Busboys and Poets (2021 14th St, NW, Washington, D.C. 20009)

The Lady Imam: How Amina Wadud’s Life and Faith Changed the World on June 16th at Busboys and Poets. (Link below.) Pulitzer Prize-finalist Carla Power will be in discussion with the eminent historian of Islam in America, Aminah McCloud Al-Deen, and with a brief appearance from Amina Wadud herself via Zoom. (https://www.busboysandpoets.com/events/th-evt-59590856/ Tickets are free, but required in advance through this link.)

The Lady Imam is the story of how a Maryland-born preacher’s kid, raised in poverty and then in WASP-y upper-middle class homes in Massachusetts, converted to Islam and subsequently changed how countless Muslims see their faith’s teachings on equality and justice for women and LGBTQUI+ people. She garnered global fame—and infamy—in 2005, when she broke with Islamic tradition and led men and women together in Friday prayers at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan. A single mother of five, she wrote her groundbreaking works and inspired a Muslim revolt against the patriarchy while battling poverty, racism, classism, and death threats.

If you’d like to see more about the book, here’s a link from Penguin Random House: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717587/the-lady-imam-by-carla-power/

Please join us for what promises to be a fascinating discussion! At this crucial time in our history, Wadud’s story yields fresh ways to think about faith, and new insights into what it means to be an American.