Women are Allowed to Offer Prayers in Mosques, Says All India Muslim Board

New Delhi, January 30, 2020:

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said that the entry of women in Mosques for offering prayer/Namaz is permitted in Islam.

The AIMPLB, in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, stated about the entry of women in the Mosques. It was filed in response to a petition filed in 2019 by a Pune-based Muslim couple seeking to uphold the rights of Muslim women to enter Mosques freely and offer Namaz.

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The SC had sought a reply from AIMPLB on the petition. The affidavit however said that it was compulsory for women to join group prayers or congregational prayers.

Yasmeen Zuber Ahmad Peerzade, one of the petitioners, had contended that Mosques around the world did not have laws that are prejudiced against women. He added that the Mecca also did not discriminate on the basis of gender, nor did the Mosques in Canada and Saudi Arabia.

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The petition went on to say that the Quran does not differentiate between a man and a woman and there are no records stating that the Quran or Prophet Muhammad had opposed to women entering Mosques and offering prayers.

The petitioner said that banning women from entering the Mosques was against the Constitution as it violated the Fundamental Rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 15, 21, 25 and 29 of the Constitution.

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AIMPLB in its reply stated that various religious texts, doctrine and religious belief of the followers of Islam state that entry of women in the mosque for offering prayer/Namaz, inside the mosque, is permitted and it is her option to exercise her right to avail such facilities.

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