Oxford mosque accused of sexism in ‘males only’ iftar row
Muslim Council of Britain vows to step in after Oxford’s oldest mosque allegedly turned away a group of fasting women
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Oxford’s oldest mosque has come under fire after allegedly refusing to serve iftar meals to a group of women and their children during Ramadan.
A representative reportedly told the hungry group waiting at the Central Oxford Mosque on Tuesday that “there’s no iftars for ladies” and sent them away with only dates and water. The mosque had previously announced in a social media post on Monday: “The iftar at the masjid is for males only.” It appeared to justify its position by quoting a hadith encouraging women to pray at home.
Its management team has since partially rowed back, claiming it did not have enough staff to run a women’s iftar but would do so if it could recruit more volunteers, and dismissing the allegation that women were turned away as “completely false rumours”. Central Oxford Mosque did not respond to Hyphen’s requests for comment.
The Muslim Council of Britain’s new secretary general, Dr Wajid Akhter, posted on social media that there was “absolutely no justification” for the mosque’s decision, while Laiqah Osman — whose sister was among those reportedly told to go home — said she believed some within the mosque “don’t see us as equals, or even as worthy enough to be in the space”.
“To me, this was bigger than having the Islamic debate about whether or not women should be coming to the masjid,” she said. “Even those who are picking apart the hadith can’t argue that you should never deny a fasting person food. It’s just not part of our faith.”
Osman said the mosque’s response, including its denial that it had sent her sister away, had been disappointing. “The masjid needs to acknowledge what happened,” she said. “We would like to see a sincere apology that this was wrong and have the women’s iftars reinstated.
“The excuse of there not being enough volunteers is not a valid reason for why my sister experienced this. Even if there was validity to that argument, on the day if someone is asking for iftar, it wouldn’t take much to put it into containers and hand it to the women to take away.”
Akhter added in his video: “Food for one is enough for two. There is absolutely no excuse for this sort of behaviour and we are going to speak to the mosque and the people affected, and bring them together to find a way forward so that this never happens again.”
An MCB spokesperson added the organisation was “committed to supporting mosques in becoming more inclusive spaces that reflect the diverse needs of British Muslim communities” and hoped to “ensure not only women’s voices, but also those of young people and people with disabilities, are heard and play an active role in shaping the future of our institutions”.
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