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At London’s Brick Lane Mosque, the women’s prayer hall entrance and the funeral services entrance is one and the same. (Photos supplied by Maryum Saifee)

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“It has been an eye opener for those of us Sister Muslimahs to learn of the attitudes and inequality of prayer space for our sisters in what is referred to here in West Africa as ‘GOD'S OWN COUNTRY’ (USA). To that end I wish to share with you some photos of the women's prayer section in AN NUR MASJID here in Abuja, Nigeria.

As you can see we have our own impressive entry, verandas for sisters with toddlers, sisters who are menustrating and an extended open air space for the overflow of female worshippers. The female prayer section offers total privacy for the sisters, as well as giant flat screens used during JUMMA'AT prayers, tafsirs and lectures by visiting religious speakers. The prayer hall is fully carpeted, air conditioned and with fans circulating the cool air.

Copies of the Holy Quran in Arabic, English and Hausa are available; hijabs and other personal items as required by the female worshippers and infants are provided free of charge. Our ablution and toilet area is fitted with a shower, hot water, and a nappy changing table, private toilet stalls with cleaning attendants on duty.

Every effort is maintained to ensure that the sisters have every need addressed to ensure that their mosque experience is serene and fulfilling the need to seek prayer and solace in an environment dedicated to the worship oh ALLAH(SWT) in the best way.” - Sister Nadirah Hafeeza Saafir, member of Mosque Management Committee

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“My husband and I were passing Aisha Masjid & Islamic Centre in Reading and thought we would go to pray Asr. Nice as a woman to be welcomed and have lots of space 😉

I wanted to give credit where it is due. The building work is still being done but what has been finished is really nicely done. I mainly love the wudu area, that is not always the case either. I want to point out the Dyson driers for hands AND FEET! How cool are they! In the main hall, zoom into right corner you can see an uncle, he was reciting the Qur’an totally alone, just him and God. A beautiful sight. May God bless all those involved in this and other mosques. Alhamdulillah!” - Julie Siddiqi, London, England

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“Eid prayer Belfast. The second basketball hoops on the picture mark the middle of the room. As you can see the women and children had less than half of the room, in spite of being at least as numerous as the men (probably more since most of the children were with women who also came with their pushchairs and buggies). For the first prayer, it seems that this was not so much of a problem (as shown on this picture). The second prayer had more people attending though, and women and children were packed against the back wall (which we can’t see on the picture), while men still had some space at the back of their own area. Each Eid, I hope for better space, for more inclusion of women and children, and each year, I come home bitterly disappointed, and spiritually hurt…”

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“Eid Mubarak from Scarborough. What a blessing to be among a beautiful congregation. Prayers for all my fam around the globe, from Turtle Island to the world, may we all experience peace!” -Safiah Chowdhury

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“Shoutout always to my original Muslim community centre Islamic Institute of Toronto for always ensuring equitable space between men and women. This is sunnah (Prophetic practice). The musalah is in the gym without any barriers between men and women. This means small children travel freely between both parents and it's honestly so heartwarming to see them claim space. The atrium and outside is where the adults socialize.” -Safiah Chowdhury

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“Chief mufti of Poland holds regular lectures for women in English and Polish in Warsaw (where he does not live but travels to meet us). A Palestinian man, casually dressed he insists on lectures about universal and contextualised topics opening floor to women to discuss and question everything. Previously he had a series of lectures on beauty and importance of music. Today he started with the topic of fiqh of priorities and urgent global political and social issues.

He explicitely rejects to talk about "Islam of nail polish, menstruation, hijab..." and insists on contribution mentality for the greater community good, persistently reiterating that what he is saying is his opinion only and we are free to "throw it into garbage if we do not agree" :-) or counter him.

"Instead of a mosque, habibi, build a factory or a school." <3

He was three minutes late and he appologized immensely as he was on his regular visit to a Syrian boy who with the help of good people came to Poland to undergo plastic surgery as his face was completely destroyed in war.”

Photo and story shared by Dermana Seta

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Women and men pray next to each other, with a partition, in the courtyard of Isfahan’s Jameh Mosque in Iran.

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“So messed up. My friend went to this beautiful mosque in DC and the women’s section was a tight closet space and when she went to go pray at the end of the men’s area, a guy harassed her and her mom to go to the closet. She checked in and the guy wasn’t praying with [the men], but instead sat in the back to ensure she wouldn’t pray with the men. Like??? How bad do you have to hate women to do that?” Photos shared by Amani K of the Islamic Center of Washington, DC.

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“Turkey is home to more than 82,600 mosques and they’re all designed by men—except one, the Şakirin mosque in Istanbul, co-created by 59-year old Turkish interior designer Zeynep Fadillioglu, perhaps the first woman ever to design a mosque.”

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Layla isn’t a baby anymore, but she’s still looking through the same glass balcony.

“This was my daughter Layla’s first visit to the Islamic Society of Orange County, the mosque I attended growing up. During my childhood, the women prayed behind the men in the main prayer hall. But when the new mosque was built in 2000, women were moved to an upstairs prayer space.” -Nura Maznavi

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“I am SO proud of my mum for sending this! Shes been persistently taking on the local mosque in the most disheartening battle! May Allah grant us victory against the arrogance of the tiny tyrants in our mosques! Pls make dua for this legend May I be like her when I grow up!” - Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, London 

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“Beautiful Khatam in our ICN masjid spaces. This is my view with no barriers and women on the same floor. Mashallah to Islamic Center of Naperville for opening up these conversations with MWA and their local female leaders. There is another beautifully remodeled room for women who prefer not to pray in this space. Having inclusive spaces means building alliances and working out that we are all different and can still respect each other. It was such a different experience to pray in this new space. For those who don’t know, we have 3 masjid spaces within the same masjid all over Napervile and they were all full in Ramadan. Added EDIT - Mashallah to Sh. Rizwan for being not just a basic Imam but a true leader in having the patience with our community and having these hard discussions about inclusive spaces. ❤️” - Noor Raheemullah Hasan

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“It’s important to know what the imam is doing. For Eid prayers, most of us do not rehearse Eid prayers during the year. Those of us who aren’t really diligent and meticulous forget the 7-takbeers in each rak’ah issue. Eid prayers, as you know, brings together a diverse congregation, many of whom do not normally attend congregational prayer.

You could see that the balcony was longer than it was wide, so only the first row of women could see the imam and the congregation. I’m sure this was not deliberate. That is not the point. We should learn from the results of these architectural and structural decisions. Mosque after mosque is constructed and structured in such a way that women are left out in the cold.”

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“I remember when the purdahs went up at MCC. Mostly, I remember Mary Auntie working so hard against them. I also remember my mom and I not even having space to pray there and praying in the hall. As we made sunnah, the exiting men walked straight over praying women. One woman stood and said we needed to stop paying so that they could exit...instead of just pointing out that they could go through the other doors. My mom said she'd never come back. When asked what my platform would be if I was appointed to the board years later, I said, ""Islamic Feminism and I'm getting rid of those purdahs." One year later, the new women's space was erected. I was happy that 20 years after Mary Auntie's fight, we did it. Sometimes I hear women complain about the space and I wonder if they're the same ones that felt a man's comfort meant more than their moment with God or if they were among the women who took up petitions against a more open worship space. I wonder if they know how hard we worked so that MCC could stop unmosqueing women, even unknowingly. Mostly, I'm happy that we have a better option so that maybe one day my mom will return.” -Dr. Alia Ammar  

The “before” photo was provided by Hind Makki. The “after” photo was provided by Dr. Shabana Mir

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“Alhamdulillah, both the mosques that I pray in NJ don’t have partitions. I feel so blessed, Alhamdulillah... but it pained me to visit some mosques in FL and Dallas where the women are totally separate in another room. I never understood that like.. hello.. you’re not gonna see me in the parking lot??” -Sabiha Ansari, sharing a picture of Eid prayer 2015 from the women’s vantage point at the Islamic Society of Central Jersey