2 questions

Asalaam Alaikum,

I have two questions that I have never received satisfactory answers to, =
and I
wanted to get a "progressive" Muslims' response to them. Can you please
respond directly to me at [email protected]

1) Why do women have to pray behind men in Islam? The answer I usually ge=
t to
this question is that if a woman prayed in front of a man, the man would =
lose
concentration. But this response seems very male-centric. Why doesn't a w=
oman
lose concentration when she is praying behind a man? Is Islam saying some=
thing
about the inherent sexuality of men and women?

2) Why can't women be Imams or Khateebs in Islam? I guess the first quest=
ion
might partly answer the second part because if men must pray in front of
women, then obviously the Imam would have to be a man. But what bothers m=
e is
that if a community has a female Islamic scholar who is much more knowled=
eable
than the men in her community, she does not have a religiously sanctioned=

venue (the Jumah Friday prayer) to convey her knowledge to the Ummah.

I would really appreciate responses with references to the Quran, Hadith,=
 and
other Islamic scholarly work.

Thanks a lot.

Wasalam,
Sameer


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