For months, Muslim women have not been able to go and pray at the Sunna Mosque in Roubaix. As La Voix du Nord reported on Wednesday July 21, the place of worship is only open to men because of Covid-19, limiting the number of worshippers who can gather. Instead of adhering to the order of arrival, mosque officials decided to invoke the texts of the Quran, which would give priority access to men. “It is a shame that in the 21st century this kind of mentality still exists. What kind of image are we giving of our religion?” said one woman who was denied entry to the place of worship. As the symbolic day of Eid El-Kebir was celebrated on Tuesday July 20, some women hurled insults to make their feelings about the injustice known.
In defence of this decision, Kamel Amrane, Sunna’s vice-chairman, asserted that it was not a question of “exclusion” but a “space problem”, while adding that it was “better (for women) to pray at home” and that prayer was voluntary, unlike for men for whom it was obligatory, especially on this feast day. A false justification for one of the Muslim women who countered, “Eid day is an exception, the Prophet has commanded that we come to the mosque. According to the local daily, Kamel Amrane explained that women among the 2,500 regular worshippers might well start praying again from September. “The regulars who come to us know that. As for the others, if it bothers them, they can go somewhere else,” added Mohamed Miloudi, the association’s treasurer.
Roubaix : à cause des jauges liées au Covid, la mosquée ferme ses portes aux femmes