Why do we not see Muslim women heading to a mosque for prayers on Fridays? Why don't they participate in funeral prayers in the Indian subcontinent? Men and women pray at al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. They pray in Al Masjid al Nabavi in Medina. Why cannot they pray in their neighbourhood mosques in India? Islam does not discriminate between men and women. The Quran promises as much reward for a roza (fast), a Hajj or an act of charity for a woman as a man. At nearly 60 places, it asks both men and women to establish prayer, as opposed to merely offering prayer. Establishing prayer, scholars agree, is done through congregation. Men do it by praying in mosques. But what about women? They are denied the right to enter mosques across the Indian subcontinent. Women in Masjid: A Quest for Justice aims to give voice to those women who have been denied their due by our patriarchal society. It tells the reader that Prophet Muhammad clearly permitted women to enter a mosque. It is a permission well respected in mosques across West Asia, Europe and America. Yet, in an overwhelming majority of mosques across India, women are virtually barred from entry. No explicit ban, just a tacit one. Drawing its arguments from the Quran and Hadiths, the book exposes the hypocrisy of men who deny women their right to pray in mosques in the name of religion, thus revealing entrenched patriarchal beliefs masquerading as faith. It also tells the stories of those brave women who are fighting for their space in mosques across the world. From Nizamuddin and Haji Ali Dargah to mosques in lanes and bylanes of India, the fight is on. Women in Masjid is all about righting a historical wrong.

Autobiography of an Urdu authoress.

Hammer looks at the work of significant female American Muslim writers, scholars, and activists since 1990, using their writings as a lens for a larger discussion of Muslim intellectual production in America and beyond. Centered on the controversial women-led Friday prayer in March 2005, Hammer uses this event and its aftermath to address themes of faith, community, and public opinion. While gender is the catalyst for Hammer's study, her examination of these women's intellectual output touches on themes central to contemporary Islam: authority, tradition, Islamic law, justice, and authenticity.

At a time when misogyny and hostile attitudes towards women are plaguing Muslim communities throughout the world, Dr Jasser Auda presents a timely and vital challenge to the contentious issue of women's access to the mosque, expounding an Islamic perspective. Reclaiming The Mosque is a crucial response to the current trials facing Muslim communities, and moreover, it offers a clear and cohesive call to action that harks back to the Islamic principles of freedom, justice and human rights.

Not much is known about what is arguably the world's, and certainly India's, largest Islamic organization -- the Tablighi Jamaat. From poverty-stricken peasants of Bihar to dairy farmers of Mewat, its members attend three-day retreats in local mosques, and at times, the Markaz in Delhi. They come of their own free will, at their own expense. The Tabligh tells its members to look within, that life is about internal cleansing with regular prayer that paves the path to spiritual uplift. Unlike other Islamic organizations that balance the here and the hereafter, the Tabligh is concerned only about 'matters beyond the sky and under the earth'. Its steadfast refusal to take a political stand has stood it in good stead. It is the 'ideal Muslim organization' for some -- focused solely on introspection in isolation. Now, for the first time, author Ziya Us Salam provides an inside view of the organization that unwittingly became a 'hotspot' during the novel coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

A panel of thirty-five experts, writers, and religious leaders--including Muhammad Ali and Karen Armstrong--take a close-up look at the future of Islam, the historical realities that have shaped it, the paradoxes and schisms within it, the conflict between fundamentalism and progressives, and its beliefs and practices, in an informative panel discussion. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.

'We will change things from within' Sherin Khankan is a pioneer, founding the first mosque for women in Europe and leading the way for a more progressive form of Islam. In this remarkable work, she shares her journey growing up between east and west to then becoming one of the first female imams in Europe. Addressing controversial issues such as radical Islamic groups, the right of Muslim women to divorce and the patriarchal structure of Islam, this is an eye-opening and empowering manifesto for change.

Salafism, often called "Wahhabism," is widely seen as a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam that subjugates women, yet growing numbers of young British women, many of them converts or from less conservative Muslim backgrounds, are actively embracing it. With unprecedented access to Salafi women's groups in the UK, Anabel Inge provides the first in-depth account of their lives, probing the reasons for their conversion and their subsequent dilemmas and difficulties.

In this comprehensive open access book, written for readers from any or no religious background, Leena El-Ali does something remarkable. Never before has anyone taken on every last claim relating to Islam and women and countered it not just with Qur’anic evidence to the contrary, but with easy-to-use tools available to all. How can a woman’s testimony be worth half of a man’s? How can men divorce their wives unilaterally by uttering three words? And what’s with the obsession with virgins in Paradise? Find the chapter on any of the seventeen topics in this book, and you will quickly learn a) where the myth came from and b) how to bust it. The methodology pursued is simple. First, the Qur’an is given priority over all other literary or “scriptural” sources. Second, the meaning of its verses in the original Arabic is highlighted, in contrast to English translations and/or widespread misunderstanding or misinterpretation.

The marginalisation of Muslims in India has recently been the subject of heated public debate. In these discussions, however, Muslim women are often either overlooked or treated as a homogenous group with a common set of interests. Focusing on the narratives of women living in a predominantly Muslim colony in South Delhi, this book attempts to demonstrate the complexity of their lives and the multiple levels of insecurity they face. Unlike other studies on Indian Muslims that focus on Islam as a defining factor, this book highlights the ways in which religious identity intersects with other identities including class/status, regional affiliation and gender. The author also sheds light on the impact of such events as the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 and the subsequent riots, the Gujarat communal carnage in 2002, and the anti-Sikh violence in New Delhi in 1984, along with the rise of Hindutva, and growing Islamophobia experienced worldwide in the post-9/11 period — on the articulation of identities at the local level and increasing religion-based spatial segregation in Indian cities. The study highlights how these incidents combine in different ways to increase the sense of marginalisation experienced by Muslims at the level of the locality. Understanding the need to look beyond preconceived religious categories, this book will serve as essential reading for those interested in sociology, anthropology, gender, religious and urban studies, as well as policymakers and organisations concerned with issues related to religious minorities in India.