Copenhagen gets first female imams
Copenhagen, Aug. 27: Friday prayers have been led by women for the first time in Scandinavia this week, as a female- led mosque was opened in Copenhagen.
More than 60 women crammed into the Mariam mosque in a city centre street in the Danish city on Friday to their first service together. According to The Guardian, Sherin Khankan and Saliha Marie Fetteh, the mosque’s two female imams, shared the ceremony, as Khankan sang the adnan and made an opening speech.
Fetteh delivered the khutbah, or sermon, on the theme of “women and Islam in a modern world”.
There are only a handful of female- led mosques outside China. In many mosques, men and women worship separately, with women encouraged to say prayers in their own homes, the Daily Mail said. Mosques are seen as the men's realm. According to The Guardian, the mosque has drawn up its own six- page marriage charter with four key principles.
In the mosque, polygamy is not an option; women have the right to divorce; a marriage will be annulled if psychological or physical violence is committed; and, in the event of divorce, women will have equal rights over any children. Khankan said the mosque aims and hopes to challenge patriarchal roles within Islam, which is maledominated, but also in other faiths too, such as Judaism and Catholicism. Khankan wore a headscarf only to pray, saying it was her interpretation of being a faithful and loyal Muslim.