By Prof. Dr Musharraf Hussain
Imagine growing up as a Muslim girl and gradually discovering that the most sacred place in your community is not really meant for you. Your father goes to the Masjid. Your brothers go. The Imam teaches there. Community decisions are made there. Spiritual friendships develop there. Yet you are expected to remain outside its life. We should ask a simple question: Did the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) intend this?
The Masjid is not merely a building where salah is performed. It is the house of Allah: a place of worship, remembrance, learning, tranquillity and belonging. The Prophet (peace be upon him) taught, “Whoever goes to the mosque in the morning or evening, Allah prepares for him a place of hospitality in Paradise every time he goes” (Bukhari). He (peace be upon him) also said, “The prayer in congregation is twenty-seven times superior to the prayer offered by a person alone” (Muslim).
What did the Prophet ﷺ say?
The evidence is remarkably clear. Abdullah ibn Umar reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: “When your women seek permission to attend the mosque at night, give them permission” (Bukhari). In another authentic narration, the instruction is even more direct: “Do not prevent the female servants of Allah from the mosques of Allah” (Muslim).
Notice the language used. He (peace be upon him) did not simply say, “women may go.” He addressed those who might stop them and said, "Do not prevent them." This distinction matters. Attending the Masjid was not made compulsory for women. A woman may pray in her home, and there is no criticism of her for doing so. But something being optional is very different from something being forbidden. The Prophet (peace be upon him) preserved a woman’s choice to attend the house of Allah. Sahih Muslim records both the instruction not to prevent women from the mosques and the command to grant them permission when they wish to attend.
When Ibn Umar (RA) related the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) instruction not to prevent women from attending the mosque, his son Bilal objected, saying, “By Allah, we shall certainly prevent them.” Ibn Umar became extremely angry and rebuked him more harshly than the narrator had ever heard him rebuke anyone before. He said: “I am narrating to you from the Messenger of Allah, and you say, ‘By Allah, we shall certainly prevent them’?” The incident demonstrates the seriousness with which Ibn Umar regarded an explicit teaching of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his objection to placing personal reasoning in opposition to it.
Segregation, dignity and good facilities
Welcoming women means they should have appropriate, segregated prayer spaces. Entrances and facilities should be arranged sensibly. Safeguarding and proper behaviour should be maintained. But “segregation” must never become another word for exclusion. A women’s prayer area should not be a storeroom, an inaccessible balcony or a neglected corner where the sound system barely works. If the Masjid is the house of Allah, then the space offered to His female servants should reflect dignity.
Women need space not only to perform salah, but also to read The Majestic Quran, make dhikr, sit quietly in reflection, learn their religion, attend lectures, ask questions and meet other Muslim women. If young Muslim women study at universities, enter professions and move confidently through the wider society, then why can’t they come to their own Masjids? That should trouble us deeply. If a young woman can spend hours at a university library, workplace or café but feels uncomfortable spending half an hour in the Masjid, something has seriously gone wrong.
Women must help revive this Sunnah
Here I want to speak directly to Muslim women. Do not regard the Masjid as somebody else’s institution or a boy’s club. It is part of your spiritual inheritance too. If your local Masjid does not provide adequate facilities, approach its trustees respectfully. Ask for clean, dignified, segregated prayer space. Ask for Quran classes and study circles. Offer to organise programmes. Volunteer, teach and help to improve the facilities. Encourage mothers, daughters and young women to attend.
Do this positively, patiently and wisely. This should not become a battle between men and women. Imams and trustees should ask themselves: would the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) recognise our Masjid as welcoming to the women of his Ummah? The Masjid must never become a men’s club with Allah’s name written over the entrance.
Open the doors
During the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) lifetime, women attended his Masjid. He knew the realities of human nature. He understood concerns about modesty. Yet his instruction remained unmistakable: Do not prevent the female servants of Allah from the house of Allah. So let us revive that Prophetic balance. Let our Masajid provide dignified, segregated spaces where women can pray, contemplate, remember Allah and learn.
Are my sisters willing to reclaim their rightful place in Allah’s house? Are fathers willing to stand up for the right of their daughters to come to Allah’s house? Are you willing to promote this? What might this look like? I suggest starting by providing Jummah facilities and teaching facilities during the morning times when Masajid are empty. Perhaps a generation of girls who today stand at the edge of our Masajid will tomorrow become women whose hearts are attached to them. Opening the door of the Masjid to them may also open a door to Allah that remains with them for the rest of their lives.
I would love to hear from sisters reading this and share their experience of their local masjid. Let’s start a quiet revolution!
