Muslims in North America often have to confront issues that those in the Islamic world do not, such as:

Can a woman pray beside a man? John L. Esposito, director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Georgetown University, however, links this to a general debate over the role of an individual Muslim in state and society. The debate, he argues, has raised an array of questions: Is there one classical model or many possible models for the relationship between religion and politics? If a new Islamic synthesis is to be achieved, what links will it have to the past? Will it be imposed from above by rulers and religious scholars, or will it grow from below through a representative electoral process? While North American Muslims have debate each of these issues over and over again particularly since 9/11 no issue causes as much debate as the status of women in society, particularly in the mosque. In the US, the debate about a womans place in the mosque was fanned by a former Wall Street Journal reporter, Asra Nomani, in Morgantown, West Virginia, where her family has lived since her parents migrated from India many years ago. Once during Ramazan, Nomani decided she no longer wanted to pray in secluded rooms or behind men. If men cannot stop looking at women inside a mosque, it is their problem. We must reclaim what Islam gives us, she says. But before she decided to challenge this old practice, more common in South Asia than elsewhere, she said she studied Islamic religious books and came to the conclusion that tradition, and not religion, had forced women to pray separately inside mosques. If men and women can pray together in Makkah, why can they not do the same in other places? she asks. As she had expected, her defiance annoyed the local clergy, who banned her from the Morgantown mosque. But she did not give up. She prayed where she could. More surprising for her was the response she received when she raised the issue at a seminar at the Islamic Society of North America convention. She feared that most in the audience would reject the idea. A handful of men did get annoyed, as she had expected, saying that her demand was against the teachings of Islam. But before they could finish their comments, women in the audience forced them to shut up. No brother, you are wrong. Male traditions and not Islam are keeping women behind, said a Palestinian woman sitting close to the stage. Others joined her. Enough is enough, shouted another. Interestingly, all these women were wearing headscarves, some dressed in traditional, long robes. None of them had met Nomani before. When Nomani finished, she was a celebrity. Young women surrounded her, wanting her autograph and a small group stayed with her all evening, discussing various issues related to the status of women in Islam. Nomani, not an Islamic scholar, had answers for some of their questions. For others she urged them to consult books, saying: When I searched for answers, I discovered that Islam is not what men say it is. A religion that gave property and divorce rights to women 1,400 years ago cannot be repressive.

Soon women across North America started forming groups to demand more say in the affairs of the mosque. Besides equal space, they also wanted to be on the boards of the mosques where they prayed, participating in debates, taking decisions about their community, going out to speak for their religion.

North American Muslims are also debating how a Muslim woman should dress. Some believe that donning a headscarf over a Western dress is enough. Others want to retain their traditional garb. And some, particularly students and professionals, have adopted new forms of Islamic dress, modest but stylish. For many, it is an attempt to combine religious beliefs and values with contemporary levels of education and employment, argues Esposito. Their goal is to subordinate social change to Islamic values and ideals. It is more authentic rather than simply westernised modernisation, he says. The dispute about womens role in Islamic society, according to some scholars, is old, beginning in the early 20th century when Muslim women first began to assume prominent roles in public life. But women have always been prominent in Islamic history. They were active in public affairs and even led Muslim armies to battle, says Pakistans former ambassador to the US and Britain, Maleeha Lodhi. However, this argument is rejected by traditionalists advocating segregation. Some North American Muslims too want women to stay veiled and insist that womens primary role as wives and mothers limits their participation in public life. But even the traditionalists acknowledge that they cannot turn the clock back. Female participation in public life in the Islamic world is increasing. Thousands of women now work as politicians, doctors, engineers, pilots, judges, and soldiers. According to Esposito, Muslim women had a clear choice in the 20th century: adopt a modern Westernised lifestyle or go back to a more restrictive lifestyle. The social impact of the Islamic revival, however, produced a third alternative that is both modern and firmly rooted in Islamic faith, identity, and values, says Esposito. Muslim women, both modernists and Islamists, have argued, on religious grounds, for an expanded role in society, he says.

In doing so, they are making a distinction between Islam and patriarchy and have reasserted their right to be primary participants in defining their identity and role in society. And no place in North America reflects this more forcefully than the Pakistan Embassy in Washington. The current ambassador Sherry Rehman is a woman. So is the deputy chief of mission, Iffat Gardezi. There are half a dozen women in the diplomatic staff while another woman Lodhi, headed this mission twice.