Women Battle on With Mosque Plan
By Geeta Pandey (Comments in RED are Mine)
BBC News, Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4165440.stm
Muslim women in a small town in southern India have come together to form a community of elders or jamat, traditionally dominated by men. This is the first step towards their ultimate goal, building a mosque exclusively for women. A jamat has traditionally almost always consisted of men, who meet in mosques to adjudicate on family matters. At present women are not represented in jamats and are allowed to pray inside the mosques only on special days. In the small town of
Opposition
Daud Sharifa is the head of Steps, a women's development organisation, and she is leading the campaign for the mosque. An unassuming woman in her late 30s, she sits cross-legged on the floor, addressing a couple of dozen women. "A mosque is not just for prayer, it's also a community centre," she says. "A Muslim woman has no space, she's confined to the kitchen, the bedroom and the delivery room. And if a woman petitions the jamat, she's not allowed to appear before it. "The jamat calls her husband to put across his point of view, but a woman has to be represented by her father and her brother. The jamat announces its decision without even hearing her. That is not justice."
Some 20km (13 miles) away lies a one-acre barren piece of land covered in bushes, shrubs and trees. Ms Sharifa points to a corner - that's where the proposed mosque will come up. She is keeping the venue a closely-guarded secret for fear of attacks from those opposed to the idea of a women's mosque. And there are many of them.
Mohammad Hidayatullah Zawahirullah is the president of the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, a socio-political organisation, and believes an all-women jamat is not required. "The jamats have only male members at the moment, but that's been a tradition. You cannot change things overnight. "And it's wrong to think that the members of the jamat are all male chauvinists - these men also have daughters, nieces and granddaughters who may also be facing these problems," he says.
'Against Islam'
The all-women jamat has 40 members and meets once every month. At their meetings, they discuss issues that matter to women - domestic violence, dowry and instant divorce. It has not gone down well with the community leaders and now Ms Sharifa's plan to build their own mosque has rattled many.
Aneesur Rahman Azami is the director of the Islamic Research and Guidance Centre. He says the women's demand for their own mosque is against Islam. "Islam doesn't allow women to build their own mosque. And if they do, it throws up many questions. Will they have a woman Imam? "If yes, then there's the issue of purity - a woman can't lead the prayer when she's menstruating."
Daud Sharifa says the community elders ignored their request to reserve two seats in the jamat for women. Now, she's adamant that at their mosque, all the office-bearers will be women. "If men want to come into our mosque to pray, they can. "But it will be a women's mosque, we will write its constitution, we will administer it, we will run it."
Making a difference
The plans have also run into trouble with a prominent Muslim woman. The head of an influential Muslim body in
But Ms Sharifa and her followers say that in the short time that the women's jamat has been in existence, it has already begun to make a difference. Rajita Karikudi is one of those who looked to the all-women jamat when her husband of 21 years sent her a divorce notice through the traditional men's jamat. "He wanted to marry another woman. I refused to accept it. Then they came to my house and tried to force me to take it. I refused again. "It was only after the women's jamat sent them a letter, they retracted."
The women have already collected $1,000 towards their project - they need close to $90,000 to construct the mosque. But Ms Sharifa is upbeat. "Work on the project will begin soon and we'll complete it in three years." She knows it is not going to be easy - she says she has received several death threats. "It's Allah who knows when I'm going to die. So I don't bother about it. I don't bother about this life. I'll do this till the end of my life."
Comments Mine
My advise to these women is that if they feel that the men are the cause of all their miseries they should disassociate themselves from all men & confine themselves within a circle of women for all their needs. Then they can have all the space that they want. The men also should do likewise distancing themselves from these kinds of women. In fact the most practical thing that the men can do against those women who are promoting female imams in mixed gender Salaat is not to participate in those congregations. Then automatically it will die down.
It is becoming a common trend among some Muslim women these days that they hold the men responsible for all their miseries. I do accept that there may be instances where due to cultural biases or whatever reasons some women are treated unfairly. These shortcomings need to be worked out within the framework of the teachings of Islam. But these women have gone overboard.
But there is one problem with my suggestion. i.e the question of procreation. Maybe they will take the advise of some enlightened men in these forums who promote the concept of Muta marriage in Islam. (I personally do not agree with this concept). Using this concept the women can purely come to a marital agreement for the purpose of procreation (like what the singer Madonna does) & then when this is accomplished the marriage becomes null & void.
AB
"For to us will be their return; then it will be for us to call them to account." (Holy Quran 88:25-26)
Copyright © 2005 by AB
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