Jin Meihua (left) chats with three other female imams. Photo: Liang Chen/GT

'I wanted to know what I can do'

In some Muslim communities, as in many traditional societies, women have long had a lower social status than men. In Ningxia, most women marry young, depriving them of educational and employment opportunities.

This restriction of opportunities extends to their religious life. They are not allowed to pray in mosques with men.

The status of Muslim women angered Jin Meihua and she swore to change it. When she was 30 years old, she decided to become an imam.

Born in 1964, Jin was forced to drop out of education after she completed middle school due to her family's poverty. She married at 18 and had three children before she turned 30.

She tried hard to be a responsible wife and mother, but felt empty.

"I felt so depressed. As a woman, I was told not to do this and not to do that. I could not work. I could not go to mosques. I wanted to know exactly what I can do and what I cannot do as a Muslim woman, and not just be told by other people," Jin told the Global Times.

Like many other Muslim women, Jin started chanting Koranic verses when she was a child. But she had no idea what the scripture actually meant.

To understand the Koran she would have to learn Arabic, the language of the holy book. She begged an elderly imam for permission to study in the mosque. He agreed to teach her.

Her path to becoming an imam was not easy. Many people, including her husband, encouraged her to give up. She was told that women shouldn't expose themselves in public.

Despite these pressures, and the difficulty of juggling her studies and running a household, she persevered.

"I thought about giving up. I wanted to hide deep under a mountain and cried out when I was struck by too much pressure, but my desire to help other women who lived in the same misery as me kept me going," Jin said.

Jin took the imam examination organized by the local government in 1996, together with 400 men. She was one of only four women taking the exam. She can still remember bursting into tears when she found out that she had passed.

Now, Jin has been an imam for 18 years and has tutored hundreds of female students. Some of her students have followed in her footsteps and become imams themselves.

Ma Hongmei, 44, was one of Jin's students. Ma is thankful that Jin educated her about Islam. "I was enriched by the teachings of the Koran, and got some clues about what makes one a good Muslim woman," Ma, who became an imam in 2006, told the Global Times.

The main tasks of female imams are teaching Muslim women Islamic scriptures and instructing them how to live their lives within a religious framework, in addition to offering services such as weddings and funerals.

Imams, regardless of gender, are not paid by the government or by mosques. But the four female imams interviewed by the Global Times said that money is unimportant.

"Many women here are illiterate. If we help them to understand Koranic scriptures and religious doctrines, they can receive more respect in their families and neighborhoods," Ma said.

Aside from acting as spiritual leaders, they also work as mediators in domestic conflicts within the Muslim community.