Women Offer Prayers in a Mosque in Purnia

On November 4th, in the Seemanchal region of Bihar, three women from the Muslim community performed the Friday prayer (Jumma Namaz) in a mosque as part of a campaign in Purnia district.

Although it should not be news for women to pray in mosques because Islam permits women to pray in mosques, it is still a new concept in small towns and villages. In most places, there is no separate space for women in mosques, and even if there is, women are often not aware of it.

Currently, there is a campaign called “Women in Masjid” running on social media, which aims to identify women-friendly mosques in different cities of the country and encourage women to pray in them.

Under this campaign, women performed the Friday prayer in more than 15 cities across the country. In Purnia, Bihar, an 18-year-old student named Tahira Zahra led this campaign and performed the prayer with three other women at the Raja Masjid in the city on Friday.

“We attempted on November 4th to have women in different districts perform the Jumma Namaz at the same time in 15 cities of the country, and our efforts were quite successful,” said Tahira Zahra.

Regarding opposition to this campaign, when asked, Tahira said, “We couldn’t carry out this work on a large scale in Seemanchal. Only one mosque allowed the prayer, and even then, there were no significant obstacles after obtaining permission.”

Part of the “Women in Masjid” campaign

To initiate this movement of women going to mosques, a community called “Muslim Women Study Circle” was formed, and one part of it is the “Women in Masjid” campaign, which was started by a PhD student named Saniya Maryam. Saniya believes that the mosque is the house of Allah, and women have as much right as men to it.

“For about two years, we have been engaging in various discussions within the ‘Muslim Women Study Circle,’ where we discuss both social sciences and religion. We believe that women also have the right to mosques. If the mosque is the house of Allah, then it should be accessible to women as much as it is to children, men, or the disabled. This is happening in almost every country except India, where there is already limited space for men in mosques, let alone women,” said Saniya Maryam.

Saniya mentions that under this campaign, women have started going to mosques and performing prayers in 15 cities across the country. Only in Nagaland, it was not possible because there were no female-friendly mosques available.

“However, we have observed that we received considerable support from society in the other 15 states. Many mosques have separate spaces for women, but due to a lack of awareness, women are unable to reach there. Therefore, there was even a consideration to close the spaces designated for women in some mosques because women were not coming,” Saniya said.

Saniya emphasizes that through this campaign, they do not seek controversy or create a movement. They are merely trying to reconnect with their roots and, in this effort, identify welcoming mosques and urge women to visit and pray in them.