Women Imams, China

The Chinese provinces of Henan, Ningxia and Xinjiang contain the country's largest Muslim population, estimated at about 22 million people.

There, the government's tight and authoritarian control has led to a unique form of Islam, far from the puritan creed in practice in most part of the Islam world.

Women of all ages and all conditions can actually officiate as Imams with or without the approbation of their male peers and male believers.

Every day, entirely devoted to their mosques and faithfuls, they lead the prayers and take young women under their wing, teaching them how to read and write as well as to study the Koran verses.

Here's an extraordinary encounter with those female Imams who defy Islamic tradition and fight for the sharing of knowledge, mutual respect and sex equality.