I have been trying to refrain from commenting on the “Women’s mosque” issue. Can’t do that anymore.

I see two sides to this debate. First, those who indiscriminately scoff at the the idea and call it haram, bidaa, etc. without exerting effort to understanding the motivation or the background. Second, there are those who are sympathetic to the idea and cite the injustices committed against Muslim women in our community. Both sides are committing the same sin: marginalizing the very teachings of Islam that should guide our judgment.

When I seclude our sisters from the one place that should always be accessible to them, Islam itself hurts. And when I disregard fundamental divine teachings in order to voice my grievances, Islam also hurts.

Why do we have to make the deen itself the sand-bag that receives our angry and frustrated punches every time we have problems with each other?

There could be a middle ground in this debate.

It doesn’t have to be a choice between the exclusion of women and the exclusion of men from the mosque!

Can we agree that women must have access to all masjid services and leadership levels, without building a paradigm that commits the very sin we are trying to recover from?

Short of being the imam, the khateeb or prayer leader of a mixed congregation, sisters should be involved at every level of the masjid. The Muslim community has by and large been either complacent or complicit with regard to this. We cannot afford to do this anymore. But I have to say with the utmost humility that the answer is not to establish a women only mosque.

Tow steps we can take right away to mitigate the problem in our communities: modify the bylaws of our mosques to give our sisters full access, and do away with the notorious separation wall and let the sisters be exposed to the same spiritual presence that brothers are exposed to.

‪#‎womenmosque‬ ‪#‎nofightingovergendersighting‬

When our sisters are deprived from the right to come to the mosques, or given sub-standard accommodations and treated disrespectfully, it is only natural that some of them will take matters into their own hands and counter-react.

Some of that counter-reaction will be legitimate, and some illegitimate.

Rather than worry about what various counter-reactions have been and how legal they are, I believe we need to concentrate on the root cause of the problem. It is an undeniable reality that women’s prayer spaces (in those masjids that actually have them – for quite a few masjids still don’t even have such spaces) are less accessible, less clean, and less maintained than the men’s sections. Women have to deal with crying children, bad microphones, no visual access to the Imam/khatib, dank hallways to get in and out, and many other issues. Perhaps the worst issue of all: too many of our brothers comment on what they assume is inappropriate clothing when our sisters come to the masjid. This makes many sisters feel uncomfortable simply coming to the masjid.

In a day and age where our sisters are going everywhere, visible everywhere, active everywhere, the BEST place for them to be is in the masjid, praying to Allah, and being with fellow Muslims, and learning about their faith. Rather than believe that they should stay home, we need to contextualize our environment and ENCOURAGE our sisters to come to the most blessed places in their cities: their mosques. We need to make sister’s facilities as neat and clean and well-lit and accessible as the brothers. We either put them in the same hall as the men (as was the case in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), behind the men), or provide state of the art AV access to the lectures/khutbah. We need separate rooms (also with AV) for sisters with young infants so that others can also pray and listen in peace. And most importantly, we need to tell our men that it is not THEIR business (unless a family man is dealing with his own wife/daughter) how other women dress. Let the people in charge of the masjid deal with dress codes.

Frankly, in this day and age, if a sister actually comes to the masjid (rather than going shopping or watching a movie or doing any other activity), we should WELCOME her, have the sisters get to know her, and make her feel special. Her priority is not the scarf on her head but her attachment to Allah. Once she feels that attachment, the rest will follow.

Our sisters in faith are our mothers, wives, and daughters. How can we treat them any less than we expect to be treated ourselves in this regard? And how can we deprive them of coming to the masjid when our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explicitly forbade it in his own time, and our time requires even more spirituality and education for them?!

As someone who has been actively involved in teaching and mentoring Muslims at the grassroots level in mainstream Muslim institutions for over 10 years, I understand and support the idea of creating an all women’s space that would nurture the spiritual and intellectual growth of the women in our community. There are countless experiences I and other women have faced in these mainstream institutions that have been so disempowering as a woman, that there were times where it felt like there was no physical space or sanctuary that I could turn to in order to preserve my faith and strengthen my connection to Allah. So trust me, I *really* understand.

That being said, I’m compelled to say something about the legal validity of an all women’s Jumu`ah. Basically, there is no opinion in any of the madhahib which recognizes the legal validity of such a prayer. However, women can lead women in the five daily congregational prayers. Women can address large audiences of women (and men) in delivering lectures or classes. But these two allowances together are not sufficient to constitute the validity of an all women’s Jumu`ah led by a woman. It would count at most as nafl, an extra non-obligatory prayer. My advice to the organizers is either ask everyone to pray Dhuhr afterwards, or simply have the female imam lead the other women in four rak`ahs of Dhuhr prayer.

I say this not to destroy the energy or creativity of the organizers, because I support the idea of all women’s programming and spaces. My main concern is that 200 women will be praying tomorrow and may miss the obligation of Dhuhr because they think an all women’s Jumu`ah will take its place. Since prayer is the second pillar of our faith, what separates us from disbelief, it is worthy of our attention to make sure its conditions are met and understood at an individual and community level.

My words of caution in guarding the validity of the prayer is not an attempt to sever ties or ostracize anyone. I am open and eager to work with the organizers in areas of mutual agreement. As a community that hopes to move forward and grow together, having a healthy dialogue is necessary as we negotiate solutions for the problems that affect us all.

Read the full article of Sh. Muslema Purmul: Guarding the Validity of the Prayer: Women’s Mosque of America