Why do you think that is, what in your mind is the limiting factor...or a female Imam?
Hi Wil, nice to talk to you again.
Wow what a great question and not an easy view to explain in a couple of lines. I used to have this conversation a lot when I was in the military because I feel there are only certain jobs in the military a woman should do. It is not that I believe women to be inferior in any way but women on the front line cause issues for the men. Men grow up learning to protect women and then we expect them to go against this lifetime of training and treat women as equal on the front line. Been there, seen it, lived it and it does cause conflict for the guys, which is not what they need when bullets are flying. This is a much more clear cut case than the issue of female religious leaders.
In some ways I wish we had lots of female religious leaders, we are emotional creatures and this lends itself to a more nurturing view (yes I am generalising) and women are as capable as men of learning and interpreting scriptures. However, for me personally, it is a matter of roles. We are created differently, equally but differently. Men are less emotional, are physically stronger and tend to be more logical. Throughout time G-d has chosen men to be Prophets, not women and I trust G-d's judgement in this and all matters. Men are traditionally leaders of society and women nurture. Yes women are capable of being a CEO, Prime Minister or Pope but this is not our natural role, it takes strength and giving up something inside you to do this (I speak from experience). Of course I am speaking generally and could meet a female Imam tomorrow that I would feel confident to follow off the edge of the earth, however generally I would want a second opinion. Perhaps it is simply a matter of authority?
funny for me I can actually see the reasoning behind this...Speaking personally the problem is once the mind wanders it is quite tough to get it back to prayers....or yeah we pray but for things we don't have a grip on...
So I should be punished because your mind wanders? I am happy to pray behind men, quite frankly I don't want a bunch of strangers staring at my bottom but to put a screen around me makes me feel shameful, as though I am responsible for men's inability to get a grip. Should we build women only mosques so that men do not have the trauma of trying to concentrate?????
Now I have some age on me, which doesn't deminish the grip I don't have...but sure can tell you in youth I joined religious groups not for the religion...but for the young women... It isn't that I am making excuses...again here goes my strange thinking process again....I'm wondering if the religious doctrine against swine doesn't also apply to the two legged kind...
Thank you for your honesty. When I lived in Bavaria the local church had men and women seperated and I never questioned this. What I don't like is the idea that I should be taken away from Allah in order that a man's mind stays on G-d. Why should a man's prayer be more important than mine? Men pray standing side by side, the rich with the poor, the PhD with the illiterate and it reminds them to be humble before G-d, that no man is higher than any other in the eyes of G-d. Yet, in many mosques I am banned, I am not allowed to stand side by side with my sisters and be reminded that we are all the same to G-d no matter our status in this life. You must accept there is a degree of comfort in communal prayer, so why should I be denied this because men have a control problem? In the mosques I am allowed to pray in why should I be in a room a 10th the size of the room for men, with a tatty old carpet and no Imam, just a voice over a speaker? Women's minds tend not to wander in the same way so perhaps it is the men that should be shut away until they learn to 'get a grip'??
Salaam
