Mosque’s curtain worries secularists
A
red polyester curtain that once separated men from women during prayers at the
A janitor took the curtain down in October 2004 during renovations of the
prayer hall. The 6-foot-tall curtain was misplaced and never returned. Some
Muslim women lauded the removal as a chance to participate more equally. Other
women left the mosque, unable to fathom praying in the presence of men.
But after an 18-month debate that may not be quite done, a curtain of the
original size replaced a smaller partition on Sunday, becoming a symbol of the
struggle in the American Muslim community between tradition and modernity. Some
say the sudden move signals an ideological shift on the horizon for the
historically multicultural and progressive mosque.
The ceremonial curtain-raising followed an emotional two-hour meeting at which
board members instructed the president to work over the next month with the
women of the mosque to permanently resolve the conflict.
"There is a verse in the [Koran], Chapter 33, in which it is said to the
Muslims when they ask anything of the prophet's wife they should ask behind the
curtain," said Dr. Abdul Sattar, the mosque's
newly elected president, who supports barriers to separate men and women.
"This is not only something that we are making up. It is in the holy
book."
But even Islamic legal experts--including three scholars commissioned by the
"One of the principles of Shariah law is you
have to be conscious of the context," said Inamul
Haq, adjunct professor of Islam at
When the case of the missing curtain began, Uzma Sattar, the president's daughter, said women immediately
hung saris and other pieces of fabric to block men's stares.
The curtain was replaced last year by a 3-foot-tall fabric partition. Earlier
this month, three scholars submitted written opinions on what kind of barrier,
if any, was required by the Shariah. One scholar was
Imam Jamal Said of the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview.
"My personal advice to the leadership of the MCC is to let the sisters
decide for themselves what would make them more comfortable in their
worship," Said wrote. "If they prefer a divider or curtain for their
privacy or comfort, then give them this freedom."
On Sunday, a band of believers sealed off the back corner of their prayer hall
with a 6-foot-tall sheet of pink fabric in time for the fourth prayer of the
day.
Khaled Abou El Fadl, a leading Islamic jurist and professor of law at
UCLA, said these kinds of squabbles, which seem trivial on the surface, emerge
in communities where leaders feel threatened by modernity.
"In the case of Muslim men--especially Muslim men--that feel Islam is
under siege and the West has invaded Muslim culture in every other way, the way
they express this anxiety is by being restrictive toward women, making sure
women are not going to become more Americanized," he said.
That perceived threat escalated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Abou El Fadl said, when many
Muslim women began to assert their autonomy and question the origin of common
practices that limited their participation in the community.
"We are seeing more Muslim women reading the Koran, reading the tradition
of the Prophet, reading the original teachings of Islam and coming back and
challenging the role defined for them," Abou El Fadl said. "A lot of these women were born Muslim, but
grew up in the
Mary Ali, one of five women on the center's board of directors, opposed putting
up the curtain. She said the mosque has always been a progressive place to
worship and only since the recent mosque election has its membership exhibited
conservative leanings.
Over the years, the 40-year-old mosque has served as the house of worship for
Indians, Pakistanis, Arabs, people from
But Uzma Sattar said the
debate has nothing to do with progressive vs. conservative. It has to do with a
woman's right to worship the way she wants.
In the time of the Prophet Muhammad, women did not wear cosmetics or perfume to
the mosque, and they covered themselves from head to toe, said Abdul Sattar, who is from
Whether the Koran calls for a curtain is still debated, but it does address
modesty in front of the opposite sex, scholars say. Because Muslim prayer is a
physical exercise that requires bowing, kneeling and prostrating, some prefer
seclusion.
"It's about having your personal, private space where you can connect with
God," Uzma Sattar
said. "In my mind, it's completely in line with feminism to say women
deserve their own space. The men took the curtain down. The women are standing
up and claiming space for themselves."
"We want the curtain. We want our privacy," said Noor Aliuddin, 49, who removes her hijab, or head covering, when
she prays. "We have to open our face to God."
But at a time when American Muslims face discrimination, poverty and injustice,
Shama Aleemuddin said she
cannot comprehend why her congregation is consumed by a curtain. She is on the
mosque's board.
She said the center, which occupies a converted theater, must focus on building
a new mosque, facing down anti-Muslim bias and hiring a new imam. The curtain
debate has drained time and energy from those issues that matter.
"It seems that everyone is obsessed with the curtain issue," she
said. "It's a shame."
Abou El Fadl said leaders
should focus on what will move Islam forward in the 21st Century, not decisions
they really have no right to make.
"If it's God's law," Abou El Fadl said, "then it shouldn't be up to people to
decide."
Mosque's curtain rises again
After much debate, sexes pray apart
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune
staff reporter
Published
April 24, 2006 (