A mosque in the southern city of Hassan in Karnataka has kicked up a controversy for allowing Muslim women to offer special prayers during Ramzan.
Irked by the move, the Hassan District Waqf Committee objected and recommended that the Karnataka State Waqf Board should take action against the mosque’s managing committee.
However, while the managing committee of the mosque has said that the Waqf Board has no authority to decide who should go to a mosque or who should not, a group of Muslim women submitted a memorandum to the district administration seeking protection for them during their prayers between 8 pm and 10 pm.
It all started when the Hassan District Wakf Committee raised objections to Muslim women gathering in a mosque at KR Puram in Hassan for special prayers for Ramzan.
According to a woman, who was part of the 25-strong group, they have the right to offer prayers in the mosque. “Women are allowed to offer prayers even while performing Haj and Umrah at Makkah in Saudi Arabia. We need protection from vested interests. Even in Sharia, women are permitted to offer prayers five times a day if there is a separate arrangement at the mosque,” she said.
The women pointed out that it was not the first time that they were offering prayers in the mosque. “We have been doing so for the past few years,” they said. A local Muslim leader said that some disgruntled elements, who want to be in the managing committee, were creating this unnecessary controversy.
Sources said Syed Khasim, chairman of the advisory committee, held a meeting with maulvis in Hassan over the issue. Taking recourse to Sharia, the maulvis are said to have expressed opposition to women gathering for prayers min mosques. However, unperturbed by the developments the women of the locality are continuing to offer prayers in large numbers.