non muslims and hijabs in the mosque

M

mrsmcginty

Junior Member
Hi,

I am the secretary of my universities islamic society. last night we had a meeting in the mosque and two non muslim women attended. We stayed in the women's section until the men had finished praying and then moved through in to the main room for the actual meeting.

About half way through the meeting i noticed that one of the male members of the society was acting strangely. on questioning afterwards he revealed that he was angry that the two non-muslims had not worn a hijab.

I was just wondering whether there is an overall ruling on whether non-muslims entering the mosque should wear a hijab/head covering? or whether it is down to each individual mosque to decide.

Thank you
 
amirah80

amirah80

*Fear Allah*
Hello

This is a fatwa (ruling) that pretains to your question. Inshallah, this will be beneficial for you.

What is the Shari`ah ruling on non-Muslim women entering the masjid (mosque) without Hijab?

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.


All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Dear brother in Islam, thanks a lot for your question which reflects your care to have a clear view of the teachings of Islam. Allah commands Muslims to refer to people of knowledge to get themselves well-acquainted with the teachings of Islam as well as all aspects of life.

First of all, it is noteworthy that Islam encourages tolerance and peaceful co-existence between Muslims and non-Muslims. If non-Muslims enter a mosque to deliver speeches that may lead to a better understanding, then it is welcomed and religiously recommended. Islam is the religion of constructive dialogue in the fullest sense. The history of Muslims is a very good example of this.



With regard to your question, Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and member of the Fiqh Council of North America, answers:

“It is good to invite non-Muslims to visit the masjid and see the Islamic way of Prayer, but they should be told beforehand about the Islamic rules of dress and modesty especially in our place of worship. If they are informed beforehand with courtesy and kindness, they will understand and appreciate the rules. It is seen that most of them observe these rules very carefully. However, if there are some visitors who are not properly dressed, you may give them something clean to cover themselves before they enter the masjid or you may overlook this negligence in the broader and more important interest of giving the message of Islam to them.

In Islam there is something called Fiqh Al-'Awlawiyyat, or understanding priorities. We should keep in our mind the rules of priorities. The common sense rule is that when you are confronted with two evils, you may accept the lesser evil in order to fend off the major one and achieve greater good. So in this case you are faced with a choice, either you turn away a non-Muslim from your place of worship and let that person not know about Islam and have a bad impression of Islam and Muslims, or you allow her to come, even without proper dress, and then learn about Islam and possibly become a Muslim. If this is the choice then it is better to accept the person without proper dress and treat her well. Hopefully she will learn some good things about Islam and Allah may guide her to the right path.”

Allah Almighty knows best.
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IslamIsLight

IslamIsLight

Islam is my life
Staff member
Hi there,
Welcome to the site and thank you for your question...
I think the fatwa that sister Amirah posted explains everything..
From what I know and from what I experienced ,I saw many non muslim women and even Muslim entering the Mosque without a headscarf but in proper clothes ,and then we offer them a scarf if they like to put it on or not ...
I think it depends on where u go to ,and on each individual Mosque because the place where I live its very small Islamic center and other Mosques are very small.
But anyway he shouldnt get angry for the people who didnt know if it was required to wear hijab when entering the Mosque .It is their responsibility to kindly explain the requirements...

take care
 
M

mrsmcginty

Junior Member
The thing is that according to the university the room is actually a prayer room and not a mosque. We had a vote as a society as to whether we should ask non-muslims to wear a hijab in the mosque/prayer building and he was the only person who voted that they should.

I suggested that we have our meetings not in the mosque, that we have them in some other room which has no religious aspect so that everyone would be happy but he insists that the meetings be held in the mosque. it seems like he can't be pleased.

We ask that the women have their bodies covered out of respect but I and some of the other members are worried that if we ask them to wear a hijab they will feel alienated and not want to participate in our activites. It's sooo hard to know what to do!!
 
M

mrsmcginty

Junior Member
Thank you for all of your help. He's just not a very understanding person. We don't get on at all because he criticised my grammer behind my back and said that there had been loads of complaints when no-one else had a clue what he was talking about.

i reallise that I'm beginning to rant now but I so want to involve more non-muslims in our activities. I am a revert so I understand how intimidating we can be when encountered en-masse, especially if people think that we're trying to convert them!!
 
O

Optimist

قل هو الله أحد
There are muslim females who do not cover up for one reason or another.

There are female muslims who do not cover properly by one standard or another.

There are male muslims who -for all practial purposes- do not cover what they should.

Are we to ban them from the mosque too ?
 
nyerekareem

nyerekareem

abdur-rahman
is it possible to have the group gender separated? i'm sure this group deals with serious issues and it may be better to be segregated so that the opposite sexes aren't distracted by each other. the leaders of both genders can decide on topics that they will share with their group, therefore both groups are on par with each other without having to be distracted.

just an idea.
 
Munawar

Munawar

Striving for Paradise
mrsmcginty said:
Thank you for all of your help. He's just not a very understanding person. We don't get on at all because he criticised my grammer behind my back and said that there had been loads of complaints when no-one else had a clue what he was talking about.

i reallise that I'm beginning to rant now but I so want to involve more non-muslims in our activities. I am a revert so I understand how intimidating we can be when encountered en-masse, especially if people think that we're trying to convert them!!
Click to expand...

:salam2: Sister,
There are people who needlessly act this way, they are very strict and they act as if they know every thing. But if they realy knew every thing then they wouldn't be acting this way.

Anyways, if the fatwa Sister Amirah has provided doen't change his behaviour then try to communicate it to him that he needs to learn more about Islamic techings and behaviour. And then if you could arrange programs without him then do that.

There is no very good answer if a brother start acting like that. I hope and pray that he listens and understands. Ameen.
:wasalam:
 
Ashima33

Ashima33

Junior Member
I was someone who entered a mosque without hijab. It was not in the actual mosque... like prayer area, but they were having a banquet in the back gym area. I realized afterward, I probably should have worn it to be more respectful... but at the time I remember being really torn because I thought, "I want to follow dress code, but don't know if it's expected of me at the same time." and the people I went with weren't for sure what I should have done either. But I'm glad it worked out and no one treated me differently because of it. It may have created some negative feelings for me... but anyways I converted like a week ago... so I'm glad that there was compassion and tolerance from the mosque for this situation.
 
N

nori suja'i

Junior Member
May Allah bless u sister Ashima33, it's alright to learn things (Islam/be a muslimah) step by step, insyaAllah at the end of the day u'll know it fully, ameen.
 
M

mrsmcginty

Junior Member
woah everyone seems to have been awake while i was asleep!! first things first... the idea of segragation is one that i don't really approve of in this instance. the society is about bringing muslims (and non-muslims) together rather than dividing them. We don't really deal with serious issues... we have presentations byvarious people and go on sunday walks...things which would not really work if we were not together. and tbh the men always sit on one side and the women on the other so we don't really distract each other.

Sister I am glad that the people within your mosque understood. We the society have discussed this issue before and every brother except this one felt it was not neccessary for non muslims to cover their hair as long as they were not present when the men were praying..which they were not.

these two non-muslims found it intimidating enough walking in to the mens section without this one sitting there glowering at them the whole time. I was soo embarrassed by his behaviour!!

We are having the elections for the president of the society today and i know he's going to run, i'm standing against him so inshallah i will get the post and then i can deal with this situation head on.
 
Isra

Isra

aka Tree2008
I have not yet reverted and I am still in the learning process myself. I was introduced to Islam by a Muslim I met on the internet so everything I was able to find out was over the internet. Finally one day I decided to try going to the local Mosque which by the way is not exactly local but the only one within a 50 mile radius of where I live.

Anyway I had no idea what they do there or what I was supposed to do. My friend on the internet has never been to this country and actually lives in an Islamic country so Im very sure things are different where he is from. He could offer no advice except to tell me to "go and talk to the Imam."

Ok I got there on a Friday (no idea Friday was prayer day for the entire metropolitan Muslim population :shymuslima1:) so of course there was NO parking in this HUGE parking lot of the Mosque. I sort of drove around and noticed mostly men heading into the Mosque. Finally on my 4th round of the parking lot and people probably thinking I was there to bomb the place or something I stumbled upon a couple who were getting out of their van. I pulled up beside them and spoke to the woman who was closest to my car. She was very nice and after finding out that I was clueless but interested she advised me to get a head covering and told me how I should dress to come to Mosque. Then her husband took my name and phone number and promised to give it to the Imam and have him call me.

I was grateful to this woman who I never saw again for helping me so that the first time I actually did enter the mosque I was prepared. Whoever you are sister.............THANK YOU!!!!
 
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