Timeline of Islam in the United States

Some say that Islam in the United States begins with the Moriscoes who accompanied Columbus, while others contend that Muslims have been part of the American landscape since pre-Columbus times. Indeed, early explorers used maps that were derived from the work of Muslims, with their advanced geographical and navigational information of the time. Evidence from records show that Africa was the jumping off ground for exploring North America 300 years before the so-called "discovery" of the New World by Christopher Columbus. They used the Mississippi river as their access route to and from the continent's interior.

Following their time, great numbers of Muslim slaves were brought to this continent to work on the plantations of the South. Some estimate that 10-20 percent of the slaves brought over from Africa were Muslims. They soon lost their religious roots, although some vague traces of such elements as the prayer are recorded of them even in the nineteenth century. Many of the Muslim slaves were encouraged or forced to convert to Christianity. Many of the first-generation slaves retained much of their Muslim identity, but in the slave conditions at the time, this identity was largely lost to later generations.

To date the predominant group among Muslims in the United States are African- Americans (42% of the total). The immigrant communities, which come from a great variety of countries stretching from Eastern Europe to Cambodia and virtually every country in between, comprise the next largest group. The student community is the third largest group. Finally, Caucasian and other ethnic Americans comprise the smallest group, but this too is growing at a fast rate.

A Chinese document know as the Sung Document records the voyage of Muslim sailors to a land know as Mu-Lan-Pi (America). Mention of this document is contained in the publication, the Khotan Amiers, 1933.

Abu Bakari (Abu Bakar), a Muslim king of the Malian Empire, spearheads a series of sea voyages to the New World.

African Muslims (Mandinga) arrive in the Gulf o Mexico for exploration of the American interior using the Mississippi River as their access route. These Muslim explorers were from Mali and other parts of West Africa.

Pri Ries completes his first world map, including the American, after research maps from all over the world. The practicality and artistry of his map surpassed any from his time or before.

1527

Estevanico of Azamor, a Muslim from Morocco, lands in Florida with the ill-fated expedition of Panfilo de Narvaez. Estevanico remains in America to become the first of three Americans to cross the continent.

1530

First slave ships land in America. Although Muslims were not documented among the slaves, many slaves in early trade came from places where Islam was practiced. More than 30 percent of the 10 million people sold into slavery in the United States were Muslim.

1717

Records show that slaves who speak Arabic are brought to North America. Some of the slaves also did not eat pork and believed in Allah and Muhammad.

1732

Ayyub ibn Sulaiman Jallon, a Muslim slave in Maryland, is freed by James Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia, and provided transportation to England. In 1735, Jallon returns to his home, West Africa, in the area of what is now Senegal and Mauritania.

1770

The Wahhab brothers are shipwrecked on the coast of North Carolina. They settle, marry and start a farm. Their descendents today own one of the largest hotel chains in North Carolina.

1787

Abdel-Khak and Muhammad Ibn Abdullah, both Muslims, are among those who sign the Peace and Friendship Treaty on the Delaware River. The treaty details the right of American Indians to continue as a community in the areas of commerce, maritime shipping, and government.

1807

Omar Ibn Said, a Muslim scholar and trader from Futa Toro, a West African Muslim state, is captured and sold into slavery in the United States.
Yarrow Mamout, an African Muslim slave, is set free in Washington DC, and later becomes one of the first shareholders of the second chartered bank in America, the Columbia Bank. Yarrow may have lived to be more than 128 years old, the oldest person in American history. Two portraits of Yarrow done by well known artists are on public display. The first, painted by Charles W. Peal in 1819 was done when Yarrow was 100 years old. It hangs in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. A second portrait completed by James Simpson in 1828, almost a decade later, can be seen in the Peabody Room at the Georgetown Public Library, Washington DC.

Al Haj Umar ibn Sayyid is enslaved in Charleston after running away. In jail, he is visited by John Owen and taken to Blade County and placed on the Owen plantation. John Owen later became Governor of North Carolina. It has been reported that Umar lived to be 100 years old.

1828

Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori, a former prince from West Africa, is made a slave on a Georgia plantation. He is known to many as "The Prince of Slaves."

Sayyid Sa'id, ruler of Oman, orders his ship The Sultana to set sail for America on a trade mission. The Sultana touched port in New York, April 30, 1840. Although the voyage was not a commercial success, it marks the point of successful friendly relations between the two countries that continue to this day.

The United States cavalry hire a Muslim by the name of Hajji Ali to experiment with raising camels in Arizona.

The American Civil War ends. During the war, the "scorched earth" policy of the North destroyed churches, farms, schools, libraries, colleges, and a great deal of other property. The libraries at the University of Alabama managed to save one book from the debris of their library buildings. On the morning of April 4, when Federal troops reached the campus with order to destroy the university, Andre Deloffre, a modern language professor and custodian of the library, appealed to the commanding officer to spare one of the finest libraries in the South. The officer, being sympathetic, sent a courier to Gen. Croxton at his headquarters in Tuscaloosa asking permission to save the Rotunda. The general's reply was no. The officer reportedly said, "I will save one volume as a memento of this occasion. The volume selected was a rare copy of the Qur'an.

1869

The start of a slow but steady immigration of Yemenis to the U.S. after the opening of the Suez Canal.

1889

Edward W. Blyden, noted scholar and social activist, travels throughout the eastern and southern parts of the U.S., proclaiming Islam. In one speech, Blyden says Africans choose Islam over Christianity because, "the Qur'an protected the Black man from self-depreciation in the presence of Arabs or Europeans."

1893

First substantial migration of Muslims to the U.S. begins. Muslim immigrants primarily from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine arrive in North America. They are mainly Turks, Kurds, Albanians, and Arabs. A European American, Mohammed Alexander Webb (1847-1916), proclaims himself a Muslim at the World's Colombian Exposition in Chicago.

1900

Earliest recorded Muslim group in the U.S. organizes for communal prayer in Ross, N.D.

1907

American Mohammedan Society is founded in New York City by immigrants from Poland, Russia, and Lithuania. By the 1950s, the society has 400 members. It continues today as the Moslem Mosque.

1910
Hazrat Inayat Khan begins teaching Sufi doctrines in the U.S. and continues until 1927. He founds the Sufi Order in the West.

1913 (1925?)

Timothy Drew (Noble Drew Ali) establishes an organization in Newark, NJ, known as the Moorish Science Temple of America (MSTA). Drew Ali reportedly was commissioned by the Sultan of Morocco to teach Islam to Negroes in the United States. The MSTA is also responsible for many of today's African-American converts to Islam.

Islam, according to Noble Drew Ali, was the religion of blacks. During his lifetime, he is said to have attracted between 20,000-30,000 followers, with 10,000 in Detroit alone.

The Temple was investigated by the FBI in 1953 for violation of the Selective Service Act of 1948 and Sedition. In September of 1953, the Department of Justice, concluded that prosecution for violation of the Selective Service Act was not warranted. A 1940 investigation was conducted to determine if the Moorish Science Temple of America was committing subversive activities by adhering to and spreading of Japanese propaganda. The investigation failed to substantiate that members were pro-Japanese.

Ali wrote his own holy book came to be known as the Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple of America, and is referred to as the “uniting of the Holy Koran of Mecca.” Sometimes the title is shorthanded as the Circle Seven Koran, because of the design on its cover, namely a red numeral seven surrounded by a blue circle broken into four segments.

The Uniting of Asia : "Know Yourself and Your Father God-Allah. That you may learn to love instead of hate. Every man and woman needs to worship under their own vine and fig tree."

1915

One of the first associations for Muslims in the U.S. was established by Albanian Muslims, who build a Masjid in Maine. By 1919, they establish another Masjid in Connecticut.

1920

The Red Crescent is started in Detroit. It is a Muslim charity modeled after the International Red Cross. It now exists all across the globe.

------------------
The first building continuously used as a mosque was formed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in a rented hall.

1921

A branch of the Ahmadiyya Movement is founded in Chicago by Dr. Mufti Muhammad Sadiq, the first Ahmadi missionary to arrive in America.

1924

First wave of Muslim immigration ends with Asian Exclusion Act and the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act, which allowed only a trickle of "Asians," as Arabs were designated, to enter the U.S.

1926

The Universal Islamic Society is started in Detroit by Druse Muhammad Ali. Ali is a mentor of Marcus Garvey and had a considerable impact upon Garvey's movement establishes an organization in Detroit known as the Universal Islamic Society. Its motto was: "One God, One Aim, One Destiny."

Polish-speaking Tatars build a mosque in Brooklyn, N.Y.

1928

Sheikh Dawood Ahmed Faisal, of Caribbean and Moroccan background, founds the Islamic Propagation Center of America in Brooklyn. It publishes a magazine entitled "Muslim Sunrise." Like the Ahmadiyya, the sheik taught the Qur'an, the life of Prophet Muhammad, and the five principles, which included the Ramadan fast.

1930 W.D. Fard

Wallace D. Fard starts the Lost-Found Nation of Islam in the Wilderness of North America, later called the Nation of Islam. He preaches about black nationalism and Islamic faith.

1934
Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975) takes over Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam (NOI), one of the most significant organizations in American Muslim history. A high percentage of African Americans who were members of Nation of Islam later converted to Islam. NOI was also effective in highlighting American Christians' difficulties combating the effects of slavery and racism among African Americans. The NOI's philosophy was introduced in the United States by Fard Muhammad (Wallace Ford), a mystic who disappeared in 1933. The late Elijah Mohammed, who succeeded Fard in 1933, helped build the organization into a strong ethnic movement advocating a deviant brand of Islam as a way of life. Two of the most famous African Americans, Muhammad Ali, and Al Hajj Malik al-Shabazz (Malcolm X), were early adherents of this movement. Both later embraced the true Islam.

1935
The first building built specifically to be a Masjid, "Mother Mosque of America," is built in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, by Lebanese immigrants after they spend 15 years in a rented building. Before this, many buildings used as masjids also served as cultural centers.
The mosque is still operational.

1947

Islamic Center of Washington, D.C. is founded. It opens in 1957. Today, the center includes an extensive library of books, articles, periodicals, photographs, audio and video material. Most of the material is in Arabic, but some resources are available in English.

------------------

Malcolm Little joins the Nation of Islam while in prison serving time for larceny and breaking and entering. He changes his name to Malcolm X.

"If you're not ready to die for it, put the word 'freedom' out of your vocabulary."

1952

Muslims in U.S. military sue the government to be allowed to identify themselves as Muslims. Until then, Islam was not recognized as a legitimate religion.

International Muslim Society is started and becomes the first Muslim American association that is national in scope. The group later changes its name to the Federation of Islamic Associations of the United States and Canada.

1955

The State Street Masjid in New York City is established by Sheikh Dawood Ahmed Faisal. It is still in use today and represents a special point in the development of the American Muslim community. From this Masjid was born the Dar-ul-Islam movement.

1960

The NOI's University of Islam schools flourished and drew the attention of the American media. Coverage focuses upon the Black Muslims' self-help programs for Blacks, but considered them a "threat" to the white establishment.

1962

The Dar-ul-Islam movement, an important group among the African American Muslim community, is started at the State Street Masjid in New York City. Until its disappearance in 1982-1983, it heavily influenced the development and practice of traditional Islam in America.

-----------

The Nation of Islam starts the newspaper Muhammad Speaks, which grows to be the largest minority weekly publication in the United States. It reaches 800,000 readers at its peak. It has also been known as Bilalian News, the A.M. Journal and currently, the Muslim Journal, with a circulation of 20,000.

1963

The Muslim Students Association of the U.S. and Canada (MSA) is established as the first continental organization of Muslims in North America. Its aim is to aid foreign Muslim students attending schools in the United States and Canada. In the 1970s, it gives rise to many offshoots including the Islamic Medical Association (IMA), The Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS), the Association of Muslim Scientists and Engineers (AMSE), and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

1964

African Americans - Malcolm X

El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, or Malcolm X as he is better known among countless non-Muslim Americans makes a pilgrimage to Mecca, breaks with Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam. Founds the Muslim Mosque, and later the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

------------------

Boxer Cassius Clay converts to Islam and takes the name Muhammad Ali. Ali was three times World Heavyweight Champion and embraced Islam in 1964.

Today, Ali continues to practice Islam, lending his name to the distribution of Islamic education materials. He has been a significant contributor to the financing of Islamic institutions such as Masjid al-Faatir, the first mosque built from the ground up in the city of Chicago. The truly great men of history, he has said, want not to be great themselves but to help others and be close to God.

Awards

Olympic Gold Medal in boxing, 1960; six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles; National Golden Gloves titles, 1959-60; World Heavyweight Championship, 1964-67, 1974-78, 1978-79; U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, inductee, 1983; named the greatest heavyweight champion of all time, Ring Magazine, 1987; International Boxing Hall of Fame, inductee, 1990; Jim Thorpe Pro Sports Award, Lifetime Achievement, 1992; Muhammad Ali Museum, Louisville Galleria, opened 1995; Essence Award, 1997.

Allah's Nation of the Five Percenters started in Harlem by Korean War veteran Clarence Jowars (aka Clarence 13X or Puddin'). He disassociates himself from the Nation of Islam and starts his own group.

1965

Al Hajj Malik al-Shabazz (Malcolm X) is assassinated in New York while making a speech at a meeting of the Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom. He was one of the most outstanding Muslims in American history as well as a dedicated fighter for justice and equality for African Americans and other oppressed people.

Liberalization of U.S. laws allows Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Arabs from the professional classes (i.e., doctors and engineers) to immigrate. This helps established Islam in America.

1968

The Hanafi Movement is founded by Hamas Abdul Khaalis. The Hanafi Madh-hab Center is established in New York, but later moved to Washington, D.C. In 1977, Khaalis and some of his followers seize control of three District of Columbia buildings, holding hostages for more than 30 hours. One man is killed. Khaalis is serving a sentence of 41 to 120 years in prison.
Islamic Circle of North America is founded as a non-ethnic, non-sectarian grassroots organization.

1971
Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship is founded in Philadelphia by its namesake. Unlike other Sufi groups, the fellowship appeals to both American converts and immigrants, and even after Muhaiyaddeen’s death, this group continues to grow. The fellowship is strongly grounded in Islam, and Muhaiyaddeen comes from a long Sufi lineage.

------------------

The Association of Muslim Scientists and Engineers is established.

1973

Black Panther Party member H. Rap Brown accepts orthodox Islam while in prison and changes his name to Jamil al-Amin. He is released from prison in 1976. He becomes a leader of more than 30 Islamic centers, which are, for the most part, members of the Dar ul-Islam movement -- a group that emerged from the work of early students of Sheikh Dawood Ahmed Faisal. In 2002, al-Amin is found guilty of murdering a Fulton County sheriff’s deputy in Georgia and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

1975

Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam, dies and is succeeded by his son Warith Deen Mohammed, who has been credited with moving the NOI toward the broader universal concepts of Islam.

------------------

Isa Muhammad changes Nubian Islamic Hebrews to Ansaru Allah (Arabic for "Allah's helpers") movement, a Black Muslim organization whose members dress in white robes and have an Africentric view of the greatness of Black people and the inferiority of whites.

Alianza Islamica is founded in New York City. It is one of the oldest organized Latino Muslim groups in the United States.

1976

The Nation of Islam, under the leadership of Warith Deen Muhammad, changes its name to the World Community of Islam in the West.

1977

Louis Farrakhan separates from Warith Deen Muhammad. He starts the Final Call newspaper and begins rebuilding the Nation of Islam organization.

1979-80

After the Iranian revolution, Iranian militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and takes about 70 people hostage. Many of them are held for more than a year. The hostage crisis that begins on Nov. 4, 1979, is key in forcing the American public to pay more attention to Islam as a political force and a religion.

1981

The first American Islamic library is established in Plainfield, Ind.

1982
The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is established in Plainfield, Ind. It is formed to assist both transient Muslim students and resident Muslim Americans. ISNA is now an umbrella organization for many active Islamic groups seeking to further the cause of Islam in the United States.

American Islamic College is founded in Chicago, Ill. It is the first university in the United States dedicated to Islamic studies. It is a private, not-for-profit, four-year institution that offers a bachelor’s degree in Islamic Studies and Arabic Studies and associate of arts degrees.

1985
Prince Sultan Bin Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia becomes the first Arab and first Muslim to fly on a U.S. space shuttle. He earned a master's degree in business administration from Syracuse University.

1986

Dr. Isma'il R. Al-Faruqi and his wife are murdered in their home outside Philadelphia. Dr. and Mrs. Faruqi are the authors of the Cultural Atlas of Islam as well as many other books and research papers. Dr. Faruqi is the founder of AMSS and the International Institute of Islamic Thought, located in Northern Virginia. This truly remarkable Muslim family is responsible for some of the most constructive programs to promote Islam in the United States.

1987

Muslim Alert Network is established in Chicago to mobilize Muslim response to media and discrimination against Muslims. Later on the same concept is used to establish the Council on American Islamic Relations, or CAIR (see 1994 entry).

1988

Jesse Jackson, while running for president, brings 50 Arab Americans and Muslim Americans as part of his delegation to the Democratic National Convention. Candidate Michael Dukakis acknowledges them when he addresses the assemblage as "Christians, Jews and Muslims."

1990

American Muslim Council organized in Washington, D.C., to increase the participation of American Muslims in U.S. politics and public policy. That same year, the Council organizes a conference called "Muslims Against Apartheid." This is the first conference of its kind in support of Muslims for the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

Dr. Shirin Tahir-Kheli becomes the first Muslim ambassador to the United Nations for the U.S. She heads the U.S. delegation sent to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in March 2001.

1991

Imam Siraj Wahhaj, leader of the At-Taqwa Mosque in Brooklyn, N.Y., becomes the first Muslim to offer an invocation to the House of Representatives.

------------------

The Muslim Members of the Military (MMM) holds its first "Unity in Uniform" conference for Muslims in the U.S. armed forces. The conference takes place at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. According to the Department of Defense, there are more than 5,000 Muslims on active duty in the military.

------------------

Charles Bilal of Kountze, Texas, becomes the nation's first Muslim mayor in a U.S. city. Kountze is a town of about 2,000 residents, mostly Christian, in southeast Texas.

1992

Image: Mohammed

Imam Warith Deen Mohammed is the first Muslim to give an invocation to the U.S. Senate.

1993

Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad becomes the first Muslim chaplain hired by the U.S. military. In August 2000, Muhammad organizes the first annual Muslim Americans Military Chaplains Association (MAMCA) conference.

------------------

A moving van filled with explosives is detonated at the World Trade Center on Feb. 26. It is the most significant international terrorist act committed on U.S. soil to date. A type-written communication received at The New York Times claims responsibility for the bombing in the name of Allah. In 1994, the jury finds Mohammad Salameh, Ahmad M. Ajaj, Mahmud Abuhalima and Nidel Ayyad guilty on all 38 counts in connection with the bombings. Ramzi Yousef and Eyad Ismoil are convicted in 1998.

1994

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is established in Washington, D.C., to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America and present an Islamic perspective on issues of importance to the American public. It is one of the most well-organized Muslim lobbying groups in the U.S.

1996

The White House holds its first eid celebration, Eid al-Fitr, on Feb. 20, hosted by first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

------------------

The School of Islamic and Social Sciences begins in Virginia. It is the first school in the U.S. focusing on the Islamic sciences. The school has a two-pronged approach that focuses on the classic Islamic source sciences ('ulum al shariah, the study of Islamic law and 'ulum al maqasid, the study of the purpose of Islamic law) and the modern social science disciplines.

------------------

Denver International Airport becomes the first airport in the U.S. to open a masjid, which is located next to an interfaith chapel on the sixth floor. The 500 square foot prayer hall has no staff, but is open 24 hours a day and contains prayer mats facing east toward Mecca.

Malcolm Honored on Postal Stamp

Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz)

The 22nd stamp in the Black Heritage series honors Malcolm X, one of the most influential African-American leaders of the 1960s. His controversial ideas sharpened America's debate about racial relations and strategies for social change. The photograph featured on the stamp was taken by the Associated Press at a press conference in New York City on May 21, 1964.

1997

The crescent moon and star symbol of Islam.

The Muslim symbol of a crescent moon and a star is displayed for the first time along with the national Christmas tree and the Jewish menorah on White House grounds.

1998

The Pentagon hosts Muslims for Ramadan meal. This is the first time an Iftar dinner (the meal that breaks the fast of Ramadan) is held at the Pentagon.

1999

The first Muslim U.S. ambassador, Osman Siddique is sworn in as the ambassador to the Fiji Islands.

2001

Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon result in the deaths of about 3,000 people. The suspected mastermind, Osama bin Laden, who heads the international terrorist group Al Qaeda and claims Islam as his religion.

------------------

First U.S. postage stamp, celebrating the Muslim feast Eid-al-Fitr is issued by U.S. Postal Service. It reads in Arabic “id mubarak” meaning “blessed feast.” The stamp is designed and drawn by calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya. Eid-al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

------------------

International Museum of Muslim Cultures opens in Jackson, Mich. It is the first Muslim museum in the United States.

------------------

On Nov. 8, the House of Representatives, in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and the backlash of violence against Muslim Americans, recognizes the Islamic faith "as one of the great religions of the world."

2002

Former 1960s radical Imam Jamil Al'Amin (H. Rap Brown) was convicted of killing one sheriff's deputy and wounding another in a shootout in March 2000. Defense attorneys tried to convince jurors that English was mistaken in his identification and that someone else shot the deputies.

Defense attorneys suggested that Al-Amin was framed as part of a government conspiracy they said had dogged him since his days as a prominent Black Panther in the '60s.

Al-Amin leads one of the nation's largest black Muslim groups, the National Ummah. The movement, which has formed 36 mosques around the nation, is credited with revitalizing poverty-stricken pockets such as Atlanta's West End

Imam Jamil had registered voters in the South as part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and was named chair of the group in 1967 when it was calling for Black Power and opposing the war in Vietnam. He was briefly Minister of Justice for the Black Panther Party that year. In Cambridge, Maryland, in July 1967 he gave a fiery speech denouncing white violence and calling on blacks to arm and defend themselves. After the speech he was shot by two police officers, who hid in the bushes as he passed.

------------------

The White House for the first time appoints someone to reach out specifically to the Muslim community, Suhail Khan of the Office of Public Liaison. Khan later moves to the Department of Transportation to serves as legal counsel.

Imam Isa Muhammad (Dwight York), leader of the Ansaar ul'Allah Movement was sentenced by a federal judge for on charges of conspiracy, racketeering, conspiracy to transport minors for unlawful sex, transporting minors for unlawful sex, traveling interstate to engage in unlawful sex, and structuring cash transactions to avoid reporting requirements. The judge 'threw the book' at Mr. York and sentenced him to 135 years in prison and making him surrender all holdings to property in Putnam County, GA and in Athens in addition to $400,000 in cash removed during the May 2002 raid of York's compound.

During the trial, Patrick had maintained the allegations of sexual abuse of children had been fabricated by a small group of York's estimated 5,000 followers and spearheaded by a woman who used to manage the Nuwaubian's business office but was kicked out of the group.

A notice of appeal was filed soon after the conviction, and U.S. District Judge C. Ashley Royal handed down what is essentially a life-sentence for the 59-year-old York - 135 years in prison.

The prosecution laid down a foundation for its Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) allegations equating the claims of sexual molestation with the Nuwaubian organization as a whole.

"If an individual commits an act, that doesn't mean the organization as a whole was an enterprise for criminal activity." Patrick said. "When Catholic priests were arrested for sexual molestation, they didn't indict the entire Catholic Church for RICO violations."

Amina Wadud (photo from muslimwakeup website)

A professor in the US is thought to have become one of the first Muslim woman to lead mixed Friday prayers. More than 100 men and women attended the service and sermon given by Amina Wadud, professor of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. In the days since, response from Islamic leaders at home and abroad has ranged from disapproval to outrage and stirred debate about the role of women in Islam.