http://www.altmuslimah.com/a/b/a/searching_for_american_nu_ahongs/
FEMALE IMAMS
Searching for American “nu ahongs”
BY ZEHRA RIZAVI, JANUARY 13, 2010
A quiet Muslim community known as the Hui that has long been buried
among China's Buddhist majority has recently been receiving attention
for its nu ahong - female spiritual leaders. While the spotlight is
new, the concept is not. As early as the late Ming dynasty (around the
17th century), the faithful set up Muslim schools catering exclusively
to young females and by the arrival of the late Qing dynasty in the
19th century, these schools had transformed into mosques operated by
and serving women. In the coming decades, the practice of female
Imams, if you will, permeated all Chinese Muslim societies.
Today the Hui, a traditional, unassuming community comprised largely
of farmers, shopkeepers and craftsmen, continues to borrow from this
egalitarian concept of both learned men and women piloting mosques.
The Hui encourage their Muslim women to seek employment in mosques as
nu ahong — the phrase is derived from the Persian word akhund, meaning
“teacher.” Among these women are those who live in small apartments
within the mosque or within an affiliated Muslim school and receive
salaries, just as an Imam would, while a smaller number live with
families and volunteer. Some nu ahong serve in mosques that are
entirely separate from men’s mosques, but most cordon off and use
rooms within men’s mosques.
In addition to presiding over nu si (women’s mosques), a nu ahong’s
duties may include ritual guidance at marriages and funerals,
preaching, resolving political and social disputes, and offering moral
guidance and counseling. But perhaps her most important work, given
how Islam values women as the first teachers of children, is that of
educator of the Arabic language, the Qur'an and the Hadith.
The precise role of the nu ahong does not remain strictly defined or
static, but rather varies greatly from mosque to mosque, school to
school and region to region, depending on the needs of the community.
A popular duty of a nu ahong is to provide girls from disadvantaged
backgrounds a basic education, which opens the coveted door to a
university education. Ambitious young women flock to the nu ahong to
learn Arabic, partly for religious reasons, but also in hopes of
landing a job as a private-sector translator, scholar or ahong.
Although the newest positions as translators or interpreters in the
blossoming Mideast–China trade can earn salaries of 3,000 to 10,000
yuan ($400 to $1400), the position of nu ahong remains a popular
career choice as one that offers a measure of security and high
community status.
Though the authority of nu ahong does not extend beyond the sphere of
women and children (including young boys), it is nevertheless
significant that Muslim women in China have such organized authority,
training and separate facilities. Academic researchers like Shui
Jingjun, a Hui sociologist and co-author of a history titled A Mosque
of Their Own, tend to see an unspoken feminist agenda. "These women
feel good and feel free at these mosques," she explains. "They may be
smaller than the male mosques but they are much better organized."
The nu ahong occupy a unique position in the Chinese Muslim community
as women who perform all the same functions and duties as a male Imam,
but do so only for their female peers; as a result nu ahongs have
successfully avoided criticism or harassment from their male
counterparts and have carved out a niche for themselves as learned,
respected leaders. Were nu ahongs to give lectures to a mixed
congregation before Friday prayers or lead a mixed congregation in
prayer, they would have likely been relegated to the margins of the
community, dismissed as rebels who are deliberately thwarting the
sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
While the Qur'an itself does not mandate that only men may lead
prayer, three of the four Sunni schools of thought, as well as the
majority of Shia schools, bar women from leading men and women in
prayer based the prohibition on the example of the wives of the
Prophet (peace be upon him). There are several hadith which report
that Hasrat Aisha and Umm Salmah led congregations of women in prayer,
as do today’s nu ahong, but we find no record of the mothers of the
believers leading a mosque’s mixed congregation in prayer.
There is, however, evidence that the Prophet on more than one occasion
allowed a woman to lead her household in prayer - although the
household included men - when the woman was clearly the most learned
in the faith, so the issue remains open for debate. However, because
most Muslims are aggressively protective of the salat and the khutbah
and consider the preservation of the exact manner in which the Prophet
(peace be upon him) prescribed these rituals paramount, the nu ahong
have wisely chosen to respect the views of the majority. By steering
clear of reformulating these acts, nu ahong have garnered the
affirmation and respect of their communities.
Some might argue that translating nu ahong to “female Imams” is a
misnomer as these women do not lead mixed gender congregations in
Friday prayers (a defining role of an Imam) but semantics are of
secondary importance here. As trained spiritual leaders who educate,
mediate and counsel, nu ahong are instrumental in keeping Islam alive
among Chinese women and children and perhaps offer an example of
female leadership that Muslim communities outside of China should
consider.
Muslim women in the United States often complain of exclusion from
their local mosques, citing inadequate space, male dominated governing
bodies and poor access to the Imam - all of which make for a seemingly
unwelcome atmosphere. By placing a learned female in a central
position of leadership that allows her to interact directly with the
mosque goers, Muslim American women will likely feel far more
comfortable visiting the mosque and, more importantly, enrolling in
Qur'an and hadith courses and seeking counsel when it comes to deeply
personal issues such as discord in their marriage or rulings on
menstruation. American nu ahongs will not only handle such concerns
with greater tact and compassion, but in doing so will dispel myths of
the submissive, ignorant female in Islam.
Zehra Rizavi is Associate Editor of Altmuslimah
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