Busting assumption of a section of people, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Wednesday clarified before Supreme Court that there is no prohibition on Muslim women offering Namaz or congregational prayers in mosques.
The AIMBLB, however, said “free intermixing of genders in the same line or common space is not in conformity with the position prescribed in Islam”.
In an affidavit, the apex Muslim forum said: “The Board is consistent with its opinion in terms of Islamic texts that there is no prohibition on Muslim women entering Mosques and offering Namaz or congregational prayers. However, free intermixing of genders in the same line or common space is not in conformity with the position prescribed in Islam and that needs to be taken care of by segregation of space within the premises by the management committee, if possible.”
The board has filed its response to the second petition before SC seeking direction for Muslim women’s entry into Mosques for offering Namaz, according to the Outlook.
It also said that “the example cited by the petitioner in the recent petition of Tawaf in Mecca around the Blackstone to build upon the argument of Namazis misleading vis-à-visthe offering of Namaz”.
The board told SC: “Even in Mecca in all the mosques around the Holy Kaaba, the practice of segregation of men and women is in place. Similarly, depending upon the facility available in the existing mosques in India, the management committees are free to create such segregated spaces for women if the existing building/space permits such arrangements”.
The Muslim body also suggested the Muslim community at large to construct appropriate space for women. Through its response in SC, it said that “wherever new mosques are constructed, this issue of making appropriate space for women be kept in mind.”
It is to be noted that the women used to offer namaz in mosques during early age of Islam till second caliph Hazrat Umar temporarily stopped their entry because some issues. Later on, Muslim world women resume prayers in mosques. However, Islam has not made it obligatory for women to offer namaz in mosques.
-INDIA NEWS STREAM