Haji Ali row: Women not allowed in mazhar to prevent harassment, say clerics

Leading the campaign to allow women entry into places of worship that don't permit them, Bhumata Brigade founder Trupti Desai is protesting to gain entry into Haji Ali's mazhar (tomb of the saint). Earlier this month, the Bombay High Court disposed a PIL challenging the Haji Ali Trust's decision to ban the entry of women into the sanctum of the shrine and directed the Maharashtra government to ensure compliance of law and prevent discrimination of women at places of worship.

Iamin spoke to a few clerics from different sects of Islam for their opinion on the issue.

The Deobandi sect says women have not been allowed in graveyards or in the mazhar since the time of Prophet Mohammed. The prohibition is in apparently in place to save women from harassment and from being teased by miscreants. Mohammed Ashfaq, a cleric at Govandi's mosque, said that women were not allowed at places where many men are present and activities like Qawwali are held because it leads to harassment. "When it comes to visiting the graveyard or mazhar, women are not allowed there. (It's) not because they are deprived of praying there, but to save them from harassment and teasing."

Ashfaq said that there was no partiality involved in not allowing women to do certain things and that Islam accorded women dignity. "We keep our important and more valuable things very safe and carefully. Women are more valuable and possess more dignity in Islam (and) that is why Islam has certain norms to save them," he added.

"People also give the example of Mecca, where men and women both pray in congregation but they don't realise that Makkah Mukarramah is the place where people don't even think of any sin. But other places cannot be like Meccah mosque," Ashfaq said.

According to the PIL filed by Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan in the Bombay High Court, entry to Haji Ali's dargah had been open to women till June 2012 after which it was restricted. Ashfaq says that the dargah came into existence in 1947. He said that prior to this there was no dargah. According to him, there is a minor difference between the dargah and the grave. The dargah is a concrete or solid grave while the actual grave is made of soil. "This is not sudden prohibition, but it was not implemented. It is something like a wrong thing happening (because) there was no one to stop it," added Ashfaq.

Shafique Mohammed, a cleric of the Ahle Hadith sect and a researcher of Islam at Islamic Information Centre in Kurla, said that there was no concept of mazhar and dargah in Islam and that it was baseless to fight against the prohibition of women from entering into Haji Ali dargah or any other mazhar. "When it comes to equality, Islam talks about justice, not equality. Justice for men and women could be different. In Islam, women have more dignity," said Shafique, adding, "Women are allowed to pray in mosque if there is a separate place available for them."

Imam Haji Akhtar Mehmood of the Kinara Masjid at Haji Ali said that the mazhar concept is very old. "There was a time when women were allowed to pray inside mosques, but years ago, a companion of Mohammed, named Umar Farooque, asked all women to pray namaz at home instead of the mosque because there was a tendency among men and women to start misbehaving (which is) against Islamic way," said Haji Akhtar.

He further said that the same thing happened at Haji Ali. "Every type of women wearing non-islamic dress can lead to harassment and teasing of women. So the prohibition is fine. Women are allowed to enter into the dargah but they are not in the mazhar," he added.

Members of the Haji Ali Trust refused to comment on the matter.