In an event organized by the progressive Islamic organization Muslim Wake Up! [2], the traditional Friday prayers will be led March 18 by a woman, Amina Wadud [3], a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. Hailed as an historic first for Islam, the prayers will be held at Sundaram Tagore Gallery [4] in Lower Manhattan's Soho district. The event has already resulted in death threats for some of its organizers, Newsday [5] reported March 10. Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid of Harlem's Mosque of the Islamic Brotherhood, deputy amir of the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), has dismissed the event as a "publicity stunt." Wadud, who argues that women's equality is rooted in the Koran, said she had no interest in "putting on a show." She told Newsday: "My intention is to participate in demonstrating that it is possible for worship to be led by women, as well as by men."
