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 "We have the right and responsibility to our faith," Lekovic told
the women as she stood in front of banners emblazoned in gold with
verses from the Koran, Islam's holy book.
Lekovic, an activist with California's Muslim Public Affairs
Council, then joined the women in kneeling in prayer in the
direction of Mecca, the holiest city in Islam.
Friday's gathering at the interfaith center - a former Jewish
synagogue near downtown Los Angeles with Stars of David etched into
the stained glass windows - aims to encourage women to participate
fully in Muslim prayer and education.
Significantly, women are at the helm.
In traditional mosques, women pray separately from men, which can
distance them from the lecturer. Women may also feel excluded for
other reasons, such as male-only Koran studies.
Muslim women often meet for casual gatherings and prayer, but rarely
do they unite in a formal setting, such as the Friday worship, under
the banner of a mosque.
 "The fact that this is the Friday prayer, the jumma'a, and that
there's a woman officially giving the sermon, the khutbah, that's
new," said Donna Auston, a doctoral candidate studying American
Muslim culture at Rutgers University.
MEN AND WOMEN SHOULD FEEL AT HOME
Hussam Ayloush, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said
some Muslims may prefer integration – not segregation – as a way to
draw women into Islam.
"A mosque is a place of worship where all segments of the Muslim
community, men and women ... should feel at home," he said.
[to top of second column] |
After the initial call to prayer and Lekovic's sermon, the women sat
in a circle under the tall arched ceiling, some with tears in their
eyes, and reflected on the experience.
"I want every woman to experience what it feels like to learn from a
female religious authority in the mosque," said M. Hasna Maznavi,
29, who founded the Women's Mosque of America organization with Sana
Muttalib, 31, after feeling excluded from traditional mosques. They
say it is the nation's first female-only mosque.
Lubna Muttalib, Sana's mother, said she has sat so far behind men at
other mosques she has had to watch the sermon projected onto a
screen.
"It's so good to see my khatiba in person, instead of looking at a
TV screen," she said, referring to the person who gives sermons.
Maznavi hopes to unite Muslim women from diverse backgrounds and
said the mosque is neither Sunni nor Shi'ite and occupies the
"middle ground" of politics.
(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon in Los Angeles; Editing by Eric M.
Johnson)
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