Usrah

As far as I remember, when I first arrived in States, I was not terribly experienced culture shock. I could already expect how the culture is by watching movies and series in the television. What I did not exposed to is how the Muslims practice their religion here. In Malaysia, Friday Prayer could only be attended by men because there is no space for the women. In the States, I think I was shocked to see quite a big number of women at the back during the Friday prayer. They are not required to attend the prayer, but they did, and I applaud their effort on this very matter.

The issue that I am going to discuss here is not related to the right of women to attend the Friday prayer but related the boundary set to divide the line for the men and women. In my place, there is no boundary whatsoever that veils the women from the sight of men and vice versa. And as far as I concern, there is no issue raised concerning that. However, some mosques, as a matter of fact quite many mosques does have such boundary; some in form of curtain, some in barely-see-thru curtain, divided by solid wall, and others goes to extend of having the women to pray beyond a half solid wall, half glass, and built on the second floor - they could only see hear the khatib speaking and watch the khutbah in progress through webcam or etc.

Why is there separation? The proponents reason that they want to avoid disruption in prayer by having women directly behind them before, during and after prayer. The disruption goes both ways to both men and women. The important question is, does the prophet set veil between men and women during prayer? Prominent scholars in the documentary such as Abdullah Adhami and Tariq Suwaidan denies that. The disruption could still happen then but the cure is not by erecting a solid wall that inhibit the sight of women to directly see the khatib during the Friday Prayer. Women play many important roles during the time of the Prophet. They teach people, being the arbitrator in market, and we even heard stories about women who participate in war! There were certainly many interactions between men and women in their daily schedule, but the interactions were under control. Is it then, caused by our skewed mentality?

I am deeply taken aback by the passion shown by the women in the documentary who demand their right to have no boundary. They are happier, in a sense of performing ibadah, when there was no separation. I agree with the retort, is the guy who complains about how the presence of women at the back could disrupt their prayer, have the courage to admit that his faith is weak?

The issue, if we broaden our perspective, is not only limited to the right of women in the masjid, but goes beyond that. It’s funny that feminists always attack on issues such as polygamy but in this documentary, it is about the right to pray peacefully at the masjid! We could commonly attack on how feminists debate the issues but they did not even comprehend other aspects in Islam. In other word, are they sincere to debate for the sake of their deen, or is it for their own desire? Okay, not to elaborate further on that.

Now, the issue can also be related to gender relation confusion between men and women. I want to add some more to this, but it seems that I have to divert my focus on my homework now and without careful thought, the issues that I want to raise might not be worded correctly and cause unwarranted controversy. So, I’ll just stop here for now.

p/s : Silalah tonton video tsb di google, bagi saya, ianya adalah dokumentari yang unik, humorous in its way, dan thought provoking.

Wallahua’lam..