Kerala Muslim women step up campaign for the right to enter mosques

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

The Muslim women's demand for the right to enter mosques is gaining strength in the south Indian state of Kerala, with a great many women coming out into the open to support it.

Several Muslim women's organisations has, on the eve of Bakri Id, stepped up their campaign. The women's wing of the powerful Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, which met in Kochi recently, warned religious leaders against trying to keep the womenfolk in fetters. The meeting, attended by a large number of Muslim women, conveyed that they are now prepared to fight for their rights. The women lambasted Muslim conservatives for denying them rights guaranteed in the Quran.

But, what worries the religious leaders more than this is the uprising now taking place among the Sunni Muslim women, who are considered more orthodox and obedient than the rest. (The demand emanating from the Sunni women in north Kerala is indicative of the Muslim women's changing mood.)

So worried has the Muslim leadership become about the Sunni's assertion that it immediately pressed into service the kazis of the community to influence the agitating women. In Malappuram and Kozhikode districts, the kazis conducted a door-to-door campaign against the move.

Meanwhile, Palayam mosque (in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital) Imam P K Ahmedkutty Moulavi said the doors of his mosque would be open to women for Bakri Id prayers.

The controversy had commenced with the Moulavi's decision to permit women inside the mosque for Ramzan prayers. The Samastha Kerala Sunni Yuvajana Sangham had immediately taken out a rally against this, triggering a state-wide debate on the issue.

Conservative Muslims maintain women's entry to mosques is 'un-Islamic,' as the Quran has specifically mentioned that the best place of worship for women is their homes. Their rivals, however, claim the holy book allows women to enter mosques dressed piously. Going to the mosque and listening to religious discourses, the liberals say, will help educate the women. Those who oppose women's entry in mosques are denying them this education, they add.