Denmark's female imam: 'We challenge the structure from ...

© [File: Betina Garcia/various sources/AFPDenmark OUT] The Mariam Mosque in Copenhagen advocates for a lady's appropriate to be an imam; allows for interfaith marriage and supports the right to divorce [File: Betina Garcia/various sources/AFPDenmark OUT]

Born in 1974 to a Muslim Syrian father and Christian Finnish mother, Sherin Khankan, Denmark's first female imam, got here into the area in a meeting of distinct cultures.

In 2016, together with a bunch of Muslim lecturers, she based the Mariam Mosque in Copenhagen - some of the first in Europe to be led with the aid of girls.

"every little thing starts with a human voice," she instructed Al Jazeera. "The truth it become a Black slave who became the first to call Muslims to prayer, here's fabulous for the reason that the treatment of Black americans then - and now."

Reform, she says, is not new in Islam, however somewhat necessary to it. 

"[We] reread the Quran with a focus on gender equality. non secular institutions are patriarchal, so we are attempting and challenge the constitution from inside."

The mosque has three primary missions: Advocating for a woman's right to be an imam; promotion a appropriate to interfaith marriage and supporting the appropriate to divorce.

when you consider that opening, of the 50 marriages which have been performed at the mosque, greater than half were interfaith unions.

"We realised very right away that one of the most acute dilemmas of our times among the Muslim adolescence is the query concerning interfaith marriages," mentioned Khankan.

before the coronavirus pandemic shuttered the mosque, an interfaith couple from Paris had a Muslim ceremony featuring speeches by using the bride, groom and Khankan. In Muslim weddings, the imam always offers a brief speech on marriage.

The couple had had a civil ceremony three years prior.

"The Mariam Mosque concepts healthy the latest globalisation vogue during this world. americans go back and forth around the world and meet americans from diverse backgrounds," pointed out Khankan.

"We cannot drive these individuals to consider what we trust. Mariam Mosque, to a undeniable extent, allows this new technology of people including myself who are looking to continue believing and working towards Islam however [are] dwelling in a non-Islamic country."

4 years after opening its doors, the mosque got a request for a identical-sex marriage. however the mosque leaders had no very own objections, they didn't go ahead with officiating the ceremony. 

"we all consider in love. but there may be a change between favouring some thing and conducting it … right now, it's now not happening, but I may not be able to say in regards to the future."

When the mosque launched in 2016, Western media changed into transfixed on Khankan. 

A year past, film director Marie Skovgaard had been capturing Khankan as a part of a documentary, The Reformist.

whereas attempting to pitch the movie to broadcasters, Skovgaard noted she faced rejection.

Khankan's look, Skovgaard says, did not in shape their expectations.

"The context of that became: 'Oh, she would not conform to our stereotype of what a Muslim girl should appear to be'." 

Khankan referred to she is aware about the function race plays, and makes an attempt to mirror the variety of Islam at the mosque.

"We are looking to trade that, and we already [have] started to alternate that," she said. 

Two different adult females imams at the mosque are from Malaysian and Somali backgrounds, while some put on Hijab and others don't. 

Denmark's first female imam, Sherin Khankan, has written a large number of texts discussing Islam and politics [File: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP]

not like some headlines would suggest, the mosque takes a cautious, incremental approach to change. 

"when you've got too many battles to your shoulders, you might not profit any legitimacy or we might lose our solidarity," Khankan talked about. 

"in case you want to create exchange, you have to do it wisely and thoroughly … you can't burn all the bridges at the back of you."

as with every religions, there are variations between how the world's nearly two billion Muslims view worship.

unlike priests in Christianity, who're ordained by way of the Church, the role of imam isn't a certified career; imams will also be appointed or organically upward thrust to the role within a community. 

British Imam Sabah Ahmedi instructed Al Jazeera: "main prayers is a accountability given to men [for] various motives.

"ladies do not pray on definite days and intervals which ability they'd no longer be able to fulfil the position [of imam]."

For Ahmedi, being an imam requires you to steer the 5 every day prayers within a mosque.

"definite roles had been ascribed by way of Islam to every sex and we consider upholding these roles." 

although, Islam has a long background of female empowerment, he talked about.

"It based rights for girls at a time once they had been considered as 2nd-classification residents. Islam gave them the correct to divorce, inheritance and dependent the vital importance of women being informed.

"Islam is a perfected faith and it caters for life."

however Khankan claims that examples of girls's mosque can be discovered somewhere else in Muslim communities, as an instance, in China within the late 17th century.

today, women have led prayers in international locations together with the United Kingdom, the us, France, South Africa and India.

looking ahead, Khankan stated the mosque will proceed "reflecting reality because it is".

Al Jazeera interviewed Khankan and Skovgaard on the Faroe Islands overseas Minority film competition in late 2019.