New Delhi: The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that there was no prohibition on the entry of women in the mosques for offering namaz but it is not “obligatory” for them to join weekly Friday congregation at the mosque.
The “entry of women in the Mosque for offering prayer/Namaz, inside the mosque, is permitted. Thus, a Muslim woman is free to enter masjid for prayers. It is her option to exercise her right to avail such facilities as available for prayers in Masjid”, the AIMPLB have stated in its reply to PIL petitioner Yasmeen Zuber Ahmed Peerzada seeking the quashing of a fatwa prohibiting the entry of women in mosques.
The reply by the AIMPLB is rooted in a hearing by the nine-judge bench of the top court on the larger issue of legality and essentially of religious belief and practices discriminatory to women.
