Wadud made international headlines in 2005 when she led Friday prayers at a mixed congregation in New York, stirring controversy in some spheres of the Islamic world.

[5] From 1989 to 1992, she worked as an assistant professor in faculty of Revealed Knowledge at International Islamic University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a three-year contract.

That first publication was followed by an expanded edition from Oxford University Press in 1999 with the additional subtitle: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective.

She has given hundreds of lectures, workshops and presentations in grassroots, government, non-government and academic forums throughout the United States, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe.

[12] Her speaking engagements include the keynote address "Islam, Justice, and Gender" at the 2008 international conferenceUnderstanding Conflicts: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, held at Aarhus University, Denmark; a paper titled “Islam Beyond Patriarchy Through Gender Inclusive Qur’anic Analysis” at the 2009 Musawah - Equality and Justice in the Family conference;[13] the Regional Conference on Advancing Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Muslim Societies, hosted by United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the International Centre for Islam and Pluralism (ICIP) in Jakarta, Indonesia, in March 2009;[14] a workshop on "Sharia and Human Rights" at the University of Bergen, Norway in late November 2009;[15] a public lecture titled "Muslim Women and Gender Justice: Methods, Motivation and Means" to the Faculty of Arts, Asia Institute, at the University of Melbourne, Australia in February 2010;[16] a lecture on “Tawhid and Spiritual Development for Social Action” at Muslims for Progressive Values at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California in July 2011.

Wadud was awarded a three-year research grant from the Arcus foundation to do an in depth study of Classical Islamic discourse about sexual diversity and human dignity.

[17][18] In August 1994, Wadud delivered a Friday pre-khutbah (sermon) on "Islam as Engaged Surrender" at the Claremont Main Road Mosque in Cape Town, South Africa.

[citation needed] More than a decade later, Wadud was invited to lead Friday prayers (salat) for a congregation in the United States breaking with conservative Muslim practice.

[20] The gathering was held in the Synod House, owned by and adjoining the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in Manhattan's Morningside Heights, after three mosques had refused to host the service and including the Sundaram Tagore Gallery that withdrew its offer following an anonymous bomb threat.

[26] Writer and Harvard Divinity School professor Leila Ahmed said it brought attention to the issue of women in Islam.

Khaled Abou El-Fadl, professor of Islamic Studies at UCLA, California said: "What the fundamentalists are worried about is that there's going to be a ripple effect not just in the U.S. but all over the Muslim world.

"[27] The police and her employer, fearing for her security and potential collateral damage followed parents’ concern and permitted her to conduct her classes from home through a video link.

[29] On October 28, 2005, following her talk at the International Congress on Islamic Feminism in Barcelona, Spain, she was invited to lead a congregation of about thirty people.

An invitation to speak on 29 July 2013 on 'Gender and Reform in Islam' at the University of Madras in Chennai, was cancelled after campus security refused to guarantee her safety citing possible law and order problems in view of opposition by some Muslim groups.