"America is a good place for Muslims to freely explore issues," said Louay Safi, executive director of the Islamic Society of North America, which in 2006 named Ingrid Mattson as the association's first female president. "Given the freedom this country offers, there is room to have meaningful debate on important issues."

"We have been encouraging Islamic centres to allow women to have access to the main prayer hall," Safi said. "This sort of segregation is not part of the Quran."

"Muslim women were instructing men in the 12th and 13th centuries," Safi said. "It is not prohibited by the Quran."