Eidi for Lucknow women: Muslim women allowed entry for the first time in Aishbagh Eidgah

Here's some good news for Muslim women.

For the first time, the Aishbagh Eidgah in Lucknow has opened doors for women to offer namaz.

ALLOWED, BUT IN A SEPARATE ENCLOSURE

The Eidgah will have a separate dedicated enclosure for women to offer their prayers.

The Imam of the Eidgah, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farani Mahli, said that a separate enclosure exclusively for women namazis was being put in place in Taiyab Hall of Eidgah for the Eid-ul-Fitr namaz to be held on Thursday morning.

The enclosure will accommodate nearly 500 women, and arrangements will be made if more numbers turn up.

WOMEN'S ENTRY TO RELIGIOUS PLACES HAS BEEN MAKING HEADLINES

This move comes at a time when India has witnessed numerous controversies regarding the entry of women to places of worship.

Women being denied entry to Sabarimala in Kerela, Shani temple in Maharashtra and Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai infuriated many with women taking to streets to protest against this discrimination.

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MOVE PROGRESSIVE, BUT..

Zakia Soman, co-founder of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA)- an organisation which filed a petition in the Bombay High Court against restrictions on women entering Haji Ali Dargah- termed the move as "very progressive" but with a caveat.

While speaking to India Today, she said that she welcomed the move as there were very few mosques in the country which allowed women to offer prayers.

"It is ironic because the Quran nowhere states that women should be barred from entering mosques or offering prayers," she said, adding that the ban on women entry was another way of exercising control by men.

"Even the petition we filed in the High Court was not just about allowing women into Haji Ali; it addressed a larger question. How can women be denied their right to religious worship," she asked.

Zakia was, however, irritated with the separate enclosure being made.

"Why don't they hand over the control of mosques to women and make separate enclosures for men? If women are comfortable with praying in the same space as men, then let them be. Those who wish to worship separately can do so in the enclosure, but why make it binding?" she questioned.

She did not buy the "segregation argument". "It is not just differentiation, it is discrimination".

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Shabnam Hasmi, a women rights activist and founder of ANHAD, was a bit skeptical.

"No doubt it is a progressive move and women who wish to go and worship would hail this. All spaces, whether religious or public, should be available to women," she said.

"But personally, I think Muslim women have other serious issues than getting an entry into a mosque which need to be addressed. I am not sure but perhaps we are diverting from those issues."

Zakia Soman, however, believed that there were obviously other issues, but that did not mean "we don't fight the issue".

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