‘We only ever hear men recite the Qur’an. I want to change that’
Around the world, long traditions exist of women delivering moving recitations to diverse congregations. Now, it’s happening in the UK
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It’s a few minutes after 3pm when Sumayah Hassan begins her recitation. She is reading from the last juz of the Qur’an to 30 other women, her voice confident and relaxed. Most are there to listen to Hassan and six other women, who take turns to recite a page each. At one point, while a lady named Hafsa is reading, Hassan interrupts to gently correct her pronunciation.
The reading is taking place on Clubhouse, an app that allows users to interact in audio chat rooms. Hassan, 37, from Crystal Palace in south London, has been meeting the women this way every day for the past two years. For her, the routine provides a sense of calm and closeness to God amid a busy day-to-day life.
“Reciting the Qur’an feels familiar and warm, like going back to a neighbourhood you grew up in,” she says.
Many Muslim-majority countries have long histories of women publicly reciting the Qur’an. Malaysia’s annual Qur’an Recital Competition, the most popular event of its kind in the world, has welcomed women participants since 1964. Annual competitions for both men and women are also held in Nigeria and Algeria. In the UK, however, female reciters remain few and far between.
Reciters do not have to know the Qu’ran by heart, but Hassan memorised it as a child, earning the title of hafiza. In 2012 she began to examine the deeper meaning of the book using resources she found online. Three years later, she founded Recite & Reflect, an online workshop that helps women accurately recite the Qur’an and learn, interpret and reflect upon its message.
‘It was the first time I had experienced that, feeling really appreciated and welcomed right to the front of a mosque. Where in the UK would that happen?’
“We live in a culture where we only ever hear men recite, where men lead prayer,” Hassan says. “This means that, as women, we’re relying on someone else to dictate the word of God to us. I think that’s a vulnerability and a weakness, and I want to change that.”
Islamic scholars are divided as to whether it is permissible for women to recite the Qur’an in public. In a post shared to Twitter in September 2022, Sheikh Assim al-Hakeem, a Saudi imam with more than one million social media followers, declared that it was “prohibited” for men to listen to recitations by women.
Islamic scholars are divided as to whether it is permissible for women to recite the Qur’an in public. In a post shared to Twitter in September 2022, Sheikh Assim al-Hakeem, a Saudi imam with more than one million social media followers, declared that it was “prohibited” for men to listen to recitations by women.
According to information on Qariah, an app created by the reciter Maryam Ali, which showcases recitations from more than 60 women worldwide, neither the Qur’an nor any hadiths explicitly forbid it. It also highlights a hadith about the prophet Muhammad being moved to tears by a woman’s recitation.
Such conflicting views can make it difficult for women in the UK to publicly recite the Qur’an freely and without judgment. Madinah Javed, 27, a reciter from Glasgow, has faced criticism in the past. One notable example came in October 2018 when she recited at the opening of the Albukhary Foundation Islamic Gallery at the British Museum in central London.
“I watched the video back afterwards and you can hear a woman ask one of the organisers: ‘Can you explain something to me, why is there a woman reciting the Qur’an?’” Javed says. “That just goes to show how rare it is in the UK.”
That also applies online. Two years ago, when Hassan first began using Clubhouse, she regularly recited in rooms with both men and women. However, she says: “Some people made a big fuss about it being mixed-gender, saying that it was inappropriate and that they felt uncomfortable, so eventually the rooms separated.”
Since then, Hassan’s Clubhouse group has amassed 999 members. Javed’s influence is also developing, with women often sending her their recitations via direct message. Despite this growing enthusiasm, neither Hassan nor Javed have ever been invited to recite at a mosque.
A trip to Bosnia in 2019 provided Javed with a starkly contrasting experience. During the holy month of Ramadan, she was invited to recite to a congregation of men, women and children at the Lubina Džamija mosque in Sarajevo.
“The imam asked me to come and sit right at the front,” she says. “He said to me, ‘You are not our guest, you are one of us and, with us, you can feel like you are with your family.’
“It was the first time I had experienced that, feeling really appreciated and welcomed right to the front of a mosque. Where in the UK would that happen?”
Javed and Hassan believe the absence of female reciters is emblematic of a broader issue in the UK, where mosques are largely run by and for men. At present, there is no available data on the number of women who occupy leadership positions in UK mosques.
While research conducted by the Charity Commission of England and Wales in 2017 found that there are twice as many men on all charity management committees as women, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) estimates the figure is “even more unequal” in mosques.
In 2018 the MCB established the Women in Mosques Development Programme, an initiative offering participants leadership training sessions and mentorship by existing mosque committee members. As of 2020, a total of 37 women had taken part.
“When we look at early Islam, women were at the forefront of Qur’an exegesis, as interpreters of theological and legal knowledge,” says Qudsia Mirza, a senior lecturer at the University of East London with a focus on Islamic law, gender and feminism. “Yet today, we haven’t got a unified women’s movement in the UK asking why it’s just men who have the privilege and authority to interpret and recite the Qur’an.”
Attitudes do, however, appear to be changing incrementally. While Qur’an recitation competitions have traditionally been the preserve of children, the fourth edition of the Lady Fizza Qur’an Competition, taking place in Birmingham in October, is open to girls and women with no upper age limit. The National Huffadh Association, based in London, also hosts an annual competition for women.
Maryam Jazeem, from Milton Keynes, began reciting when she was just four years old and has entered more than 40 competitions since, winning the Islam Channel’s National Qira’ah competition in May 2021. She receives regular requests to appear at charity fundraisers and interfaith events and, in January, gave the inaugural recitation at the Al-Qur’an Conference, held in the ExCel London convention centre.
According to her father, Jazeem Abdul Hameed, she rarely declines an invitation and hopes that seeing her recite will inspire other young girls to do the same.
“It shouldn’t just be me and a few others,” Maryam says. “I hope other parents encourage their daughters to go and try their best and that more girls find the confidence to take part. A lot of good things can come from that.”
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