In US, Muslim women challenge mosque separation ~ led by convert

Yeah.. we should have rights ~ too!! I can also hear the crickets! Or the police in this case.

Here is a Muslim convert who rejects her second class status in the mosque. Bout on the other hand Muslim women would argue until they are blue in the face to tell you that they are free. That the Koran says nothing about women's subjugation.

A couple of points to demonstrate the folly of the Muslim woman's argument: 

In an Islamic court a woman's word is worth half of any man's. To prove rape four women witnesses are needed.

A man has a right to admonish and even beat his wife ~ like a child ~ if she gets out of line in his opinion.

Sura 4:24

And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess. It is a decree of Allah for you. ... Lo! Allah is ever Knower, Wise. 

Here is the Hadith ~ or Prophet's sayings that inspired Verse 4:24

Sunan Abu Dawud, vol.2 no.2150 p.577: Abu Sai’d al-Khudri said:

The Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) sent a military expedition to Awtas on the occasion of the battle of Hunain. They met their enemy and fought with them. They defeated them and took them captives. Some of the Companions of the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) were reluctant to have intercourse with the female captives in the presence of their husbands who were unbelievers. So Allah, the Exalted, sent down the Qur’anic verse: (Sura 4:24) "And all married women (are forbidden) unto you except those captives whom your right hands possess."

Here is the real reason women are not allowed in ~

Virtues of the Prayer Hall (Sutra of the Musalla)

Narrated 'Aisha:

The things which annual prayer were mentioned before me (and those were): a dog, a donkey and a woman. I said, "You [Muhammad] have compared us (women) to donkeys and dogs. Hadith

I am not sure how one can extract from these few point ~ as there are more ~ that women in Islam are placed on anywhere near an equal footing as man.

And here is Aisha:

‘A’ishah said : I used to play with dolls. Sometimes the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) entered upon me when the girls were with me. When he came in, they went out, and when he went out, they came in." Sunan Abu Dawud vol.3 no.4913 p.1373

You have to over look a lot to join Islam today ~ and also to remain in there. Its either ignorance or wilful blindness or you believe that it is possible ~ like this Muslim convert ~ to transform this thing into something that can be useful today. But what is pretty obvious is that women's rights is inherently absent from the start of the Islamic religion.

It is better to say Islam doesn't respect women ~ but we think we can change this.


WASHINGTON (AFP) – A group of Muslim women risked arrest as they sought to pray in the main area of the Islamic Center of Washington -- an area ordinarily reserved exclusively for men.

"Wooden barriers have to be taken down and women have to be allowed to join, to pray behind the men in the main praying area. That's our request," said Fatima Thompson on Sunday, an American Muslim who converted to the faith 18 years ago.

"We are against gender segregation, against the fact that women are put aside or in a totally different room at the mosque," added Thompson, who led the group of female protestors, all self-identified progressive Muslims.

The Sunday protest was the second time women have sought to share the main prayer area at the mosque in Washington DC, after a group of twenty women first tried in February.

"The general issue we are pushing is gender segregation and the ramifications it fosters. It's not healthy, and not reflective of our society here. It's very reflective of very restrictive, ultra orthodox societies," Thompson added.

Their hair covered with headscarves, the group of six women entered the mosque's prayer area via the main door usually reserved for men and walked through to the room where around 20 men had already arrived.

Women and children ordinarily enter the Washington mosque, located in the city's embassy district, through a small door hidden behind a screen.

"If you are black in this country they can't tell you to sit in a corner but if you are a woman they can," said Asra Nomani, a Muslim feminist who has participated in similar protests elsewhere in the United States.

The imam presiding over the prayer interrupted proceedings to announce by microphone: "We are going to wait, because some people came to disturb the prayer, until the police come and take care of this issue."

Within minutes, three police officers arrived and told the women to leave or face arrest.