The first women-only mosque is being planned by a group of Muslim women in Tamil Nadu, India. According to Women Living Under Muslim Laws, the first women’s jamaat (citizen’s council) in the world, the Tamil Nadu Muslim Women’s Jamaat Committee (MWJC) has made the decision to build their own mosque because they have been refused representation in their community.
According to the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, male-controlled jamaats are stating that “women should have the right to offer prayers in mosques. In at least five percent of Tamil Nadu’s mosques there are separate enclosures for women. But a women’s mosque is unacceptable.”
Always affiliated with the local mosque, jamaats make judgments on the domestic affairs of the community, including domestic violence. Currently, with the exception of the women’s jamaat, jamaats in Tamil Nadu do not allow women to be members, nor do they allow women to represent their own cases, reports Women Living Under Muslim Laws.
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