Brazil is a predominantly Christian country with Islam being a minority religion, first brought by African slaves and then by Lebanese and Syrian immigrants. The number of Muslims in Brazil, according to the 2010 census, was 35,207 out of a population of approximately 191 million people. This corresponds to 0.018% of the Brazilian population.
There is a difference of opinion among Muslims regarding the circumstances in which women may act as imams, i.e. to lead a mixed gendered congregation in salat (prayer). The orthodox position is that women cannot lead prayers for men, which is justified by the different roles that men and women take in society. A small number of schools of Islamic thought make exceptions for tarawih or for a congregation consisting only of close relatives. Women acting as leaders, teachers, and authorities in other capacities however is not deviating from the Islamic orthodoxy as women have never been restricted from becoming scholars, ulema, jurists, muftis, preachers, missionaries, or spiritual guides. There is a long history of female masters of Islamic sciences teaching men.
Maryam bint Imran is revered in Islam as the only woman named in the Quran, which refers to her seventy times and explicitly identifies her as the greatest woman to have ever lived. In the Quran, her story is related in three Meccan surahs and four Medinan surahs. The nineteenth Surah, Maryam, is named after her. The Quran refers to Mary more often than the Bible.
Islamic religious leaders have traditionally been people who, as part of the clerisy, mosque, or government, performed a prominent role within their community or nation. However, in the modern contexts of Muslim minorities in non-Muslim countries as well as secularised Muslim states like Turkey, and Bangladesh, the religious leadership may take a variety of non-formal shapes.
Abdul Rahman Ibn Abdul Aziz al-Sudais, better known as Al-Sudais, is one of the nine imams of the Grand Mosque, Masjid al-Haram in Makkah, Saudi Arabia; the president of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques; a renowned Qāriʾ ; he was the Dubai International Holy Qur'an Award's "Islamic Personality Of the Year" in 2005.
The Lakemba Mosque, also known as the Masjid Ali Bin Abi Talib and officially the Imam Ali bin Abi Taleb Mosque, is Australia's largest mosque. It was the first purpose-built mosque in Sydney and is located at 71-75 Wangee Road, Lakemba. Owned and managed by the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA), Lakemba Mosque and the LMA offices are situated contiguously at the same address.
The Islamic Center of America is a Shia mosque located in Dearborn, Michigan, in the United States. The 120,000 sq. ft. facility is the largest mosque in North America and the oldest purpose-built Shia mosque in the United States, as well as the second oldest mosque in the United States after 'Asser El Jadeed which originally opened in 1924 in Michigan City, Indiana. Although the institution dates back to 1963, the center's current mosque opened in 2005. With its large Shia Arab population, Dearborn is often called the "heart of Islam", especially for Shi'ism, in the United States.
Seyran Ateş is a German lawyer and a Muslim feminist. She founded the Ibn Ruschd-Goethe mosque in 2017, as Germany's first liberal place of worship for Muslims. Ateş is best known for challenging conventional ideas in Islamic teaching by opening a mosque in Berlin which breaks with traditionalist precepts of what being a Muslim means.
Little Mosque on the Prairie is a Canadian television sitcom created by Zarqa Nawaz and produced by WestWind Pictures, originally broadcast from 2007 to 2012 on CBC. Filmed in Toronto, Ontario, and Indian Head, Saskatchewan, the series was showcased at the Dawn Breakers International Film Festival. After the series finale aired in April 2012, Hulu announced it would begin offering the series under the name Little Mosque that summer. The series made its U.S. premiere on Pivot in August 2013.
Both Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims agree on the three holiest sites in Islam being, respectively, the Masjid al-Haram, in Mecca; the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, in Medina; and the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, in Jerusalem.
Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion teaching that there is only one God (Allah) and that Muhammad is His last Messenger.
In Islam, the belief that spiritual entities—particularly, jinn—can possess a person,, is widespread; as is the belief that the jinn and devils can be expelled from the possessed person through exorcism. This practice is called al-'azm or ruqya and exorcists are called raqi.
Muʾmin is an Arabic Islamic term, frequently referenced in the Quran, that literally means "believer", and denotes a person who has complete submission to the Will of Allah and has faith firmly established in his heart, i.e. a "faithful Muslim". The term(Mu'mina) مومينه is used to identify a female that has a higher degree of faith in Islam.
Ahmadiyya, called Ahmadis is a community in Sweden, under the leadership of the caliph in London. The earliest history of the Community in the country begins in 1956, during the Second Caliphate, when Kamal Yousuf was appointed as the head of the mission in Sweden. However it was not until 1970 that the Community was first officially registered. Today, there are two purpose-built mosques, one of which is the oldest in the country, and also a number of other Qadyani centers, representing an estimated average of 1600 Ahmadis in the country.
Sherin Khankan is Denmark's first female imam; she founded a women-led mosque in Copenhagen. She is also an activist on Muslim issues including female integration and extremism, and has written numerous texts discussing Islam and politics.
I'll Meet You There is a 2020 drama film written, directed and produced by Iram Parveen Bilal with co-producers Joy Ganes and Ilana Rossein. The film portrays a modern Pakistani-American family in Chicago, and stars Faran Tahir, Qavi Khan, Nikita Tewani, Sheetal Sheth, and Samrat Chakrabarti. It was nominated for the Narrative Feature Grand Jury Award at South by Southwest in 2020.
Kahina Bahloul is a French imam and Islamic academic. She is an advocate for modernist reforms in Islam and is the first female imam in France.
Zoe Renee is an American actress. She has acted on the series The Quad and in the films Jinn, Master, Chang Can Dunk, and the upcoming film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
