Women's mosques exist around the world, with a particularly rich tradition in China. As Islam has principles of segregating the sexes at times, many places of worship provide a dedicated prayer space for women within the main building, but in a few countries, separate buildings were constructed. In some cases, women were allowed to become imams. In the 21st century, many countries have seen women-led or women-only mosques created, as part of liberal movements within Islam.

Asia

China

Women's mosques () have existed in China for several hundred years. They can be found in the provinces of

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

and

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

. In China, separate women-only mosques were built by the Muslim communities. At the end of the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

and early

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

, Hui women had begun to form their own mosques. The oldest surviving women's mosque in China, is Wangjia Hutong Women's Mosque of

Kaifeng Kaifeng ( zh, s=开封, p=Kāifēng) is a prefecture-level city in east-Zhongyuan, central Henan province, China. It is one of the Historical capitals of China, Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and ...

, which dates to 1820. For religious reasons, Hui communities had started to cultivate more theological learning among the women. As a result, a portion of the female Muslims who had experienced a religious education, gradually incorporated Islamic observances into their daily religious activities, and this produced the establishment of women's mosques. By the 20th century, there were separate places of worship as women-only mosques. They are a special form of the sacred building, either as a separate institution or mosque attached to an existing larger mosque. Their managers are women, wives of the

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

of a larger mosque. The commonly used title for it is ''Shiniang'' (). Female Islamic clerics are referred to as ''nü ahong'' () in Chinese. In the province of

: *Beidajie Nusi,

Zhengzhou Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan, China. Located in northern Henan, it is one of the nine National central city, national central cities in China, and serves as the political, economic, technological, and educational center of the province. Th ...

*Beixiajie Nusi, Zhengzhou *Minzhulu Nusi, Zhengzhou *Xishilipu Nusi, Zhengzhou *Hexi Nusi,

Zhoukou Zhoukou ( zh, s=周口 , p=Zhōukǒu, w=Chou-k’ou; Postal romanization, postal: Chowkow) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Henan province of China, province, China. It borders Zhumadian to the southwest, Xuchang and Luohe to the west, Ka ...

*Tiedanjie Nüsi,

, one of 16 women's mosques in that city Elsewhere: *Jiangfanglu Nusi,

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

(

) *Qian Xinchengdao Nusi (Hohhot Nüsi),

Hohhot Hohhot,; abbreviated zh, c=呼市, p=Hūshì, labels=no formerly known as Kweisui, is the Capital (political), capital of Inner Mongolia in the North China, north of the China, People's Republic of China, serving as the region's administrativ ...

(

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

) *Botou Qingzhen Nüsi, Botou,

Cangzhou Cangzhou; Jilu Mandarin, locally pronounced as is a prefecture-level city in eastern Hebei province of China, province, People's Republic of China. At the 2020 Chinese census, 2020 census, Cangzhou's built-up (''or metro'') area made of Yunh ...

City (

) *

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Women's mosque
jap.) * Xiaotaoyuan Mosque,

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

Maldives

In the

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

, there are women's mosques located in many islands and atolls, a tradition which possibly dates back to earlier times due to the influence women have historically wielded in Maldivian society. It was a Maldivian practice to maintain such mosques, known as ''nisha miskii'', which were separate buildings run by female equivalents of ''mudimu'' (male mosque caretakers) known as ''mudahim''. The women's mosques are not on every single island, and an example of this is the capital island, where mosques have a separate area for women within larger mosques. In 2005, there was an estimated number of over 250 women's mosques spread out among the 250 inhabited islands. In late 2009 and 2010, all of the Maldives’ ''nisha miskii'' seemed to have closed. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs of the Maldives closed the mosques claiming that they were expensive to maintain and rarely used. As of 2018, available accounts indicate that women's mosques no longer exist in the Maldives.

India

In the union territory of

Lakshadweep Lakshadweep () is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands divided into three island subgroups: the Amindivi Islands in the north, the Laccadive Islands (separated from Amindivi roughly by the 11th parallel north), and th ...

, oral traditions suggest the establishment of women's mosques in the area. According to the few mentions of women's mosques in the region, there were reportedly small private buildings that were attended by women with female leadership.

Other Asian countries

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

, see Islam in Uzbekistan *

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

, see Islam in Afghanistan *

, see Islam in the Maldives *

Padang Padang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of West Sumatra. It had a population of 833,562 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 909,040 at the 2020 Census;Bad ...

and

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta is the capital city of the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by Hamengkubuwono, a monarchy, Yogyakarta is regarded as an importan ...

, see Islam in Indonesia *

Byblos Byblos ( ; ), also known as Jebeil, Jbeil or Jubayl (, Lebanese Arabic, locally ), is an ancient city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. The area is believed to have been first settled between 8800 and 7000BC and continuously inhabited ...

, see

Islam in Lebanon Islam has a long, continuous history in Lebanon. A substantial portion of the Lebanese population is Muslim, probably representing a majority of the population, although the precise percentage is difficult to ascertain. The Lebanese constitu ...

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

, see

Islam in Saudi Arabia Islam is the state Religion in Saudi Arabia, religion of Saudi Arabia. The kingdom is called the "home of Islam" as it was the birthplace of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, who united and ruled the Arabian Peninsula. It is the location of the cit ...

Africa

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

, see Islam in Sudan * Gabiley, see Islam in Somalia

Europe

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, see Islam in the Netherlands *

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, see Islam in Germany. Seyran Ateş founded the Ibn Ruschd-Goethe mosque in 2017 *

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, see Islam in Denmark. Sherin Khankan founded the Mariam Mosque in 2016

North America

*The Women's Mosque of America,

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The first women's mosque in the United States opened in 2015, located in a multifaith cultural centre in the Pico-Union district. *Qal'bu Maryam Women's Mosque, Oakland, California. The first women's mosque in the San Francisco Bay area, and the second in the United States, opened March 4, 2017, is located in the City of Refuge Church in Oakland. *The Women's Mosque of Canada was established in Toronto in April 2019. The mosque started with space at Trinity-St. Paul's United Church.

References

Bibliography

* Maria Jaschok:
Religious Women in a Chinese City: Ordering the past, recovering the future - Notes from fieldwork in the central Chinese province of Henan
. February 2005. ''QEH Working Paper Series - QEHWPS125'' (Working Paper Number 124) * Maria Jaschok, Jingjun Shui:
The History of Women's Mosques in Chinese Islam
'' Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2000 (the Chinese edition's title was: ''Zhongguo Qingzhen nüsi shi'' 中国清真女寺史 (水镜君/ (英)玛利亚•雅绍克), ; cf

* Ping-Chun Hsiung, Maria Jaschok, Cecilia Nathansen Milwertz:
Chinese women organizing: cadres, feminists, Muslims, queers
' * Jaschok, Maria & Shui Jingjun, 'Restoring history to women, restoring women to history: reconstructing the evolution of Qingzhen Nüsi (women's mosques) in China's Islam', Pakistan Journal of Women's Studies: Alam-e-Niswan 10 (2003) 2, 153-173 * Elisabeth Allés:
Des oulémas femmes : le cas des mosquées féminines en Chine
, ''Revue du monde musulman et de la Méditerranée'', Année 1999, Volume 85, Numéro 85–86, pp. 215–236 *
icampus.ucl.ac.be "Les minorités musulmanes en Chine" ("Les mosquées féminines")

External links

*

* {{in lang, fr}

* (Chinese
Yisilanjiao baiyi
Islam in China Mosques Buildings and structures in Henan Buildings and structures in Shanxi Buildings and structures in Hebei Sex segregation and Islam

Mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...