Women to be banned from prayers at Mecca?

Warnings of extremism
Al-Manie said there are no laws that allow men the exclusive possession of the area and warned that if the government adopts the plan, it will live up to “the assumption that Saudi Arabia is an extremist country that deprives women of their given rights.”

Osama al-Barr, head of the hajj institute, said the fuss was unwarranted because the study was meant simply to find a solution to the problem of overcrowding at the Grand Mosque. Muslims believe the original Kaaba was built by Adam and that it was rebuilt by the prophet Abraham, who initiated the call for people to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

“The study was made for safety and technical reasons, and it doesn’t have any religious dimensions,” al-Barr said.

He said the restrictions apply only to the five daily Muslim prayers and that women would be free to roam the premises at will after the prayers and to circle it during the main annual hajj pilgrimage.

Crowding a concern
Overcrowding in the Grand Mosque, one of the few places where Muslim male and female worshippers can pray together, has become a chronic problem since the government began issuing open-ended visas several years ago for the minor pilgrimage called omra in Mecca. Mecca is the birthplace of the 7th century Prophet Muhammad.

That has allowed worshippers to perform the minor pilgrimage throughout the year instead of only at religious occasions. During the main annual hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, more than 2 million Muslims pour into the holy city, and stampedes at various points of the hajj have killed hundreds of people over the years.

Al-Barr said the proposed prayer areas for women would be 210 times larger and have a better view of the shrine.

The ripple effect
But historian Hatoon al-Fassi wondered why the study did not restrict men. Plus, she said, such a decision should be made by all the Muslim world, not simply by Saudi authorities.

“I’m sure the proposal won’t be implemented because this is a matter that’s of concern to all the Islamic world and not only Saudi Arabia,” said al-Fassi.

The plan has started causing ripples outside the kingdom.

The Washington-based Muslimah Writers Alliance, an organization of Muslim women writers, is sponsoring an online petition drive against the study.

“At no other time in history, either before or after the time of the Prophet Muhammad, have women been relegated to lesser advantageous positions within the (mosque),” Aishah Schwartz, the group’s director, said in a statement.

“The proposed plan is no more acceptable today than it would have been when the teachings of Islam began to be delivered over 1,400 years ago,” she added.

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