10 August 2016

Danish mosque continues to make history

Mariam mosque in Copenhagen will be the first mosque in the Nordic region to perform Friday prayers led by a female imam.

Six months after the opening of Denmark’s first mosque with female imams, Mariam mosque in central Copenhagen will hold the first Friday prayers in the Nordic region to be led by a female imam.

The event will take place on Friday August 26 and will only be open to women.

“We have conducted other Islamic ceremonies, but this will be the first Friday prayers in Scandinavia led by a female imam,” said Sherin Khankan, one of the women behind the mosque, on her Facebook page

Imam Saliha Marie Fetteh, a former lecturer from the University of Southern Denmark, will be coming to lead the prayers. Fetteh speaks fluent Arabic after living in Iraq for nine years.

The goal of the Mariam mosque is to offer Muslims a more modernistic and spiritual version of Islam than they are accustomed to in the existing mosques.

“We attract a new generation of young Muslims who are relieved to finally find an understanding of Islam they can identify with,” Khankan told Metroxpress. “It is more open and has a greater focus on women’s rights.” [The Copenhagen Post] Read more