Mangalore: Women's Jum'a prayer issue causes flutter on Masjidunnoor premises

Mangalore, September 17: Masjidun Noor, which created history by arranging a place for women inside the Masjid for the first time in the city over two decades ago, witnessed a strange Jum'a on Friday, September 17.

As Moulana Abdul Azeez, the Khateeb of the Masjid delivered a meaningful sermon emphasising unity among Muslim Ummmah and calling upon the believers to strive towards promoting mutual understanding, two groups of people were engaged in a scuffle inside the Masjid premises.

Quarrel broke out between two groups – with one going to the extent of pushing the women who entered the Masjid in order to offer Salah, and the other, who attempted to defend the womenfolk. Fortunately, both parties realised a few minutes later that it was a place of worship and they had to prepare for Salah.

Background

According to the management of the Masjid, the mosque does not belong to any particular group of Muslims but people of all groups have been offering Salah in the mosque without any problem since its establishment in 1988.

In fact it was the first Masjid in the city of Mangalore, which set aside a separate place for women to offer Namaz. Every day from Fajr to Isha women are allowed to offer Namaz in the Masjid without any problem.

But the management of the Masjid had restricted women's participation in Friday's special prayer because of the lack of space for worshippers.

“We do not have any objection on women entering the Masjid or offering Salah. But how can we give an entire room that could accommodate 200 men to hardly 15 women for Jum'a Namaz? Moreover there is no adequate place for men who come for prayers on Friday in the Masjid”, said one of the trustees of the Masjid on condition of anonymity.

To the court:

Questioning the Masjid management for the restriction on them, 11 women had approached the High Court of Karnataka recently and appealed to direct the management committee of the Masjid to allow them to offer Friday prayer.

According to the management committee, the High Court has asked them to allow these 11 women to offer Eid-ul-Fitr and Jum'a prayers last Friday, September 10. However the court did not issue an ultimate verdict in this issue.

But this Friday, when the same group of women entered the Masjid along with their male family members and supporters, they found no place for them inside, as men had already occupied the room.

When the women's supporters asked the men inside the women's section to go out, they refused. A scuffle broke out between the two groups at this juncture in front of media persons and police helplessly stood watching the scene hesitating to enter into the Masjid.

Finally women offered the Jum'a Salah outside the room, which had already been occupied by men.

The management committee of the Masjid however said that it was “not a serious issue”.

“I don't understand why these people quarrel for silly reasons. If there is no place for women, let them arrange place for them rather than spoiling the peaceful atmosphere. I am offering Namaz in this Masjid since 1995 and my wife also offers Namaz in the Masjid. But we have never witnessed such a strange development in this Masjid”, said one of the worshippers in the Masjid.

Arif Mulki, a resident of Mangalore held the management committee responsible for the entire issue. “Normally I offer prayer in this Masjid and I know that apart from Jum'a women are allowed for every Salah here. But it was the responsibility of management to arrange place for women this week as the court had asked them to allow women”, he said.

Umer UH, a social activist said that this Masjid is under a Trust and not under any sect or group. The management of the Masjid has taken a decision to not allow women for Jum'a Salah only because of the lack of place and not because of any differences. If they reserved a 250-people capacity room for a dozen women, those 250 people have to stand outside the Masjid, he opined.