Re: RE: ProgressiveMuslims digest, Vol 1 #360 - 3 msgs

salaam, I dislike the segregation for many reasons and in one case somewhat
welcomed it. First I hate not being able to go to a mosque and pray with my
husband or participate in group discussions. If it is a large mosque I hate
going in a separate door to a separate floor and eating with strange women
instead of my husband. What kind of celebration is that. Most of them speak
foreign languages to each other and ignore me. Or they talk throughout the
salat or khutbah. The small WD Mohammed groups mosques are not bad as they
are one space with women in the back. The worst experience was in St. Martin
when I spotted a new mosque, got excited, dragged my spouse to jumaah and
was told they had no separate entrance or room for women and was put for an
hour in the living quarters alone. A few years later women did go in the
same entrance and were behind a small curtain but there were hundreds of men
and ten women so I really didn't mind the separation. I would have been
uncomfortable in a sea of men. Tied for worst was a small mosque in an old
Southern Baptist church, newly established by Turkish Sufis. Again, I was
thrilled to find it near my kids homes. We went during Ramadan, expecting to
participate in an iftar, only to find the women's door locked(front entrance
back of mosque) and had to enter with knocking at the back of the building.
Only one guy spoke English, and they put me alone in the women's section
behind a solid curtain. For the iftar they put me alone in a room and
brought to me small amounts of food via my husband. No women from their
families go there. I could not use the bathroom since it was in the house
behind the front of the mosque and I would have to go through the men doing
tarawiy prayers to get to it. A horrible experience and so stupid. My
favorite experience was at the PMN conference and prior meeting in DC when
we all prayed in one line. It felt so good and Saddiyah lead the prayer once
or twice. I felt the unity. Eileen
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kate Ahmad" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2004 11:36 PM
Subject: RE: [Progressivemuslimsnetwork] RE: ProgressiveMuslims digest, Vol
1 #360 - 3 msgs


> Salaam,
> I return your question back to you?  Why should men and women not pray
> together?
> That is my point - freedom.  If you are so concerned about fitna - then
> remove yourself from the main body of people, but dont force people to be
> apart.  Part of the joy of group salat is standing next to fellow muslims.
> I know that I am often on my own down the back when I go to the mosque for
> Isha, and it is disheartening.  When I pray I dont think of how good
looking
> the man next to me is - and no good muslim would - so let us control
> ourselves rather than creating situations where we dont have to.  If there
> are no tests in life - then we can never improve as people.  And while
overt
> temptation is silly, there shouldn't be a problem with us lowering our
gaze
> around fully clothed men and women in a mosque,
>
> Wa'salaam
> Aisha
>
>
> >From: "Yamin Bismilla" <[email protected]>
> >Reply-To: [email protected]
> >To: <[email protected]>
> >Subject: [Progressivemuslimsnetwork] RE: ProgressiveMuslims digest, Vol 1
> >#360 - 3 msgs
> >Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 22:07:21 -0500
> >
> >Slaams,
> >
> >Well while I'm sure some mosques have a 'elite' I think a big part of
islam
> >is recognizing our faults.  Why should men and women pray together?
Why
> >not pray separately but equally?  Why would a woman feel inferior praying
> >alongside her fellow woman instead of with men?  Why shouldn't women lead
> >their own prayers with women as the prayer leaders?
> >
> >I'm sorry to say, but believing that you can totally remove sexuality
from
> >any person(man or woman) is ridiculous.  No person can be without
> >sexuality,
> >just as people cannot be without some measure of happiness, honour,
> >sadness...We all have wants and needs and recognizing that is crucial for
> >all.
> >
> >This is not to say anything of the hijab/burka/niqaab or any such things,
> >but I'm speaking specifically of the segregated mosque situation.
> >
> >Slaam,
> >
> >Yameen
> >
> >
> > > Salaam,
> > > I agree, and I also thought the letter was great.  Being in
> > > australia I cant
> > > offer my support in person, but I would like to in some other form.
> > > Do you think muslims over sexualise the female body, or perhaps its
> > > something else?  To me, it seems a lot about keeping women in a less
> > > powerful position than men.  Everything from hijab,
> > > segragated mosques, the
> > > lack of female imams etc - they all add up to make women inferior and
> > > submissive to the will of men.  The hijab, progressing to the
> > > niqaab and
> > > burqa really serves to depersonalise women - and women can never be
> > > prominent in society if they have no identity.  So - if you
> > > cover your wife,
> > > and make her stay at home, or in a back room at the mosque -
> > > you can be sure
> > > she will never have any influence on the outside world.
> > > Thats why you see 2
> > > year old girls in hijab - its not a sexual thing - its a power thing.
> > > The whole situation is ridiculous.......... why have muslims
> > > come to this
> > > point where most of our effort go into rabidly enforcing
> > > rules to keep women
> > > out of public life, in fear that they might incite the
> > > dreaded fitna!!!?
> > > Insha'allah women will one day pray with men, and maybe even
> > > behind a female
> > > imam one day - that would be fantastic!!!
> > >
> > > Wa'salaam
> > > aisha
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >ProgressiveMuslims mailing list
> >[email protected]
> >http://willo.nitric.co.za/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/progressivemuslims
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Hot chart ringtones and polyphonics. Go to
> http://ninemsn.com.au/mobilemania/default.asp
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> ProgressiveMuslims mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://willo.nitric.co.za/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/progressivemuslims
>