Women and Mosque: Realities of
Our Society Today
Hoossain Rajah
Ibn Sina University, Mauritius
The situation is very different to what it was in the days gone by when educated women were few and women working in jobs requiring higher education were hardly to be found. Women, taking jobs in factories, were also unknown two decades ago. The trend is for women to be highly educated and to be participating in various public and economic sectors.
In a plural society like our own, we are obliged, in many cases, to send our daughters to co-educational schools. There is no single-sex tertiary education and our young ladies to be educated, have to attend higher co-educational institutions. The fact is that once our women are educated, they take employment in all sectors where they have to mix with male colleagues.
The society, today, is not a very moral one according to Islamic ethical philosophy and our women are faced with all what we may not approve of. It, therefore, makes no sense to tolerate such mixing in the work place and everywhere else and then to deny women the opportunity to offer their prayers in the sanctuary of a mosque.
Are we giving to non-Muslims, the impression that the world of Islam is closed to our women whilst the secular world is wide opened for them to be in mixed company? We can witness this free mixing in shopping arcades and on public beaches. Opposite the public beach of Grand Bay, there is an old mosque virtually empty at prayer times whilst Muslims- men and women- go on sunbathing, ignoring the call of the Azan. Are we becoming a community of munafiqeen?
After leaving the madressahs, at a very tender age, our girls have no access anywhere to further their Islamic knowledge. Their Islamic enlightenment is cut short. we have womenfolk with a very low standard of Islamic education. We are depriving the future educators of our children, Islamic education which they can pass on.
It is now evident that the progress of the Muslim Community depends on the active participation of women. As wives, mothers, teachers and social workers, Muslim women have to feel welcome not only in mosques but also in all Muslim
organizations. As they were in the early days of Islam.
No Ijtihad is necessary as Islam neither prohibits women to be in the mosque nor does it prohibit them to fully participate in the affairs of the community. The time is
now, for mosques and Muslim organizations to be opened to our women. for them to acquire knowledge, to serve the community and not to be on the fringe of Muslim society.
|
