scholarship about, say, the development of empiricist philosophy within the Scottish Enlightenment, the Barbary incursions, the Norse influence on the vowels of eastern England? Or is “ scholarship” here being used in a special sense about just one book not subject to the principle of a priori examination that would be normal in other fields? [Guardian Cif] Read more