| — | Tariq Ramadan (via mndrngs) |
I follow some mosque photography blogs on Tumblr and each time I see a particularly stunning one, I immediately wonder, “Is there a women’s prayer area? Do they keep it unlocked during prayer times? If I were ever blessed to visit this beautiful mosque, would there be an adequate place for me to pray?”
Not having to immediately think about these questions when seeing a mosque you ache to pray in, that is Muslim male privilege.
Given what passes off as commentary on Muslim women, over the years I developed a system whereby I determine whether an article is worth my time. The main things I check are:
- The headline -If I spot a veil pun, chances are that I’ll close the tab immediately
- The summary - you can expect an…
This past Friday I attended the Jummah prayer at the Sultan Hassan mosque in Cairo. It was an amazing experience. Women were completely visible. There were no partitions hiding females from view, and they most definitely were not put into a hidden room or separate floor in order to create a more concrete division between the sexes. Women were a part of the primary congregation. We were also welcome to gather at the front of the frontal men’s area after the prayer to hear the imam continue speaking - even able to stand on the minbar to see and hear more clearly! How refreshing is this – women taking advantage of their drives to be involved in public religious settings AND not being restricted based on the stereotyped inability of men being unable to resist staring lewdly!
Women and men entered from the same entrance.
I elaborate more on my experience here.
A view of the minbar from the women’s row at Masjid Muhammad in Washington, DC. Photo submitted by Wahiba Yachou.
