Once in a Lifetime – In Conversation with Amina Wadud

The Muslim Institute is delighted to announce a Q&A with Professor, Dr amina wadud, to mark the launch of her Once in a Lifetime book, published by Kantara Press. An outspoken feminist, who has written extensively on women in Islam, Dr amina wadud was born in Maryland, into an African-American family. She converted to Islam in 1972 and pursued her personal love of the Qur’an all the way to a PhD from the University of Michigan in 1988. From there she joined the International Islamic University in Malaysia, where she edited her dissertation and published Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective. Her second book: Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam was published in 2006.

She returned to the US to complete her tenure and finally promotion to Full Professor of Islamic Studies before taking early retirement and joining the Starr King School for the Ministry as Visiting Researcher. At that time she took up international consultancy work on Islam, justice and human dignity.

Between 2016-2018 she was a researcher on Sexuality Diversity and Human Dignity in Islamic Primary sources with a generous grant from the Arcus Foundation. After which she migrated to Indonesia where she has taken up permanent residence. She returned to university teaching at the International Center for Religious Studies, Gadjah Mada University, and at National Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta as Visiting Professor.

Her forthcoming book was inspired by the blog of her hajj journey, reflecting on the gender restrictions women face in sacred spaces, encompassing her study of ritual worship, from a progressive and pro-faith perspective.

The event will be chaired by MI trustee and chair of trustees at Inclusive Mosque Initiative, Halima Gosai Hussain.