On returning from a brief trip to Istanbul, where inside the mosques women are still very much kept to one side, only allowed to look on from an angle, unable to contemplate the full mystery of the space created within those extraordinary domes, I was intrigued on Sunday to happen upon Heart and Soul (produced by Lindsay Leonard) and to hear a Muslim woman leading the prayers to Allah. She sounded so natural, so intent, her voice modulated and firm, uplifting and authoritative. But how, I wondered, is this possible? Where is this female imam allowed to practise?
It turned out that Samira Ahmed (from Radio 4’s Front Row) was reporting for the World Service from the Inclusive Mosque Initiative in north London, where men and women pray side by side and all the leadership positions have been given to women. In this mosque it is the men who lay out the prayer mats and make the tea.
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