Perhaps I will sound too angry in this blog post. Or maybe my frustrations are legitimate and it will add on to the Masjid discussion, but once again I have encountered another mosque, which was community exclusive and gender exclusive.
I’ve been on a hunt for space for a workshop dedicated to Muslim girls. The mission of the workshop was understandable. Something I thought Muslim communities would stand behind. Until I walked to a center in Manhattan where a friend recommended. They were apparently open to spaces so I thought, hey why not. I entered the office, the man was extremely polite. I explained to him the workshop, where he immediately said “our people aren’t really open to outsiders, only from the Turkish community. And we don’t have space for women. It’s only for men.”
To be honest, I didn’t know how to respond to that. I actually remember laughing a little and giving him an “are you serious?” look. “Umm. Okay. I’ll guess I’ll leave.”
I left and thought, what does he mean by our community if the space was dedicated to the worship of Allah? What did he mean by that?
Why were people so adamant in a community divide. So standoffish to someone of the same faith but from a different culture. To be frank, it pissed me off.
From one side we have masjids that are gender exclusive. Where they only cater to the men in the community leaving little to no room for the voices of women. They assume because no women come, then the space is exclusively to men which creates this notion of extreme unwelcomeness.
And from the other side you have masjids who pride themselves on nationality. Turkish only. Afghan only. Arab only. I get it. We come from our homelands and want to establish something that caters to what we are used to. A familiar language. A familiar system. A familiar community. But the perks of living in America and being a Muslim is the fact that you get to actually see the diversity of our Ummah without taking a trip to Hajj. You get to see African Americans pray five times a day and an Indonesian community gather to break fast during Iftar in the month of Ramadan. You enter a random masjid during jumaah and have people of all races and ethnicities. You probably mistaken the white guy next to you for a convert when in reality he’s from Bosnia and has better Tajweed than you. You have South Asians, Arabs, Eastern Europeans, Persians, Asians, and people from the Latino community who are from the same faith, yet communities have the audacity to be exclusive. To not welcome their own.
I am not mad about the space. Sure. Places probably don’t have that capacity. But the response was just absurd. I remember once when a new masjid was built by my house in. It was walking distance. I just came back from Turkey so I was so used to Masjid hopping at different places five times a day, so I was extremely excited to pray what I can at this mosque. I walked to space. And there was a door with a women’s sign on it. So there was a space for women. The door was locked. I knocked. It was also the office. Okay understandable. Maybe I can pray in the men’s section. Nope. Did not work out. The young man helping me tried getting the door to open, and I offered to pray inside the men’s section but he felt uncomfortable with the idea. I smiled and told him it’s fine. My house is w walking distance.
This isn’t to solely criticize these two masjids for the way they function. But more of the mentality of the Muslim community when it comes to their spaces. We need to actually look back at Prophetic tradition and our history and see where this all started rather than relying on what our cultural communities are using to implement their own agenda in our sacred spaces.
If we look at the history of sex segregation in the Islamic period we would see that it was not influenced by the religion but by the society that preceded it. It’s origin is traced back to the Arabian Peninsula far before Islam began in the 7th century. Nevin Reda argues that since the Quran is the source for Shariah or (Islamic social, economic, political, legal and religious law), then why does it not say anything about sex segregation in the mosque? This is because it is inaccurate, historically we have seen Mary have full access to the Masjid Al Aqsa before the revelation of Islam. Sex segregation was not practiced under the leadership of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ or even his successor the Caliph Abu Bakr, we have seen it occur more with the leadership of the Caliph Umar and thus being continued after. Majority of Muslims believe that segregation is part of the Shariah, when it is not. It is important to keep in mind that even during the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, men and women are all mixed in circulating around the Kabaah, the holiest place for Muslims. When they are to visit Mount Arafat for a day of supplication, men and women are not separate, and there are no barriers. Hence, gender segregation is a social construction not one of the religion.
Yet, even with this history our community tends to shut out women, tends to be racist, tends to be very exclusive. Our religion is an inclusive religion. Our religion welcomes people. All types of people. It was meant to welcome those who are different. It was meant to cater to the minorities. Yet 1400 years later, we want are still exclusive. Sexist. And racist to our own kind. We need to reform our community.
*Disclaimer: I am not targeting any specific community center or spaces just using them as an example for this reflection.
Neghena Hamidi 