In what may have been a unique moment, Women’s Mosque of America opened its doors on Friday in central Los Angeles where Edina Lekovic delivered a sermon, a role traditionally reserved for Muslim men.
As a sister in a pink head scarf crosses the beige floor and approaches the dais, some 150 women seated on the floor watched her intently.
“We have the right and responsibility to our faith,” Lekovic told the women. 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.
Female-only mosques may exist in India, China and Chile but Muslim leaders say this could be the first in the US.
In traditional mosques, women pray separately from men, which can distance them from the lecturer and make it hard for them to find the opportunity to ask the imam questions after prayer. Women may also feel excluded for other reasons, such as male-only Koran studies.
“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 together with Sana Muttalib, 31, after feeling excluded from traditional mosques. As said by them, it is the nation’s first female-only mosque.
Sana Muttalib and M. Hasna Maznavi serve as president and co-president of the mosque’s board, respectively.