What is the best way to affect change in a community under siege?
As a believer in the greater inclusion of women in Muslim institutions in America, I have long been supportive of efforts to bring attention to gender inequity in mosque life. The reality of this aspect of our community became impossible to ignore when, in the course of my work in promoting transparency of Muslim institutions through use of the Internet, I found that a substantial number of comments at my mosque review site salatomatic.com were written by women detailing the indignities they had faced at neighborhood mosques. The stories — ranging from exclusion from board politics to separate (and unequal) prayer spaces — were a stinging indictment of the larger community’s ignorance of, or inability to rectify, a situation which I believe has no religious sanction within Islam.
A widely publicized example of this can be seen in THE MOSQUE IN MORGANTOWN, which details the efforts of journalist Asra Nomani to forcibly level the playing field at her local mosque. Ms. Nomani, whom I consider a friend and colleague, deserves credit for bringing light to this issue and calling on Muslims to rise to a higher standard when it comes to the treatment of women in community circles. It is partly in response to her very visible actions that mainstream Muslim leaders, including ISNA President Ingrid Mattson, put forth measures to educate Muslim communities of the responsibility they had, both under the law and Islamic teachings, to create a safe and equal space for women in mosque life.
But while there is widespread agreement among Muslim leaders for the need for change, what is the best way to create it? As THE MOSQUE IN MORGANTOWN illustrates, confrontational action can sometimes be useful in jarring the conscience of a community. However, it can also shut down dialogue and cooperation if improperly applied. To know when or if such measures can be effective, one must first understand the history of mosque life in America, both at a national and a local level.
Since the events of 9/11, many mosques in the US have felt under siege. As the most visible representations of Islam in America, mosques have been host to protest marches, media spotlights, vandalism, and even violence. The resulting defensive postures by mosque patrons leave them particularly sensitive to confrontation, even when coming from within and with a message that otherwise would garner wide acceptance within the community.
Also, mosques differ widely in their accommodation of women. Some mosques with large concentrations of immigrants often bring with them imported cultural norms regarding women. Other mosques, particularly those with African-American and Sufi congregations, are more egalitarian in nature. And to the extent that American-born or raised Muslims begin to take their place in mosque leadership, mosque policies regarding women have begun to mirror those of other American institutions.
During Ms. Nomani’s journey across America to confront gender inequity in a manner similar to her actions in Morgantown, she made a stop at the mosque that I grew up in, the Islamic Center of Southern California. The Los Angeles Times article that covered the incident carried a photo of Nomani refusing to move as directed by Ms. Azmeralda Alfi, one of the matriarchs of the mosque.
Azmeralda Alfi
(Francine Orr/LATimes)
For those who are not familiar with this institution, the Islamic Center of Southern California has been one of the most gender-inclusive major mosques in the United States. Its Board of Directors has had women on it for over 30 years, at times making up a majority of the leadership. Women have been encouraged to participate in all areas of mosque life regardless of their personal dress code. Ms. Alfi in particular is one of the mosque’s most active and effective leaders, directing policy at the highest of levels, founding one of the nation’s most progressive and egalitarian Islamic schools, and inspiring a whole generation of Muslim women to believe that mosque leadership is their right.
While I was growing up, women prayed inside the main hall of the mosque at all times, even for Friday prayers. As the Friday prayers got more crowded, many women began praying in an area behind the main hall, but open to it. At all other times, however, women pray in the main hall and “own” it every bit as much as the men. At no time was the main hall ever designated “the men’s area,” and there is no ideological disparaging of women. In fact, the crowding at Friday prayer has resulted in the overflow of men going into the parking lot to pray rather than the women—probably one of the few mosques in the country where this happens. The Islamic Center of Southern California isn’t a mosque to be protested, but encouraged as a model.
Confrontation is a powerful and sometimes necessary tactic that is appropriate when a social problem is particularly entrenched. In other cases, such as with Ms. Alfi at my hometown mosque, it serves to alienate potential allies and create the perception that Asra’s cause is a fringe one, when it is most certainly not. Change is best affected when it is done with care and nuance, even when the issue carries a sense of urgency. And what’s right for Morgantown may not be right for your local mosque.
As editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com, Shahed Amanullah is an award-winning journalist who writes regularly about the challenges and opportunities facing Islam in America. Shahed is also a contributor to Progressive Revival, a new Beliefnet.com blog. Named one of ten “Muslim visionaries” by Islamica Magazine, Shahed’s work and writings have been featured in magazines (Newsweek), newspapers (New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune), radio shows (BBC News, National Public Radio), and major websites (BeliefNet.com). Television appearances include Nightline with Ted Koppel, CNN Headline News, the Today Show, and Hannity & Colmes.
Tags: Asra Nomani, gender and Islam, Ingrid Mattson, Islamic Center of Southern California, Islamic Society of North America, social change methods
Feminism and Islam
The Real Feminist Leaders
by Kari Ansari
Islam teaches that men and women are equally capable of attaining the highest level of spirituality, and that both will be judged on equal terms by God. The teachings of Islam protect and defend the rights of a woman; she has the right to demand dignified treatment by all people — men included. She has the right to voice her opinion, and the value of that opinion is judged upon the same merits and criteria afforded to men.
IN THE FILM:
Woman-led Prayer
When men or women pray in jammat (group prayer service), they stand in a straight line, and squeeze together tightly enough to touch shoulder to shoulder. This unity in worship — following the person leading the prayer — allows the individual to maintain his or her focus on the Divine. One would be hard-pressed to find a Muslim woman who would prefer to prostrate in prayer beside, behind, or in front of a man she does not know. With this in mind, Ms. Nomani’s book tour and campaign to integrate the prayer areas in America’s mosques is self-serving at best, and divisive at worst.
It would be disingenuous to state that women are not marginalized in some American Muslim communities. This is most often due to cultural attitudes and behaviors brought over from patriarchal societies abroad, not from the teachings of Islam. However, with that said, I believe there are just as many American Muslim mosques that have grown out of their ethnic roots to establish a more just and dynamic community that embraces the role of women in the leadership of the mosque and the greater society.
The American Muslim faith community has many female leaders. Dr. Ingrid Mattson, the current President of the Islamic Society of North America is a good example of a practicing Muslim woman who has been elected by her peers to lead the largest Muslim organization in America. She did not get to her position of leadership and scholarship through media hype or press conferences. Rather, she gained the respect of Muslim men and women through her intellect, wisdom and quiet perseverance to change what she and most American Muslim women see as problems within the incredibly diverse and relatively young faith community in the United States. Hadia Mubarak, (briefly shown speaking in the film) routinely defends the rights of women in Muslim society, often to the chagrin of the established Muslim leadership. Hadia is far more effective in bringing about change of attitudes through her erudition and experience than she would be by sensationalizing and scandalizing the people she seeks to enlighten. The film also depicts another dynamic Muslim leader, Edina Lekovic. Ms. Lekovic works tirelessly for the American Muslim community through her work with the Muslim Public Affairs Council, and she does so without labeling or humiliating the Muslim community she serves.
The above-mentioned women are examples of leadership displayed all across the country by Muslim women of every ethnicity, age, and socio-economic background; we just don’t see them on television, or the New York Times Bestseller List. They are women who are changing the status quo at American mosques; they are working behind the scenes to establish domestic violence support services for immigrant women, they are running food pantries in the inner cities, they are teachers in Islamic schools–teaching tolerance and love for their neighbor. These Muslim women are homemakers and engineers, they are doctors and lawyers, and they are bankers and nurses. These women do not seek notoriety or fame; instead they are integrating into a society that often misunderstands them, and even sometimes pities them unnecessarily. Still, Muslim American women persevere, having faith in God and faith in the future of the American Muslim society as it matures and grows.
Kari Ansari is Editor-in-Chief of America’s Muslim Family Magazine, based in Chicago. Mrs. Ansari was born and educated in the United States, and is a convert to Islam. She has been an active member of the Muslim community for a dozen years, working toward the positive inclusion of Muslims into the mainstream American society. Her four children range in age from 20 to 7. She and her husband, Ahmed, a native of India, live in the suburbs of Chicago, IL, with their children.
Tags: Edina Lekovic, gender and Islam, Hadia Mubarak, Ingrid Mattson, woman-led prayer
