Empowering place for Muslim women
Female-run mosque to open without separating sexes
Rabi’a Keeble was confused when she couldn’t find the women’s entrance to a mosque in Richmond that she was attending with a friend.
Then she walked to the side of the building and saw a door for women. It was dirty, with garbage littering the doorway and the carpets of the entry stained with food.
Men and women enter mosques by different doors, Keeble said, and oftentimes, the men’s side is in front and freshly vacuumed. What was worse to Keeble, the imam who delivers the sermon never came into the women’s room, making it difficult for those gathered there to connect with the service.
Keeble has had enough of the separation of men and women in Islamic places of worship. On Friday, she’s opening a women’s mosque in Berkeley. It will be run entirely by women, the first of its kind in Northern California.
“I think that Muslim women in America need to lead,” said Keeble, who has a master’s degree in religious leadership and social justice from the Starr King School of Ministry, a multi-religious seminary affiliated with UC Berkeley. “We need to reflect the fact that we live in America. The Quran does not say that women cannot do this, so we are doing this.”
The mosque, Qal’bu Maryam — Arabic for heart of Mary, Jesus’ mother — is open to anyone who wants to attend, in-
cluding men, Keeble said.
The first mosque run by women, the Women’s Mosque of America, opened in Los Angeles in 2015. Rose Aslan, an associate professor in religion at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks (Ventura County), was sitting in the front row for the first sermon.
“It sent shivers down my spine, and I never had that experience,” Aslan said. “Hearing a woman give the call to prayer — I had never heard that before.”
She was inspired to give the second sermon at the Los Angeles mosque, which is open only to women and children, unlike the Berkeley mosque, which will welcome men.
Separating men and women in places of worship is a mainstream practice derived from different interpretations of the Quran, though the holy book itself doesn’t mention men and women praying together or not, said Asad Ahmed, an Islamic Studies professor at UC Berkeley.
While the Quran “wishes a certain progress” for women, Ahmed said, the concern is that men could be tempted by the opposite sex in close quarters.
“It’s not about women leading prayer. The issue is what are the consequences?” said Ahmed. “Just because a certain interpretation has become mainstream doesn’t mean it’s right.”
Imam Mohammed Majeed of the Taqwa Islamic Center in Fremont said women “lead among themselves” during prayers, and that “a lot of women would like to have their privacy” from men in religious spaces.
At his center, men and women sit in one room for prayer, the men on the right side and the women on the left.
Keeble, who converted to Islam from Christianity nearly 13 years ago, rejects the idea that men aren’t capable of controlling themselves if women are in the mosque’s main room to hear the sermon as they sit among men.
“There’s nothing wrong with the mosque or the religion,” Keeble said, sitting in her Oakland home as she ran her fingers lightly over a strand of black Islamic tasbeeh beads, which are similar to rosary beads minus a crucifix. “There’s something really wrong with the patriarchy and the arrogance that falls out of it that prevents women being treated with respect and being taken seriously and somehow included in what’s going on.”
When Keeble left the mosque in Richmond, she recalled hearing a woman shouting, “Remember ladies, no makeup, no lipstick. Our husbands are here.”
But Keeble — who wears dark red lipstick, thick black eyeliner and hazel-colored contact lenses — said she was shocked when she heard the woman.
“Why don’t you go yell at the men? Leave women alone,” she recalled thinking.
Her mosque — which is opening in the Fireside Room at Starr King School of Ministry, 2441 Le Conte Ave. in Berkeley — is meant to be a safe space for women to talk about everyday issues that impact their lives.
Aslan said this kind of space allows women to speak about experiences, like sexual assault, that are oftentimes stifled in a mosque led by men.
From mental health to marriage counseling and exploring different interpretations of the Quran, Keeble said she plans to have it all.
Sara Farooqi moved to the Bay Area last summer from Sacramento with her husband and 1-year-old son and has struggled to find a Muslim community aligned with her progressive values as a woman.
When she saw an email announcing the opening of Qal’bu Maryam, Farooqi, who plans to attend the mosque Friday, said she was immediately drawn to a place of worship promising to develop sermons based on “social justice values about equality and inclusion.”
Muslims “need common-sense sermons,” Keeble said, adding that she hopes the mosque will transform into a community center where people have access to education and other services.
Her plan is to include men every step of the way.
“We want Muslim men to learn to be allies,” Keeble said. “I think getting some space where we can sort things out where we are not being held to rules, restrictions and standards, then we might be able to create better and stronger relationships with our brothers and Muslim men overall.”
But have no doubt, she said — women will be the main decisionmakers at the mosque and will take turns leading sermons.
Women will also lead the call to prayer each week. Women aren’t usually given that task and may not know how to enact the different rituals. But, she added, the learning process is the whole point.
Soraya Deen, the founder of Muslim Women Speakers Movement, is flying in from Los Angeles to deliver the first sermon at the mosque.
Deen often travels throughout California to educate people about Islam and dispel misconceptions about Muslim women as oppressed and quiet.
Her sermon Friday will be divided into two parts. The first will focus on scripture that emphasizes the life of Khadijah, the wife of the prophet Muhammad.
Khadijah played a significant role in Muhammad’s life, Deen said, and was the person who led him to a clear path when he first received his revelation.
“She was also his greatest supporter during his weaker moments. She was the rock in which he built his hopes,” Ahmed said of Khadijah.
In the second half of her sermon, Deen will focus on feminism and power.
“I want to also call out the patriarchy and the misogyny that has stifled us so far,” Deen said. “I want to rally the community. We have to come up with new solutions, and empowering women is vital to me.”
The mosque will open its doors Friday at 12:30 p.m. for a two-hour dedication ceremony, in time for the Friday prayer.
“Given the atmosphere we live in right now — the Muslim ban, our president whipping up a fervor or hatred against Muslims because they’ve been framed as terrorists — maybe we can reframe (Islam) a little bit through a women’s mosque, (as) a gentle, more accepting, inclusive religion,” Keeble said.