women as imams

Salma Qureshi, a Kenyan born British Muslim (now there is a title if you ever wanted one), is raising eyebrows as she persists with her quest to become an imam. That would make her the first female imam in Britain. Good on her. If it all works out then Qureshi could have a larger and more fundamental positive impact on the British, and by extension global, Muslim communities than any government based initiative. (Although the website doesn’t carry any reference to her Kenyan roots the radio programme did.) I hope Qureshi gets a warmer reception than Amina Wadud who had a fatwa issued against her for leading prayers in New York.

Qureshi was interviewed as part of the BBC’s “Who Runs Your World” series which conspiracy theorists who like to make scary noisy will be happy to know also includes sections on Opus Dei (insert your own scary noisy here) and the Bilderberg Group (insert your own even scarier noise here).