By Mawlana Taha Karaan This paper was written in response to Amina Wadud’s controversial Friday prayer congregation in March 2005. The appropriation of the Hadith of Umm Waraqah as proof for the permissibility and validity of a woman’s leading Salaah in Amina Wadud’s recent episode in New York throws up some interesting considerations. Responses have varied. There has been the tendency to question the authenticity of the Hadith. Another approach looks at the applicability of the Hadith to the case in question; while a third approach surveys the views and opinions of the scholars of Islam. While none of these…