Women's mosque

Women's mosques exist around the world, with a particularly rich tradition in China. As Islam has principles of segregating the sexes at times, many places of worship provide a dedicated prayer space for women within the main building, but in a few countries, separate buildings were constructed. In some cases, women were allowed to become imams.

In the 21st century, many countries have seen women-led or women-only mosques created, as part of liberal movements within Islam.

Asia China

Women's mosques () have existed in China for several hundred years.Maria Jaschok: "Religious Women in a Chinese City: Ordering the past, recovering the future - Notes from fieldwork in the central Chinese province of Henan ". QEH Working Paper Series - QEHWPS125, S.8 They can be found in the provinces of Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Hebei.icampus.ucl.ac.be "Les minorités musulmanes en Chine" ("Les mosquées féminines") (accessed April 1, 2010)

In China, separate women-only mosques were built by the Muslim communities. At the end of the Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty, Hui women had begun to form their own mosques. The oldest surviving women's mosque in China, is Wangjia Hutong Women's Mosque of Kaifeng, which dates to 1820.

For religious reasons, Hui communities had started to cultivate more theological learning among the women. As a result, a portion of the female Muslims who had experienced a religious education, gradually incorporated Islamic observances into their daily religious activities, and this produced the establishment of women's mosques.

By the 20th century, there were separate places of worship as women-only mosques. They are a special form of the sacred building, either as a separate institution or mosque attached to an existing larger mosque. Their managers are women, wives of the imam of a larger mosque. The commonly used title for it is Shiniang ().cf. "Weibliche Imame", source: Jaschok, Maria and Jingju Shui, p. 287-292, German translation from English: C. Schneider (accessed April 1, 2010) and Ingrid Mattson: "Can a Woman be an Imam? " - macdonald.hartsem.edu (accessed April 1, 2010)

Female Islamic clerics are referred to as nü ahong () in Chinese.

In the province of Henan: Beidajie Nusi, Zhengzhou Beixiajie Nusi, Zhengzhou Minzhulu Nusi, Zhengzhou Xishilipu Nusi, Zhengzhou Hexi Nusi, Zhoukou Tiedanjie Nüsi, Kaifeng, one of 16 women's mosques in that city

Elsewhere: Jiangfanglu Nusi, Xi'an (Shaanxi) Qian Xinchengdao Nusi (Hohhot Nüsi), Hohhot (Inner Mongolia) Botou Qingzhen Nüsi, Botou, Cangzhou City (Hebei) Beijing (Women's mosque, jap.) Xiaotaoyuan Mosque, Shanghai

Maldives In the Maldives, there are women's mosques located in many islands and atolls, a tradition which possibly dates back to earlier times due to the influence women have historically wielded in Maldivian society. It was a Maldivian practice to maintain such mosques, known as nisha miskii, which were separate buildings run by female equivalents of mudimu (male mosque caretakers) known as mudahim. The women's mosques are not on every single island, and an example of this is the capital island, where mosques have a separate area for women within larger mosques. In 2005, there was an estimated number of over 250 women's mosques spread out among the 250 inhabited islands.

In late 2009 and 2010, all of the Maldives’ nisha miskii seemed to have closed. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs of the Maldives closed the mosques claiming that they were expensive to maintain and rarely used. As of 2018, available accounts indicate that women's mosques no longer exist in the Maldives.

India In the union territory of Lakshadweep, oral traditions suggest the establishment of women's mosques in the area. According to the few mentions of women's mosques in the region, there were reportedly small private buildings that were attended by women with female leadership. A similar institution exists in the island of Minicoy, where prayer houses for women are called namād-ge.

Other Asian countries

Bukhara,moritzleuenberger.net und sambuh.com: "Abu'l Faiz Khan Mosque (1720)" (accessed April 1, 2010); cf. the article Naqshbandi. see Islam in Uzbekistan Kabul,deutsche-welle.de: Erste Moschee für Frauen in Kabul (accessed April 1, 2010) see Islam in Afghanistan Maldives,haumaldives.wordpress.com: Aid to women’s mosques terminated and women Imam’s left jobless, as if the deprivations the MDP government of Mohamed Nasheed cause is not enough. (accessed April 1, 2010)Locating Maldivian Women’s Mosques in Global Discourses. see Islam in the Maldives Padang and Yogyakarta, see Islam in Indonesia Byblos, see Islam in Lebanon Medina, see Islam in Saudi Arabia

Africa Khartoum,giga-hamburg.de (accessed April 1, 2010)Nageeb, Salma. (2007). Appropriating the mosque: Women's religious groups in Khartoum. Africa Spectrum. 42. 5-27. see Islam in Sudan Gabiley,unesco.org (accessed April 1, 2010) see Islam in Somalia

Europe Amsterdam,welt.de: "Frauenmoschee für niederländische Feministen" (accessed April 1, 2010) see Islam in the Netherlands Berlin,loccum.de: "Wie geht der Dialog weiter?" (accessed April 1, 2010) & dmk-berlin.de: "Moscheen und Gebetsräume in Berlin" (accessed April 1, 2010) see Islam in Germany. Seyran Ateş founded the Ibn Ruschd-Goethe mosque in 2017 Copenhagen, see Islam in Denmark. Sherin Khankan founded the Mariam Mosque in 2016

North America The Women's Mosque of America, Los Angeles, California. The first women's mosque in the United States opened in 2015, located in a multifaith cultural centre in the Pico-Union district.Tamara Audi, "Feeling Unwelcome at Mosques, 2 Women Start Their Own in L.A.: New Entity Believed to Be the First of Its Kind in the U.S." The Wall Street Journal, January 30, 2015. Qal'bu Maryam Women's Mosque, Oakland, California. The first women's mosque in the San Francisco Bay area, and the second in the United States, opened March 4, 2017, is located in the City of Refuge Church in Oakland. The Women's Mosque of Canada was established in Toronto in April 2019. The mosque started with space at Trinity-St. Paul's United Church.

Women's mosque

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