Leading Islamic Groups Call for Women’s Rights in the Mosque

June 29, 2005

Source: The Council on American-Islamic Relations

http://www.cair-net.org/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=37084&theType=NB

On June 29, 2005 The Council on American-Islamic Relations reported, "Leading Islamic groups in North America are telling their followers that it's time to make mosques more open to women, to return to an equality that marked the origins of the faith... [A new] booklet suggests women should be allowed to pray with men in the main hall of a mosque in a designated area that is not partitioned off and be given a safe and appropriate entrance to the buildings. It also suggests that at least two women be on every mosque governing board... Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Washington-based lobbying group that published the booklet and is distributing it, said women should be able to use the publication to force changes. Written by the Islamic Social Services Associations Inc. and Women in Islam Inc., the booklet repeatedly quotes the Koran on women's rights and says that at the time of the Prophet Mohammad mosques were a center of community life where 'all were welcome...' Hooper's group says there are about 7 million Muslims in the United States, 2 to 3 percent of the population, though other estimates have placed the figure lower."