From the Times of India
Women break tradition with namaz
16 Oct 2007
PUNE: In a city where Mahatma Phule and Maharishi Karve first sparked off the trend of women’s education, Muslim women offering ‘namaz’ together for the first time openly on the occasion of Ramzan Eid on Sunday came as no surprise.
In an initiative by the Kerala Muslim Jamath, almost 70 women, including 20 teenagers, gathered at the Pune Kerala Muslim Jamat (PKMJ) Hall at Nana Peth here for the purpose.
Since this is a widely followed practice in Kerala, the women’s cell of the PKMJ felt that this should be implemented in Pune as well.
“In Mecca and Medina as well, women read the namaz in mosques, and the Quran also doesn’t stop women from that. So we put forth our request to the PKMJ executive committee and it was approved,” said Sulu Gafoor, women’s president of the PKMJ.
Considering that this was the first time that such an initiative was held in the city, the attendance was more than expected, said Gafoor.
According to C Shamsuddin, executive chairman of the PKMJ, with a population of 2,000 to 3,000, we are a very small community in Pune. “We have almost 500 member families of the PKMJ here. That makes it all the more important for us to generate new ideas to keep the community close-knit and what better way than to bring women to the forefront?”
Renowned poetess Kamala Suraiyya also hailed the initiative by sending out a letter of appreciation to the women who participated in the namaz.
Abeda Inamdar, vice-president of Maharashtra Cosmopilitan Education Society, said, “Fifty per cent of society constitutes of women, so if they come together in a holy or a social atmosphere to discuss their issues, it will lead to the development of the community in particular and the nation in general.”
The PKMJ is now trying to have women offer namaz along with men on Fridays.
1 comment:
"Read the namaz" is a literal translation of the Urdu phrase--in English we would say "pray the salat."
Years ago when I first traveled to India, I could never get used to how women are excluded from mosques. It forms part of a pattern by which Muslim women are absolutely excluded from all space wherever the mullas hold sway.
For several years now, I have been tracking the bold, brave activism of sisters in India who are reclaiming their Allah-given right to mosque space and succeeding at it. My heart needs news stories like this to keep my faith in the ability of the Muslim world to evolve toward its undeveloped potential.
Here in Amrika while we push the women-imam movement, we keep in mind our sisters in South Asia who can't even be ordinary worshipers let alone imams. Du`a's and blessings for them as they liberate themselves. They inspire and stir my heart more than anything we're doing here.
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