There is no official rule that prevents women from becoming imams. In Sweden, there are several women who, on paper, have the same imam training as men, but who do not work in the same areas of the ward.

- There are female Quran teachers who have exactly the same education as the men and head the female department of mosques. What they do not do is lead the daily or Friday prayers. So they exist and they are many, says Abd al Haqq Kielan, chairman of the Islamic National Federation of the Swedish Islamic Assembly, which according to the union itself has over 31 parishes and more than 20,000 parishioners.

"New arrivals for the season"

Is it a problem with female imams who want to lead prayers?

- Obviously this is a problem because there is nothing within Islam that says it is possible to lead Friday prayer or prayer. Without it, there is a pinch of the season, so to speak. In no country are women prevented from receiving the education, but they cannot take it, says Abd al Haqq Kielan.

Since 2016, Sweden has been offering an education in Islamic theology and leadership at the Kista Folk High School, which is funded with the National Education Grant. But there are no higher confessional theological studies in Islam offered by the state and a state inquiry has ruled that it would run counter to neutrality.

There, for example, differs from France, which got its first official female imam, Kahina Bahloul, and who has other opportunities to intervene in these issues, according to Mohammad Fazlhashemi, professor of Islamic theology and philosophy at Uppsala University.

"Will disseminate regardless of threat"

In Sweden, there is no known female imam who leads a mosque or openly challenges the traditional interpretation of Islam and, for example, drives the question of who can lead the Friday prayer. However, Fazlhashemi believes it is a matter of time before the progressive direction reaches here.

- I am convinced that we will see a similar development here. New generations of Muslim women who have grown up here will be inspired by the new insights. I meet students at the university, Muslim women, who are attracted to these thoughts.

At the same time, it is far from everyone who welcomes the development.

- There is a resistance and Kahina Bahloul has even been threatened, which is not unusual at all. As soon as someone comes up with a new interpretation, there are the violent extremist branches that try to silence people. But today it is difficult to limit the ideas, we have the internet and social media and they will spread no matter what threats they come with.