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WOMEN’S ENTRY INTO MOSQUES AND MAUSOLEUMS – IS IT PROGIBITED?
Asghar Ali Engineer
Recently a women’s organization in Mumbai Akhil Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Association conducted a survey and found out that in 18 of the sufi Mausoleums women are prohibited from entering Astana i.e. sanctum and sanctorum in which they were previously allowed. Main among these mausoleums is Haji Ali Dargah which is highly popular among non-Muslims as well. Hundreds of non-Muslims,
particularly Hindus, can be seen visiting this Dargah.
The report was released to the press and it caused furor. It became hot topic of discussion attracting full media attention. Number of news papers and T.V. channels began focusing on this issue as to why women cannot entre mausoleums and mosques. Is it really prohibited? And if so why and on whose authority? In fact for everything Muslim maulavais and maulanas rush to consult hadith and if something is stated in hadith follow it blindly.
They do not want to understand that even if hadith is authentic it has a context and the Prophet (PBUH) said something in a particular context. Our Ulama simply quote hadith completely ignoring the context. It was for this reason that t6he Prophet (PBUH) discouraged people from collecting hadith as he knew it will cause lot of problems after his death. Our Ulama take pride in being aslaf parast (i.e. worshipping ancestors) rather than Khuda parast (i.e. worshipping Allah)
Naturally when press questioned some Ulama about prohibiting women from entering dargahs they promptly quoted hadith and said since it is prohibited in hadith they cannot be allowed. In fact they were not even honest enough to state that the whole issue is controversial. Some quote hadith from Imam Bukhari saying it is prohibited while some quote hadith from Muslim saying it was prohibited but later on the Prophet (PBUH) allowed it.
In fact why the Holy Prophet had prohibited women from entering qabristan (cemetery) was that some women whose loved ones were buried there would embrace the grave and wail and cry and beat their breasts/ Prophet (PBUH) always discouraged weeping and wailing and breast beating and encouraged
dignified way of grieving. Women were found doing it more than men and hence he discouraged women from entering cemeteries but later allowed it if they visit graves in dignified way.
But by many Ulama (aslaf) thought women are weak and unable to control themselves ignored this later relation by the Prophet (PNUH) and treated it as absolute ban and enforce it wqhere3ver they can. The Prophet was very humane and had asked women to avoid going to cemetery out of human consideration but his followers (some of them) treated it as absolute ban. There is no other reason for banning entry of women to cemeteries and in fact they are as much entitled to enter cemetery and visit the graves of their loved ones as men.
One Maulana even went to the extent of saying that women’s entry to dargahs is banned as when women enter dargah they (sufi saints buried there) see them naked. There is limit to absurdity of belief.
The saints who strictly controlled their bodily instincts during their lifetime would give in to these temptation and would be disturbed by these women after their death. Religion is something noble and transcendent and should not be stretched to such absurd length. It shows the intellectual level of these followers.
In fact instead of raising ourselves to the high moral level of religion we drag it down to our lowly thinking. I need not repeat it here that Qur’an has accorded equal dignity to women. In South Asia women are not allowed to enter mosques whereas they are allowed everywhere else including the holiest mosque Ka’bah where men and women pray together and circumambulate together (going around Ka’bah called tawaf)
The Prophet clearly has said that do not stop Allah’s female servants from entering into His House and yet our Ulama do not allow them to enter mosques. Is it not because of their misogyny? I asked one maulana is Friday prayer obligatory for women and should they not pray in mosques on Friday as men do? He said yes but then who will cook afternoon mean if they go to mosque? The Maulana did not even know that under maintenance it is for men to serve cooked food to his wife (see Fatawa Alamgiri). Fatawa Alamgiri clearly says in one of the fatwas that it is for men to either serve cooked food to his wife or pay for a cook’s charges.
Qur’an, through its teachings tried to take us beyond the given society so that women could realize their full potential and dignity but men, with their hardened patriarchal attitudes were not ready to accept gender quality as it hurt their male ego and hence through various means managed to lower her dignity to pre-Islamic level. The Islamic world still has bad record as far as women’s rights are concerned. If they are serious about Islamic teachings it is high time they raise themselves to the level of Qur’an and accord women what is due to them.
Qur’an and hadith both lay great stress on acquiring knowledge (ilm) and yet our Ulama have issued fatwas not to teach women beyond what is necessary to perform their obligatory rituals like prayers etc. It is matter of great shame and earlier we remove this spot of shame better it is for us. Women’s education and high status is sine qua non for our progress.
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