A Canadian author will become the first Muslim-born woman to lead a mixed-gender British congregation through Friday prayers tomorrow in a highly controversial move that will attempt to spark a debate about the role of female leadership within Islam. Raheel Raza, a rights activist and Toronto-based author, has been asked to lead prayers and deliver…
Nicolas Sarkozy’s speech before the Senate, in which he announced the ban of the burka in France, has stirred some emotion and discussion in Britain, where such law is far from being thought of. In her article Cassandra Jardine compares the two countries, pointing to the right to individual and religious expression in Britain. Ahmed…
A prominent Oxford Muslim has challenged controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders to meet him for a public debate over Islam. Dr. Taj Hargey, Imam of the Summertown Islamic congregation, and leader of the Muslim Education Centre of Oxford, has invited Wilders — barred from Britain in February because of his anti-Muslim views — to meet…
Dr. Taj Hargey, “a clean-shaven imam from Oxford”, who describes himself as a “thorn in the side of the Muslim hierarchy”, has won a libel claim against a conservative Muslim newspaper. The Muslim News published an article that claimed he belonged to the Ahmadiyya sect which many in his faith believe is heretical. Dr. Hargey…
It was, said the organisers, as historic and radical an act as Emmeline Pankhurst chaining herself to railings outside the Houses of Parliament. But for others a Muslim service led by a woman was sacrilege. Amina Wadud, an American academic, yesterday became the first woman to lead British Muslims in mixed congregational prayers and deliver…
