The issue of providing a place to women so that they can offer timely prayers is more of a social one than religious
ISLAMABAD: If you are a woman in Pakistan, you are going to be told that you had better stay at home if you worry about the punctuality of your prayers. If you are told this directly then you are bound to think of it after you visit a few female prayer areas in malls and restaurants of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
A mall in Islamabad despite its seven gigantic floors only manages to provide a small, suffocated female prayer area in its basement car parking. One of the restaurants in posh areas of Islamabad will offer women their terrace (with only two prayer mats) as a female prayer area. Be it Saddar in Rawalpindi whose roof is set aside for it (with a view of the Metro bus station) or hills near Murree where an expensive and classy resort will provide you two sheets of cloth outside its washrooms, women’s right to pray has not been given the kind of attention that it deserves.
The issue of providing a place to women so that they can offer timely prayers is more of a social one than religious. We, women, who leave our homes for shopping, get-togethers or even official meetings, are not asking to stand beside men in mosques. We are not even asking for separate mosques. All we want is a small and clean area where we can offer our prayers on time.
There is a need to have proper female prayer areas wherever women are — be it a market, a mall or a restaurant. Women should be given all religious and social rights.
Ayesha Zahid
Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2018.
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