Posts tagged prayer.

PrayinProtest

There’s a peaceful sunnah based movement called the PrayinProtest where women reclaim their Islamic right to be in the same prayer space as men. I heard a man actually attacked one of the protesters here in the DC area! [CRAZY!!] There is a great article written about them in MuslimMatters. I encourage everyone to get involved. http://muslimmatters.org/2010/06/07/pray-in-accordance-to-the-sunnah-muslim-women-protest-against-marginalization/

humarashid:

silentlydrawn:

I keep hearing about this and it’s really sad to me. Where I live, the masjids are very equal. We pray in the same room and the men and women sections are separated by a short barrier, just for maintaining decorum. In many mosques I’ve been to, there aren’t any barriers even present.

I hope the above statement changes, because not only is it unfair, it’s downright unIslamic. 

At the masjid I usually go to (because it’s closest, no other reason, really), the women’s area is LITERALLY a closet. I mean, it’s a large storage closet. But still a closet. On Jumuah, if you don’t get there early enough, there isn’t any more room inside. During the summer, they’d spread mats outside on the pavement (it’s a house repurposed as a masjid, so there’s a driveway) and we’d pray out there in the open. I haven’t been able to go to that particular mosque in a while but if it’s STILL like that, and people have to choose between praying outside in these low temps or missing prayer altogether (since the closest masjid from ours is easily 20 minutes away, EASILY, if not more), then that is disgraceful.

Also, they give us a corner of the men’s area but put up a big-ass curtain. I’m sorry, but that is NOT Islam. I do not pray to a curtain. This is why - I’m sorry to say - I do not enjoy going to the masjids in my area, which are mostly South-Asian-dominated. There are all these archaic ideas about Islam, steeped in patriarchy, that basically keep women praying in closets and behind gigantic curtains, and it’s crap. I love the masjids I can pray in downtown, where we all pray in one room, either separated with women in the rear and men in the front, or just randomly mixed.

I’d love to find a masjid where one of the Imams was a woman (like, you know, it is in most masjids in, say, China, and other countries that don’t buy into this notion that only men can lead prayer). That would be awesome. And I’d love to find one in my area that made it a point to invite the Muslim LGBT* community.

OMG too many radical ideas in one post. I can’t wait for the Tumblr psychos to descend on me.

Hahaha you are not too radical. This weekend I was at an LGBT conference and there was Jummah hosted there [by a gay Imam] and plenty of workshops on Homophobia/Islamophobia, Transgender Muslims, Palestine is a LGBT issue—etc etc. Jummah was cool a women did the call to prayer and men, women, and anything in between was mixed, side by side. Even non-Muslims joined in the prayer. Honestly, I thought I would feel really uncomfortable. But surprisingly it felt more natural then any Jummah I have ever been with [and that’s a lot]. Not only that I usually feel a lot of anger at the barrier in masjids, even if they are the ‘pig pens’ where women can look over. I feel like it’s an insult to me to put me there and an insult to the people outside of it. 

It affected me so much where I had to leave the masjid even though one time I loved it so much and invested so much time and energy there. For I didn’t feel conflicted with my outside self and my masjid/jummah self and that is a great feeling. I think the only time I didn’t feel that way was when I was in Makkah/Mecca and that’s where the prayer is mixed with people of all genders side by side.

The group that was at the conference was the Queer Muslim and allies group. I know they are having a retreat for LGBT Muslims and their partners:

http://www.lgbtmuslimretreat.com/

Look at it and pass it on if you know anyone that would be interested.

Women have an Islamic right to enter a mosque,
Women have an Islamic right to enter through the main door,
Women have an Islamic right to visual and auditory access to the musalla (main sanctuary), 
Women have an Islamic right to pray in the musalla without being separated by a barrier, 
Women have an Islamic right to address any and all members of the congregation, 
Women have an Islamic right to hold leadership positions and as members of the board of directors and management committees, 
Women have an Islamic right to be full participants in all congregational activities, 
Women have an Islamic right to lead and participate in meetings, study sessions, and other community activities without being separated by a barrier,
Women have an Islamic right to be greeted and addressed cordially, 
Women have an Islamic right to respectful treatment and exemption from gossip and slander.

Women have an Islamic right to be full and complete participants in any and all processes of religious learning, interpretation, and authority.

Speak up. Demand your rights. Stop accepting the status quo. No one is going to change our situation but ourselves. Bring the masjid back to the way it was during the time of the Prophet Muhammad (saws). There is no back entrance to the Kaaba, there isn’t a separate room to God. We all have the right to prayer and no one should be prohibiting this, especially ourselves.

Korean Muslim soldiers by ZhengHe on Flickr.