She was the cause of controversy in March of 2005 when she led a Friday prayer for a group of Muslims in New York City, a job usually reserved for men. Wadud was the subject of much debate and Muslim juristic discourse after leading a Friday prayer congregation of over 100 men and women in the Episcopal cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York on March 18, 2005, breaking with the tradition of having only male imams. Three mosques had refused to host the service, while an art gallery was persuaded through a bomb threat to refuse the service as well. (The event was not the first time in the history of Islam that a woman had led the Friday prayer. See Women as imams for a discussion of the issue.)