Ta-Nehisi Coates on Israel’s apartheid: “We need more Palestinians telling the story”

 

“When you see segregation. I don't need more time to understand what it is.”

Award-winning author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates joins ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ to discuss his latest book’s focus on Palestine, and the reception it has received from the mainstream media – including a shocking interview on CBS.

In this exclusive interview, Coates discusses topics for the first time since the start of his book tour – including his view of President Biden’s Zionism, and his advice to Vice President Kamala Harris on arms sales to Israel.

His new book, The Message, explores how mainstream narratives shape and sometimes distort our experience. To write the book, Coates traveled to Senegal, South Carolina, and the occupied West Bank.

Men-only mosques invalidate jumma prayers

By Yvonne Ridley

I thought that headline would grab your attention! First and foremost no one’s just made me a mufti and I’m not an Islamic scholar so after reading this I urge you to go out and seek corroboration and knowledge from men and women who truly know and love their Islam.

Secondly I would ask you to check out the committees of those mosques where women are forbidden from entering. I bet the decision taking is made by men and that those men have their roots in countries which were once colonised by the British. There’s a thesis in there somewhere but let’s focus on the issue of men-only mosques for today.

The thorny subject was brought to my attention by Egyptian scholar Sheikh Fadel Soliman who I first encountered in New York and then in Cairo when I was brand new to Islam. He introduced me to the then Grand Imam Sheikh Mohamed Sayyid Tantawi, the Rector of the famous Al Azhar University in Cairo, and the leading cleric in Sunni Islam worldwide.

At our meeting Sheikh Tantawi went to shake my hand and I drew back amid a few gasps from those in our immediate circle. I was still wrestling with the notion of shaking hands of the opposite sex when, astonishingly, the late sheikh accused me of extremism as I refused his hand. Sheikh Fadel interjected and corrected the man widely considered to be head of the Arab sunni world, again more raised eyebrows but he diffused a tense situation.

Ever since then we’ve become great friends and he is someone I’ve relied upon over the years when faced with challenging dilemmas and questions about Islam simply because he has shown himself to be a man who speaks without fear or favour. It’s no use consulting a sheikh who will tell you simply what you want to hear.

The ‘handshake’ thing has troubled me on and off for many years but I’ll return to it another time. I want to focus on the far more pressing phenomenon which is men-only mosques. It is something which troubled me within days of embracing Islam and is virtually unheard of in the Arab world although common in parts of Africa, Asia and Europe.

When I lived in London my nearest place of prayer was the Islamic Centre in Soho. On arrival I was told I could not enter. I created a fuss and the imam at the time (it was around 2003) said the same thing. As I was kept at the door I told him at I knew he was wrong and I would go away, seek knowledge and return to challenge him again. I told him that there was no such thing in Islam as a men-only mosque and I was sure of this – as a feminist and a lifelong supporter of women’s rights there’s no way I’d embrace a faith which sidelines one gen

Now, more than 15 years on, I stand by my insistence that there’s simply no such thing as a men-only mosque and there never has been. It is a concept born out of misogyny and while some of you may wave your hands dismissively and accuse me of being on a feminist trip, stop right there. The truth is your jumma prayers are invalid if you pray in a building where Muslim women are barred. Don’t take my word for it – ask a scholar free of constraints and not someone from the oil-rich schools of scholars for dollars.

Egyptian-born Sheikh Fadel Soliman from The Bridges Foundation, who has a Master’s degree in Shariah, has been investigating the subject for some time. The problem was also resurrected by another friend of mine Imam Ajmal Masroor whose wife and daughter were refused entry to a London mosque quite recently.

Both these men stand up fearlessly for women’s rights in Islam and as I say, I’m proud to count them among my brotherly friends. “Men-only mosques are a bidah as they violate a clear instruction by the Prophet (pbuh) ‘Dont you ever prevent the female servants of Allah from attending mosques’. He forbade us from making a single gender mosque,” says Sheikh Fadel.

He also sought clarification from another hugely respected authority Sheikh Muhammad al-Hassan Walid al-Dido al-Shanqītī who runs a respected educational centre in Mauritania. Not only did the sheikh agree he went further and declared places where women are barred from worship as not even mosques! “The condition for any place to be considered a mosque is that no one can be disallowed to enter and prayer freely. So, if people set out to make a mosque for one type of people only say, for doctors, or rich people, or white, or black, it is not a mosque. Call it whatever you want; it’s not a mosque,” explained Shk Soliman.

And so what of these men-only mosques and their status in Islam? “The jummah is invalid” declares Shk Soliman. This is huge news, it’s seismic when you consider in the UK around a third of the mosques are men-only! It’s something the Muslim Council of Britain, once sinking in a swamp of its own misogyny, is trying to grapple with today as it finally realises we women are half the Ummah and we gave birth to the other half!

The solution is simple. Lift the ban and then set about turning mosque committees into areas where the decision makers and takers are split only by gender. Let’s end the days of men-only mosque committees which serve no one especially the community and consign to history those fake mosques where women are banned.

It is a message I gave in South Africa recently which was welcomed by many of the women I met in Johannesburg and Durban but sadly not all of the men were as enthusiastic. Goodness knows why since there’s not a Muslim man alive who would challenge the word of God and yet, the Qur’an makes it clear mosques are houses of worship for all.

The view on gender discriminating mosques is also condemned at length here by Imam Ajmal Masroor who asks and answers three questions quite simply: “Can a place be called a mosque if it bans prayers? No! Can a place be called a mosque if it was women only mosque? No! Can a place be called a mosque if it was men only mosque? No!”

As I say, don’t take my word for it but if you pray in a place where women are banned then I’d be seriously concerned. If your jumma prayers are invalid then how do you get back all those lost years? I don’t know the answer but if I was a man praying in a men-only mosque I’d be very concerned.

There are three floors in which to worship at the Soho Islamic Centre, surely one can be set aside for women? Next time I go I will demand my right as a Muslim and now I have the knowledge to stand up to the misogynists who should take heed.

And while I’m on with it, for those mosques where women are accommodated ask yourself this: Can we do better? I am sick and tired of going to mosques where the sisters’ rooms are dark, damp, grubby and unclean. This is a terrible advert for Islam. I’m not going to name and shame the mosques and prayer rooms here – their committee members know fine well what I am talking about!

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Why do mosques keep pretending that men and women don’t hang out outside of the mosque?

As a child, I would run laughing through the mosque as if the entire building was my playground.

When your mother is an influential leader in the community and your dad one of the regular faces at the mosque, you’re welcomed everywhere. You become “the darling.” You are doted on by aunties who squeeze your cheeks and rain down blessings on you, while the uncles always have treats for you in their pockets, and ready to play fun games with you between prayer times.

But as I grew older and puberty loomed, my world became smaller as the areas I could roam steadily shrunk.

I was no longer allowed downstairs (the biggest part of the mosque). The uncles stopped smiling at me altogether. I was suddenly restricted to the “back room.”

Despite this, I would still hang around in the corridors chatting to my brother and the boys I had once played with. After all, this was my kingdom. I’d grown up in this mosque so why should I suddenly be denied the friendships and freedom of my youth.

Inevitably, I would then be reprimanded by some man who found my presence and easy manner with the opposite sex offensive as he shooed me into the sister’s area where he thought I belonged.

The whole charade exasperated me and bored me to tears, because that’s exactly what it was, a charade. I saw those men and women outside the walls of the mosque and their behavior was different. Less guarded. More casual. Empty of the pretense and protocol that governed them within the walls of their religious institution. I saw the men chatting with women in the street and sometimes saw them hand in hand with those women.

For example, the concept of “lowering your gaze” is just that, a concept, yet some men have taken it as a literal rule and refuse to look into the eyes of a woman in the mosque. I remember during Ramadan our mosque would serve dinner every night, and a group of us would always help, passing dishes from the men into the women’s section. One man would pass me plates of food, head turned away from me, eyes completely averted and looking at the floor. Incidentally, I never took it as a sign of respect. I will never take it as a sign of respect. It’s a distortion of a simple statement designed to respect women. They have taken it too far.

They have turned this concept into an irrational normality.

To segregate so completely is an insult to both genders. We are assuming that men are so lacking in control around women that they must be cordoned off. It does women a disservice and dehumanizes them to exaggerate sexual temptation so much so that we must be kept hidden.

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Stop telling Muslim teens that mixing genders is some kind of fitna

Two minutes after we settled into our chairs, one of the MYNA volunteers told us we needed to sit separately, boys on one side of the room and girls on the other.

My younger cousin voiced it perfectly when he simply declared to their faces, “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

And he was right.

This was the only event I had been to that weekend that was gender segregated, which is bizarre. Why are we singling young people out with these regulations? In doing so, we assume some things about kids and teenagers. We create rules based on these assumptions, and we force a narrative of young people as characterized by wrong intentions and inappropriate interactions.

The worst part is that this kind of separation is not unique to this one event. It happens frequently in Muslim gatherings. I have been fortunate to have mostly been surrounded by progressive, active, well-rounded Muslims, so I personally don’t face this kind of situation often. But the fact is that it happens a lot. Too often.

It characterizes and defines many young Muslims’ childhoods and adolescence. This has serious implications on the culture of Muslim communities.

To separate young boys and girls is to sexualize their interactions immediately. It is to say that even sitting next to one another is in some way inappropriate. It teaches children that the only relationship between one another is sexual and therefore should be avoided. And it shouldn’t even really matter, but especially when we are sitting with our brothers, or cousins, or close friends we grew up with, to tell us that we might be giving strangers “the wrong idea” is ridiculous on so many levels.

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The Mosque, Women & Prophetic Advice - Habib Ali Al-Jifri

Where are the Girls in this Mosque?

 I was shopping in another part of Toronto the other day, accompanied by my siblings, and it was time for the Maghreb prayer. There was a big mosque nearby and we drove there. There was one entrance called "Sisters' Entrance", my sister entered from there, while my brother and I walked around the mosque to enter via the main entrance - aka the "brother's entrance".

It was a very nice, huge, ornate, well designed mosque. It was also quite new; the mosque used to be two portables fitting around 40 people before, now this was a proper mosque accomodating thousands. The main prayers were over; so my brother and I prayed by ourselves. The main prayer hall was divided into two sections - a glass barrier separating the dimly lit "private" space from the main hall - this is where we prayed. The sisters' area was upstairs.

As we finished praying, I noticed there was a dars (a lesson) going on. I sat down and listened for a bit. The speaker was an old bearded man, he sat in the centre of the main hall surrounded by kids and adults, and he was speaking in flawless English. The topic of the speech was taking lessons from the life of the Prophets and applying it to modern times. As I listened, I realized the speaker was really good, and the speech was excellent. The kids listened with rapt attention.

And yet ... take a look at the picture below.

Everyone shown around the speaker is a male. The adults were male, the kids were male, and of course the speaker was male. Where are the females.

"Oh, they are upstairs, listening too," Answered someone, when I asked them. "We have speakers and close circuit TV."

This is the problem, the big problem, in today's Muslim organizations. If you take a look at this picure, there is a LOT of empty space behind the men, in the MAIN prayer hall. Why can't girls sit here, in close proximity to the speaker, so they can personally ask him questions, or be inspired in way that only a face-to-face conversation can? Sitting behind the men will satisfy any requirements that orthodox Muslims can throw at them, and not to mention, teaching women this way is actually a sunnah.

I remember going to these classes, sometimes as a kid, often as an adult, when a well known speaker would come to the mosque, and being inspired by the Islamic knowledge imparted. If my sister or wife would attend, sometimes I would wonder why they were not similarly impressed. Hard to be impressed when you are looking at a curtain, I think!

I was reading Cartoon Muhammad's article "The Need for Muslim Women Leaders". He is on the mark on how certain segments of the mosque community (let's be candid - it's the more "religious" folk) who construct barriers (literally and figuratively) against Muslim women speakers.

However, the problem that I saw in this mosque, in this dars, prevent women from seeking knowledge in the first place. Muslim Student Associations all across Canada talk about Israel Apartheid, but we have to be honest and admit there remains an Apartheid system in many of our mosques that discriminate against half our community - the girls.

Contrast this to the times of Caliph Umar (the Caliph of the Muslim empire!) being corrected by a woman during a Friday Khutbah! Or even contrast this with the Sayeda Khadija Centre in Mississauga, Ontario. When I was there, the first few rows were occupied by men, and the next few rows were occupied by women. Sisters conversed with the imam (who was standing, in person, a mere 50 feet away from them). And this was no progressive "flaky" imam, this was Imam Hamid Slimi who also teaches at the prestigious Islamic Institute of Toronto.

If you are a woman, which mosque would you go to?  Source

Where are the Healthy Gender Relations in the Muslim Community?

We have failed in engendering healthy gender relations in our community. Face it. I travel throughout the United States, and I see troubling signs of Muslim women unable to get married, primarily because Muslim men have abdicated their social responsibilities.

Muslim men can marry non-Muslims– so they oblige — and Muslim women are stuck.  There are usually few young men around in Muslim community events. You attend any Muslim gathering and find young Muslim women outnumbering young Muslim men usually by a 3:1 ratio.  The young men are non-existent, coping with their own psychosis passed down from our community in their dysfunctional practices. Nothing wrong in integrating within the larger society, as long as it’s not at the expense of fleeing your own community.

I put the majority of the blame on us, their parents, for failing to remove the awkwardness when Muslim guy meets Muslim girl. They never developed healthy interpersonal relationships as adolescents because mosques just aren’t built to do that. The second a family walks into a mosque, the father and sons go to one side and the mother and daughters go to the other. My mosque is different, but it is the exception that proves the rule. The second a young man leaves the mosque, he’s free. The young woman, on the other hand, is stuck.

I was speaking at a university event of Muslim students, and as I was walking into the room, I saw young men and women chattering, chuckling, and just being normal. That’s right, just normal. There was no sex taking place and no inappropriate behavior. So those who act as our religious police, get a grip — just talking. That normalcy is missing in our mosques. We turn into abnormal, asexual and agitated beings when we enter a mosque. Anyway, when I entered the meeting of Muslim students, the guys went to the furthest side of the room away from the women. When I asked why, the answer was that throughout their Muslim upbringing, in Muslim schools nonetheless, it was always awkward for young women and men to mingle. In one Muslim school in Sacramento, the the boys claimed the Imam decreed it haram to talk to girls.

I put the rest of the blame on young Muslim men. Yes, we put enough pressure on them. They were punished in schools because they couldn’t sit still or had so much pent up energy. But parents, and especially mothers, have babied them too much. They are copping out. Here’s the issue now: More young Muslim women are achieving in academics and careers at higher rates than young Muslim men. You find more women doctors, lawyers and even engineers in our community. That intimidates the guys. They can’t handle women achieving when they are struggling in their schools or in finding a profession acceptable to their parents, which typically means being a doctor or lawyer or engineer.

But this idea of the man being the sole breadwinner in the family is very rare, folks. Financial responsibilities are shared now between husband and wife, and so should parental responsibilities. So guys, get over it. If you want to develop machismo, there is nothing more endearing to a woman than a man who can take care of her children and her home. It’s not about taking her out to the fanciest restaurant any more. It’s about taking the kids out so mom can relax, cleaning the dishes after meals and making a gourmet meal for your lover. But still take her out to a fancy restaurant once in a while.

Some guys have another idea on how to manage in finding a wife. Pick one from “back home” and bring her to America, where she will be happy and indebted to you for life. Ah, that doesn’t work all the time — actually, rarely does it work–but to each his own.

If Islam’s essence is justice, then aren’t we violating the essence of Islam when we accept Muslim men marrying non-Muslims while we violently reject Muslim women doing the same? I’m not saying I have the answers, but what I am saying is there needs to be more conversations about this crisis.

Masculinity in this era requires us men to have the courage to weather emotional storms and to confront danger from unhealthy relationships.  The days of exerting physical supremacy and financial prowess are over. Grow some juevos and be a man, as Malcolm X said, by becoming more responsible towards the women in your lives.

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Tel Aviv joins other Israeli districts in opening segregated schools

The Tel Aviv municipality in western Israel has become the latest of a dozen school districts in Israel to force children to attend schools segregated by race and nationality.

Four new kindergartens opening this year in the Bitzaron neighborhood in Tel Aviv will be segregated based on whether the students have Israeli or foreign identity cards.

A number of school districts in the last several years have forced students into separate schools based on the students' nationality, religion or ethnicity. Some schools have specifically excluded Africans, even though many of the Africans in Israel are Jewish. The issue of segregated schools is one that has been raised by activists worldwide who have challenged what they call Israel's 'apartheid' practices -- a reference to the race-based system in South Africa prior to 1994.

An attorney for the Hotline for Immigrant Workers told the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz that the segregated schools violate Israeli law, adding, "if the children are being separated for being foreign, or for being asylum seekers, then it's illegal. The compulsory education law applies to everyone, and registration for kindergartens and schools shouldn't be on the basis of nationality, religion, race or legal status."

Some parents registering their children for kindergarten were upset about the segregation policy in the district. Anat Ben-Moshe told a Ha'aretz reporter, "When I asked why they don't mix the children, they said when the majority are foreign, there's a problem with the parents. As a parent, I now have to explain this separation to my daughter, which seems much more problematic."

Israel has over thirty laws that separate people based on race and religion, and all Israelis receive identity cards which state their nationality as either 'Jewish', 'Arab' or 'Other'. Israeli authorities say they will continue the practice of dividing its population in order to 'ensure the character of the Jewish state remains intact'.

The newly-segregated kindergartens in Tel Aviv do not include Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, who have always had to attend separate schools from Jewish Israelis.

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