# Any female Muslim clergy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2007, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-female-muslim-clergy/402333 "2007-05-01T17:31:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-female-muslim-clergy/402333/1 "2007-05-01T17:31:09Z")
Do any Muslim sects permit or even tolerate female clergy or imams, here or anywhere around the world? Does the Koran flatly prohibit female clergy, or is it more a matter of ethnic/national/social custom? ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-female-muslim-clergy/402333/2 "2007-05-01T18:38:23Z")
Officially, Islam does not have a professional clergy. There is no “ordination”. An _imam_ can simply be one who leads a group in a prayer, or it can be one who’s job is to serve as the regular, permanent _imam_ and spiritual leader at a _masjid_, or anything in-between. Women can lead other women in prayers, but cannot lead men or a mixed group in _fard_ (required 5x/day) prayers. There are a number of women that give lectures on religious subjects to mixed groups. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-female-muslim-clergy/402333/3 "2007-05-01T21:56:05Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Do any Muslim sects permit or even tolerate female clergy or imams, here or anywhere around the world? [/QUOTE] Yes. In Ismailism, a rather liberal branch of Shia Islam, two women and two men are appointed to lead each congregation. They act rather like lay clergy; there is no formal training school to be appointed, rather one just must be a member in good standing to be considered. This happens world-wide in the Ismaili community, and as we regard the Aga Khan as the leader of the Ismaili community, he is the one who has the last say on who is appointed to the lay clergy positions. They act not just to lead the congregation in prayer, but also in a pastoral capacity. Additionally in Ismailism, a woman can be called upon to lead the **entire** congregation in prayer (not just the women) and a women can go through the formal training required to lecture and educate the congregation on aspects of practice and interpretation of faith. However, bear in mind that the Ismailis are a very very liberal sect of Islam. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-female-muslim-clergy/402333/4 "2007-05-01T22:35:09Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > However, bear in mind that the Ismailis are a very very liberal sect of Islam. Yahbut, I’m not sure there’s a reliable correlation between “religious liberalism” and “willingness to accept female clergy”. Roman Catholicism, for instance, is pretty liberal in some of its doctrines compared to other Christian sects (e.g., in accepting evolutionary theory), but still doesn’t ordain women. The Salvation Army, on the other hand, is quite doctrinally conservative in many respects but **does** ordain women. Go figure. Similarly, there seems to be some [disagreement even among mainstream Islamic authorities](http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=60721&d=20&m=3&y=2005) about the acceptability of women leading a mixed congregation in prayer: > [@](#): > > Sheikh Sayed Tantawi of Cairo’s Al-Azhar mosque, one of the world’s leading Islamic institutions, said Islam permits women to lead other women in prayer but not a congregation with men in it. > > Qatar-based Sheikh Yussef Al-Qaradawi, a prominent member of the Muslim Brotherhood and an influential conservative Muslim cleric condemned [female prayer leader Amina] Wadud, saying Islam bans women from doing so unless the congregation is made up solely of women. > > All Islamic schools “agree that women do not lead men in (performing) religious duties,” Qaradawi said in a fatwa, or religious edict, published in the local press. […] > > But Egypt’s Grand Mufti, Sheikh Ali Guma, declared that woman-led prayer of mixed-gender congregations is permissible, so long as the congregation agrees to it. > > According to a report by the satellite news channel Al-Arabiyya, Sheikh Guma declared in an interview on Egyptian television that there is no consensus among religious scholars on the issue of female imamat of mixed gender congregations, pointing out that respected scholars like Imam Tabari and Imam Ibn Arabi found the practice permissible. > > “The Mufti added that, in such issues where there are disagreements, then the situation rests with the specific people concerned. If (the congregation) accepts a woman as imam, then that’s their business, and there is nothing wrong with that since that is what they are accustomed to,” Al-Arabiyya reported. Off the top of my head, I would not necessarily have described the Egyptian Grand Mufti as doctrinally more “liberal” than the folks at Al-Azhar, but one of them thinks female imamat are permitted by Islamic doctrine, even for mixed congregations, and the other doesn’t. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-female-muslim-clergy/402333/5 "2007-05-02T06:05:20Z")
Yeah, but the OP didn’t ask about mainstream Islam, just Islam in general, and asked for any sect at all in Islam that allowed women to lead prayers and the congregation on an equal footing to men. The Ismailis do.