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- First all-women mosque opens in USA
The first women-only mosque in the United States opened its doors in Los Angeles on Friday with an inaugural jummah, or prayer, by Edina Lekovic of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. The mosque is housed in a century-old multifaith worship space near downtown. Originally built as a synagogue, Pico-Union is now the home of the nonprofit Women’s Mosque as well as several Jewish and Christian groups.
Even as the boards of directors at many American mosques are becoming more welcoming to women, the relegation of Muslim women to basements, balconies and other less desirable spaces in their houses of worship remains a common practice. That second-class status is the main force behind the founding of the Women’s Mosque.
While a mosque solely for women is a novelty among the roughly 2,000 mosques in the United States, mosques for each sex have long flourished in other parts of the world. The young American Muslims behind the Women’s Mosque are working to counter cultural practices that marginalize women, by linking their effort with established Muslim traditions and helping the disaffected reconnect with their faith. There is no requirement that worshipers wear headscarves, welcoming women “in the type and style of clothing in which they feel comfortable.”
The desire to nurture that faith is what motivates Sana Muttalib, an attorney specializing in international anticorruption law and a co-president of the Women’s Mosque, along with M. Hasna Maznavi, a comedy writer and director.
She said she began to rekindle her faith in law school, where she took a constitutional law class and an Islamic law class in the same term. “I reconnected with the Quran and realized what was there and wasn’t there in terms of empowering women,” she said. “Before I die, I wanted to help the real Islam be lived in society. I had been looking for a way to do that.”
The Women’s Mosque of America does not require women to wear headscarves within its walls.Diana Crandall
In an interview the day before she delivered her khutba, or sermon, at the opening of the Women’s Mosque, Lekovic described a similar aspiration.
“In mainstream mosques, women’s issues are usually a sideshow,” she said. “Our intention is to help women read the Quran and interpret the scriptures and tradition for themselves. We’re doing this with an eye on empowering women to serve the broader Muslim community.”
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