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Pamela Taylor to Lead Mixed-Gender Congregational Prayer at the Request of visiting Mufti to demonstrate his support for gender equity in Islam
The Muslim Canadian Congress reports "The former Mufti of the French city of Marseilles, Soheib Bencheikh who is currently the Director of the Institut Supérieur des Sciences Islamiques (ISSI) will be the guest of the Muslim Canadian Congress on Sunday, February 19, where he will address a press conference on the issue of the Danish Cartoons and the role of Muslims in Europe.
Mufti Soheib Bencheikh will also participate in the Zuhr prayers after the press conference which will be led by Pamela Taylor, Co-Chair of the Progressive Muslim Union.
Mufti Soheib Bencheikh has personally asked for Pamela Taylor to lead the prayers to demonstrate his support for gender-equity in Islam and women-led prayer as a step in the empowering of Muslim women.
We have booked the downtown “Host Restaurant” for this occasion between 11 am and 3 pm. Please join us for the press conference, the lunch and the prayer, which will led by Pamela Taylor."
Date: Sunday, February 19, 2006
Location: The Host Restaurant, 14 Prince Arthur Blvd (North-West corner of Avenue and Bloor in Yorkville area of Toronto
11 am: Chat and mingle with the Mufti
12 Noon: Press Conference
1 PM: Prayer
1: 30 Lunch
Looking forward to seeing all of you at this event. The event is taking place with the help of the Montreal-based organization, "Rights & Democracy"
Laury Silvers comments: I anticipate some folks arguing that the Mufti's request for a woman-led prayer is no support at all. The Mufti of Marseilles is infamous (in some circles) for supporting the French Government's decision to ban visible religious symbols in state-associated institutions. I would like to comment a bit on the French notion of separation of church and state in comparison to our own to put his decision in its proper context, so that we may, God willing, appreciate his request to have Pamela Taylor lead his prayer as a welcome legal affirmation of woman-led prayer and sign of positive change in the global community on this issue.
We are familiar in the United States with the constant legal conversation in the courts over the boundaries of separation of Church and State. To summarize, when there is a conflict between two parties with respect to their perceived religious and civil needs and rights, one of the two parties may bring a complaint before the court to protect these perceived needs and rights. The court--with attorneys and experts arguing the different sides, including taking into account previous instances and court rulings--decides whose needs and rights trump the other in each instance. To be clear, there is no one standard for deciding when religious needs trump the needs the of broader citizenry as represented by the state or vice versa. These individual cases occur on the local, state, and federal level and sometimes make it to the Supreme Court according to their complexity and legal importance. To make things more complicated, Congress has also stepped in to the fray with its own interpretations of the separation of church and state. All to say, sometimes it happens that the argued needs of the citizenry as represented by the state trump the argued needs of the religious individual or group. We all accept this, even if we are not aware of the legal mechanisms.
So in France.....
France's notion of secularism and separation of church and state differs in some important ways from our own. The US was founded by religious dissidents who saw religion as a foe to the rights of the people as a whole when the state aids in establishing religious beliefs or institutions among its people. Historically, we have been comfortable with public expressions of religious piety; for instance, we traditionally open congress with a prayer offering. The ideals of the French Republic were argued by atheists and others who saw religion as a foe to the rights of the people in a broader sense. The French have a much more wary relationship with public expressions of religious piety and consider it a threat to the very foundation of their freedoms.
Hence, I understand the Mufti's decision to side with the French state on the ban of public religious symbols in keeping with traditional Sunni quietism and an honest conviction that the needs of the French citizenry as a whole trumped the needs of religious individuals in this instance. We all also know from our own experience that Islamic jurisprudence is quite flexible and can sensibly mediate between the needs of a secular state and the needs of practicing Muslims. I see no contradiction here even though in my mind and heart, I do not prefer the French Republic's notion of secularism over our own here in the States. I would prefer to eat Freedom fries in this case, ideally after praying with the Mufti behind Pamela Taylor on Sunday.
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