muslimahs in the masjid

They Say This Mosque is a Jewel, But How Would I Know?
By Joanne McEwan
Staff writer – IslamOnline
09/10/2002

Enter the mosque of “Al Dhahar Baybars Al Jashenqir” in Gammaliyya, Historic Cairo, and you will feel solitude, peace and refuge from the dust, overcrowded streets and a vociferous thoroughfare of Vespas. The courtyard has a breeze of mysterious origins. How in this hot summer does it happen to be a haven from the heat of the sun? Birds nest above in the cloisters and the odd stray cat lazes about in the shade. Some elderly men are reading the Qur’an as they wait for the prayer to begin. It is a serene mosque with modest decoration and without any gaudy embellishments. But as it is time for prayer I, as a woman, have to step behind this musty curtain and my view of this modest masterpiece is blocked. Its unique cool microclimate has now changed to a stale claustrophobic one.

Enter Masjid An-Nur: the largest and formally most prestigious mosque in Egypt. Its pastiche of Mamluk-style, Makkan minarets and Florentine domes pierce the skyline. It is famed for its splendor, ample space for worshippers and its magnificent chandelier. It is a chosen favorite for live, televised Friday prayers. Its registry office in the lower ground floor is popular for signing wedding contracts, and its construction was nearly a hit and miss when there was wrangle between erecting it and a massive flyover.

But again, as a woman, I have to settle with an upper floor a fraction of the space with a screen that practically blocks the view of the prayer hall. The chandelier is just a tingle of light faintly glimmering through the lattice screen. The ladies prayer hall is a climb of six flights of stairs if you can’t be bothered waiting for the elevator that only holds three people. Friday prayers are so packed that women are squeezed into the corridor in front of the toilets. In fact, in the prayer, I am on the verge of falling down the stairs.

This is a common site and experience with most mosques throughout the world. Today, women are sectioned off either behind a partition or in a separate room, often in damp basements – dungeons as they are often coined.

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Old design of the mosque of Madinah. From K. Cresswell, Early Muslim Architecture, Oxford, 1932/1940