Latest revision as of 17:33, 12 March 2023

[edit] #VisitMyMosque

[edit] As in 2019, Jan

Himanshi Dhawan, ‘Visit my mosque’: How three words conquer prejudice, February 3, 2019: The Times of India

To counter hate crime, several masjids in the country are organising open-house gatherings so that visitors can have a better understanding of Islam

‘ Chalta kya hai masjid ke andar?” It was a question 28-year-old Vikas Gavali had thought of often, but never ended up asking even his closest Muslim friends. “There was always a fear. What if they felt bad,” he says. In December last year, Gavali confronted this apprehension of the unknown, when he visited a mosque for the first time in Pune’s Azam Campus locality. He asked questions about Islam, and wandered through the white corridors and long halls covered in blue carpets.

Gavali was among the 350 people who visited the mosque in a programme helmed by the Pune Islamic Information Centre (PIIC). For the first time in many years, the mosque at Azam Campus, an educational hub, opened its doors to men and women from other communities. The idea was to allay doubts and dispel misconceptions around the religion and its practices.

It is an initiative that is slowly gathering strength across the country. Apart from the Pune mosque, Al-Fukran in Mumbra (Mumbai), Masjid Umar Bin Khattab in Ahmedabad and three mosques in Hyderabad including the well-known Spanish Mosque have opened their doors for anyone interested in paying a visit.

The trend started abroad. Mosques in the UK have been holding open days for decades, but a concerted effort started in February 2015 when as part of #VisitMyMosque, 20 mosques held an open house on the same day. Since then, 200 mosques have joined the UK initiative. Similar campaigns are running in Canada and the US.

Karimuddin Sheikh of PIIC, who helped organise the weekend open house, knows the challenge he is up against. It is a toxic atmosphere stoked by fake social media forwards that allege mosques spread violence and hatred, and madrassas breed terrorists. The organisers tackled rumours spread through social media head-on with placards depicting the consequences of spreading unverified news.

Sheikh, who owns a sportswear manufacturing business, noticed the change in people’s attitude some years earlier when he went looking for a home to rent and was refused repeatedly. “Over the last six years we have organised inter-faith dialogues and seminars on festive occasions hoping to begin conversations. But the hatred spewed by social media has just taken over young people’s minds,” he says. People would ask him, “Why aren’t mosques open for everyone? What are you hiding?” “We felt that we had to take a more drastic step,” he says.

Moinuddin Nasrullah, trustee of the Umar Bin Khattab mosque in Ahmedabad, has encountered the ugly face of prejudice often. He recounts how an elderly man walked away from him at a book fair saying, “ Tum logon se jitni doori banai jaye utni achchi hai (It’s best to keep a distance from people like you).” The comment stung but also left Nasrullah reflecting about what to do. It took a year but the mosque hosted its ‘Visit My Mosque’ programme last month.

This is not all. Nasrullah is also trying to bring his community closer to the people. The mosque is active on Facebook and Twitter, using these to post pictures and videos of the open house and teachings of the Quran. Nasrullah hopes to inspire other mosques to use social media and increase public interaction.

“It was an eye-opener,’’ says Jignesh Dhanak, a 35-year-old cloth merchant who lives in Ahmedabad and visited the masjid with some friends. Many who had never been inside a mosque or read about Islam were surprised to find that namaz was read facing a wall and not in front of an idol. Arabic teacher Kubra Naik says that despite living together for so many years, awareness levels are still low. “People don’t really know each other. When I tell people my name or they see me in a hijab, I know they have reservations about what I am going to say. But when I speak about how it is important for us to live in peace their attitude changes,” she says.

Naik is a volunteer with the NGO A Little Kindness Trust, that has so far conducted open days in three Hyderabad mosques. The most successful gathering was at the Spanish Mosque in August 2018, when over 2,000 people turned up.

Harsh Mander, who started the Karvaan-e-Mohabbat project as an outreach for Muslim victims of lynchings and riots, says the effort is touching but it must be the majority community that reaches out to others. “The worrying part is that the present climate has legitimised bigotry. The more educated, more privileged Indians are far more prejudiced than those who are less educated,” he says.

However small, the organisers are hoping their efforts will have an impact. Pune’s Karimuddin has plans to hold another open house in February while Nasrullah has been getting calls from other mosques in Gujarat for advice. “ Mahol ko badalna hoga, aur humme hi kuch karna hoga (Things have to change and we have to take the initiative),” Nasrullah says

[edit] Water utilisation

[edit] 2019: saving water

Mohammed Wajihuddin, How these mosques are going green by changing their taps, April 2, 2019: The Times of India

A 150 Fix Is Helping Save Thousands Of Litres Of Water

At Nagpada’s Alexandra cinema hall-turned-mosque in Central Mumbai, use of water for the ritual of wazu (ablution) is down by nearly 75%. The reason is a simple and cheap tap innovation. Instead of the leaky taps normally found at wazukhanas in mosques, these are moulded valves fitted with a jockey or joy stick. Press the stick and water flows out; stop pressing and the tap goes dry.

Zakir Dalkhania, administrator of Idaara-E-Deeniyat, the religious body that runs the Nagpada mosque, said the new taps installed nine months ago have led to substantial water saving as 200 worshippers attend each namaz. “Earlier we used to spend around 26,000 litres of water daily. Now, we use only 8,000 litres — a saving of 18,000 litres on just wazu.”

User-friendly and affordable (at Rs 100-150 apiece), the wadu or wazu tap as it is called has been developed by Mumbai-based businessmen and cousins Faisal Hawa and Javed A Hawa.

So far, 120 mosques and madrassas across India, including the famous seminary Nadwatul Ulema in Lucknow, are using these taps and the demand is growing, say its makers. Hafiz Yasin of Islampura madrassa in Gujarat’s Sabarkantha district said his institution of 500 students saves 20,000 to 25,000 litres per day.

Wazu is a mandatory ritual for a Muslim before he/ she prepares for any holy task, be it namaz or reciting the holy Quran. Islam expects its adherents to remain ba wazu (with wazu), which gets broken even by passing out gas. Wazu is especially important for worshippers at mosques and students and teachers at madrassas.

Normal taps keep running as the namazi cups water in his two hands and washes his arms up to the elbows, his entire face and feet up to ankles.

“Ever since I was a teenager, I would get bothered by the waste of water for wazu. I always wanted to do something about it,” said Faisal, 45, seated at his Nagpada office. Apart from conserving water, adds Faisal, a Hadith (saying) of the Prophet where he shows displeasure with wasting of water, was also at the back of his mind while he was seeking ways to solve the problem.

Faisal discussed the idea of a watersaving tap with his cousin. Javed, who manufactures valves for the oil and gas industry, then sat with his R&D team to develop the design. “We had seen an improvised tap at an Ahmedabad mosque but it was leaking water and needed to be designed differently. Instead of using steel, we have used moulded plastic to keep it light and its cost low,” says Javed.

In the new wazu tap, water stops flowing every time a namazi takes his hands off. “Taps with sensors also save water but then sensors are very expensive and charity-run mosques and madrassas cannot afford them,” explains Faisal.

Maulana Saghir of Govandi-based Madrassa Furqania in Mumbai lauds the new wazu tap as “a boon which is easy to use and saves water.”

As Maharashtra and Mumbai — and the rest of India — prepare for another parched summer, tapping into more such new-age solutions could hold the key to solving the problem of acute water shortage.

[edit] Women’s entry

[edit] 2023, Feb

Feroze Mithiborwala, February 23, 2023: The Times of India

It is a matter of great joy, and a victory, to see that the central body that represents the conservative to regressive Muslim/Islamic organisations, namely the AIMPLB, has finally stated in its affidavit in the Supreme Court that it does not oppose the right of Muslim women to pray in mosques. One of their conditions is that the principle of segregation will have to be followed as they do not approve of the mingling of sexes. Thus, women, as is the practice when they offer namaz, will have to stand behind the men. 
This was in response to a notice issued by the SC, wherein a Muslim woman, Farha Anwar Hussain Shaikh, moved the court in 2020, seeking to declare the prohibition of Muslim women from entering mosques as “illegal”. 
 Earlier in 2019, Yasmeen Zuber Ahmad Peerzade and her husband Zuber Ahmad Nazeer Ahmad Peerzade had filed a petition in the SC along similar lines. 
The irrepressible VP Zuhra, leader of Nisa, a progressive Muslim women’s organisation based in Kerala, also plans to approach the SC to appeal that all mosques must be made open for Muslim women to pray.

AIMPLB has said in its affidavit in the Supreme Court that it does not oppose the right of Muslim women to pray in mosques The women are clearly affirming here that they are equal citizens of India, and are categorically stating that their constitutional rights are being violated and that they seek justice from the judiciary. They have based their plea on the following articles of the Indian Constitution: Articles 14, 15, 21, 25 and 29, which constitute Part III of our fundamental rights, and lie at the very core of the concepts of non-discrimination and equality. 
 For the benefit of the readers, I have reproduced each of these articles, in detail. 
Article 14: Equality before the law. The state shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of laws within the territory of India. 
 It further goes on to state that – ‘Right to equality’ is recognised as one of the basic features of the Constitution, Indra Sawhney v Union of India, (2000)1 SCC 168. 
Article 15: Prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.


Article 21: Protection of life and personal liberty. No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. 


Article 25: Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion. Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to profess, practice and propagate religion. 
Article 29: Cultural and educational rights. Protection of interests of minorities. (1) Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same. 
To which this writer would also add Article 13, laws inconsistent with or in derogation of the fundamental rights. (1) All laws in force in the territory of India immediately before the commencement of this Constitution, insofar as they are inconsistent with the provisions of this Part, shall, to the extent of such inconsistency, be void. 
Though Article 13 is very explicit in its position, yet, there is a debate as to whether this article applies to ‘personal laws’, and on this matter I was left rather perplexed. 
Herein, I referred to a well-studied article, “Analysing the ambit and meaning of Article 13 – How did the judiciary interpret it?” In this well-informed and complex piece, Anamika Mishra (June 4, 2021) writes that “Article 13 reserves and preserves the fundamental rights of the citizens, protecting them from laws that may otherwise infringe upon our freedom.” 
In the State of Bombay v Narasu Appa Mali (1951), Justice MC Chagla, went on to differentiate between ‘laws’ and ‘personal laws’. Whereas in the Ahmedabad Women’s Action Group v Union of India (1997), the SC held that if religious laws are a part of the codified laws by the legislature, then the codification must be for the fundamental rights. Then in the case of the Indian Young Lawyers Association v The State of Kerala , also referred to as the Sabarimala judgment of 2018, the court went on to observe that, “As per Article 13 (3)(a) of the Constitution, ‘law’ includes custom or usage, and would have the force of law.” 
 In my humble opinion, Article 13 must apply to cover personal laws of all religions, without any exception. 
Clearly our founding mothers and fathers foresaw the right to equality as one of the foundational structures, or rather, at the very heart and soul of our Constitution, and thus of our modern liberal democracy. In the Quran, women are encouraged to pray in mosques. But as the male-dominated clergy and patriarchy took over Islam, the space for women continued to diminish

Fighting for empowerment

Let’s now discuss the positive messages and developments that have emerged from the struggles of the Muslim women, both in India and abroad.

Were women always barred from praying in mosques? Certainly not. Be it the Quran or the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, or the Hadiths, women were, in fact, encouraged to pray in the mosques. But as the male-dominated clergy and patriarchy took over Islam, the space for women continued to diminish, and the written and oral narrative began to change, consigning Muslim women to the margins of society.

Do refer to the following rather inspiring examples enumerated below.

The book, Women in Masjid – A Quest for Justice by Ziya Us Salam, goes on to say, “There was a time when Muslim women in India not only prayed in mosques, they even built them.”Salam talks about Razia Sultan, ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, who defied odds to claim the throne. Razia Sultan went to the Quwwatul Islam Masjid in Mehrauli to pray on a Friday, to cement her claim to the throne. This was the first masjid of North India, and opened the doors for other women to pray in the mosques as well.

Razia Sultan not only prayed in mosques, but also built a number of mosques. The fascinating book is replete with numerous examples of women’s empowerment during this period of Indian history.

The Begums of Bhopal who ruled over four generations, for over 107 years, and built more than 50 mosques in Bhopal itself, of which some were built by women who were not from the royal family. These mosques had separate areas for women, referred to as the zenana. Bhopal boasts of the largest mosque in Asia – Taj-ul-Masjid, which has always had a separate section for women, as does the Jama Masjid. Thanks to the begums, Bhopal is clearly the most welcoming city for Muslim women worshippers to this day.

Bhopal's historic Taj-ul-Masjid is the largest mosque in Asia. It has always had a separate section for women In the Parambu village in Tamil Nadu, Muslim women, fed up with the sexist attitudes of the male-dominated jamaats and their discriminatory and biased verdicts on family disputes, especially on divorce matters, decided to build their own mosque.


For this purpose they founded an organisation called Chaaya. Since the women were never allowed to enter the mosque, even in matters dealing with them, they finally decided to challenge the hegemony of the male-dominated system and build their own mosque. The members of Chaaya have acquired a plot of land for this purpose. 
The group, Muslim Women in Masjid, continues to fight for the right of Indian Muslim women to pray in mosques. Rashida Tadapdar, who is one of the leaders of this movement, has been going from mosque to mosque in Assam, but to no avail.


They recently organised a nationwide movement to offer Friday prayers across 15 cities, but the response from the conservative establishment was negative. But now, following positive developments in the SC, where the AIMPLB has finally acceded to their demands, the situation is finally beginning to turn around in their favour.


Similarly another initiative, Muslim Women Masjid Project, seeks to ‘normalise and visibilise Muslim women in mosques’ and conduct a campaign to push for more women-friendly mosques across India. 


Even as Indian Muslim women struggle for their basic right to pray in mosques, certain other women-led efforts have taken the issue even further. 


It was Amina Wudud, a remarkable Islamic scholar and an imam, who led a mixed congregation namaz in a mosque in New York in 2005. Here both women and men, without being segregated, stood behind Wudud.

Another woman, Suheyla El-Attar, gave the azaan, or the call to prayer. Wudud faced flak from both the late Yusuf al-Qaradawi, as well as from the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University of Egypt, Sayyid Tantawi, both of whom strongly disapproved of a woman leading the prayers.


In Turkey, a group called Women in Mosques Platform, that was founded in 2017, opposes the discrimination meted out to women. They also oppose the setting up of screens that hide female worshippers and make them feel that they have less right than men to pray in mosques. 


In Berlin, Seyran Hayes, a well-known women’s rights activist and lawyer, has founded the first ever ’liberal mosque’, where all are welcome. The Ibn Rush-Goethe Mosque was founded in 2017 and is based on non-segregation of the sexes, where both men and women pray side by side, as do gays, lesbians and transgender people. The mosque is also non-sectarian – Sunnis, Shias, Alevis, Sufis and the other sects all pray together. 


Here remarkably, women lead the prayers. Hayes has received support, but opposition as well, from conservatives and extremists. The concept of inclusive and liberal mosques has taken root in the US too.


I will end with this a quote from Indian American academic, Asra Q Nomani: “The voices of women have been silenced by centuries of man-made traditions, we’re saying, ‘No More!’ We are going to move from the back of the mosque to the front of the mosque.”