Security Boosted for Va. Islamic Activist By ZINIE CHEN SAMPSON Associated Press Writer RICHMOND, Va. news://newsclip.ap.org/[EMAIL PROTECTED] Virginia Commonwealth University has heightened campus security in the week after a female professor led a mixed-gender prayer service that was criticized by some Muslim clerics, a school spokeswoman said Saturday.
Islamic studies professor Amina Wadud led between 80 to 100 men and women in Muslim prayer March 18 at a church in New York. Muslim clerics denounced her actions, saying Islam permits women to lead other women in prayer but not alongside men. No specific threats have been made, but security is at a "heightened state," VCU spokeswoman Pamela Lepley said. The school has consulted state and federal agencies and will "err on the side of caution." The school has also increased security at its design college in Qatar, a few miles from where a suicide car bombing happened last week outside a theater, killing one person and injuring 12. Lepley said no link has been found between the bombing and Wadud's prayer service. "There are statements by certain people that raise concerns," Lepley said, referring to comments made on Internet forums about Wadud's views. Wadud's prayer service has also come under fire after a call was made for "An Islamic Bill of Rights for Women in the Mosque," and Wadud periodically substituted the Arabic word for God, Allah, with pronouns he, she and it, arguing that God's omnipresence defied gender definition. Wadud, an associate professor who has worked at VCU since 1992, has argued for the reform of Sharia, or Islamic law, and is an outspoken scholar of the role of women in Islam. She has declined interviews. 050327 025222 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
