Throughout history Islamic scholars have unanimously agreed that a woman cannot deliver the jumʿa khuṭba (Friday sermon), and women are excluded as prayer leaders in mixed assemblies. In the past, women were also excluded from Islamic institutions where the formal training of teachers and preachers took place. However, traditional communities often provided women with a legitimate non-official arena of religious activity, which included non-ritual preaching. Thus, while the khāṭib (preacher of khuṭba) was – and still is – a man, a woman can be a dāʿiya (missionary preacher) or a wāʿi…