The BBC reports: "A professor in the US is thought to have become one of the first Muslim women to lead mixed Friday prayers. More than 100 men and women attended the service and sermon given by Amina Wadud, professor of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. [...] 'The issue of gender equality is a very important one in Islam, and Muslims have unfortunately used highly restrictive interpretations of history to move backward,' Ms Wadud said before the service started. 'With this prayer service we are moving forward. This single act is symbolic of the possibilities within Islam.'"
As always, the way religion 'moves forward' is by being less religious and more secular. Women have moved forward in the secular world more in the past few decades than in the religious world in the last few thousand years. Ms Wadud can claim that the Quran does not encourage the oppression of women by men all she wants, but she will remain mistaken (see for yourself here, here, here... well, you get the idea). If you want to see more women moving forward (and more men moving forward and more of all of us moving forward), foster a world that is less religious and more secular. The alternative was clearly stated by a protester outside of Ms. Wadud's service: "If this was an Islamic state, this woman would be hanged."
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