Women attending the Mosque

Ramadan is an amazing time for me and my family, like it would be for all Muslims. It’s an opportunity for spiritual growth and to strengthen your faith through fast. However, it can also be a time of tension and quarreling, especially in my family.  In particular, it is the issue of women attending the Mosque for tarawe and general prayer that usually instigates heated debate.

Although I don’t usually pray at the mosque myself,  I often get angry, frustrated and disappointed at the argument many of the male members of my family use as a justification as to why a woman should not pray at the Mosque. The issue was raised again this week, in light of a particular incident that occurred at our local Mosque. I won’t go into detail as to what occurred, but certain ‘inappropriate’ behavior between two young kids (chatting in private *gasp*) has led the male leadership to ‘reconsider’ ‘women attending tarawe prayer. When there are any shortcomings in the community, let’s punish the women shall we? Furthermore, don’t you just love the arrogant assumption that women need permission to actually go to a place of worship? So who will be making this decision? Well, funny you should ask. That would be the Mosque committee with an all male membership. Convenient isn’t it? So these men will decide whether half the local Muslim community will be ‘allowed’ to worship their creator at a place where both men and women have worshipped since the advent of Islam.

It astounds and disturbs me the amount of men I’ve met who believe that women should actually not pray at the Mosque. Some even get quite hostile about it, and I’m sure many women reading this would have at some stage experienced this, while others actually turned away. So what does the Qu’ran and Hadiths have to say about this? To put it simply, preventing women from attending the Mosque is turning away from the Sunnah. The Prophet did no such thing. Ibn Omar reported: The Messenger of God said, “Do not prevent the maid-servants of God from going to the mosque.”(Muslim, No.888) The right of individuals to worship in the mosque is also stated in the Qur’an, “Hence, who could be more wicked than those who bar (people) from the God’s houses of worship wherein He is remembered… (2:114).

Those who object to women’s attendance rely on the hadith attributed to A’ishah who is quoted to have said, sometime after the Prophet’s death: “If the Messenger of God had seen what new things the women have introduced (in their way of life) he would have definitely prevented them from going to the mosque, as the women of Bani Israel were prevented.”(Muslim, No. 895) However, many scholars have pointed how there is no evidence that this Hadith can be attributed to A’ishah. Nor does it change the fact that the Prophet did not prevent women even– when he acknowledged some men disapproved.  Many men i’ve met have explained that it creates ‘fitnah’ and unnecessary distractions at a place where men should be focused on worship. I find this quite amusing because it implies that elsewhere, it is permissible and legitimate to behave inappropriately with women.  In other words, proper Islamic conduct is limited to the Mosque alone!  Is it too outrageous a thought to actually show proper conduct both outside and inside the Mosque, which is what is expected of Muslims wherever they are? Are men that incapable of controlling themselves that they cannot be around women? How do they act with women at work? At university? At their local park?  Should women just disappear because that is the only way men will be able to act in accordance with what is expected of them?  If so, then we, as a community, have bigger fish to fry than Mosque attendance.

The Mosque has historically been a central place of congregation for Muslims; in order for them to strengthen their bond with one another, to learn from one another, and especially in the West—to preserve their Muslim identity and faith. It is a symbol of Islam’s universalism and emphasis on community (ummah). The purpose of the Mosque therefore makes it worthwhile for both men and women to attend, and importantly, to feel welcomed, unless the definition of ‘ummah’ has undergone some changes I don’t know about.

-Sahar