Women Now Free to Enter the Haji Ali Mosque

The Haji Ali Dargah Trust appealed to the Bombay High Court’s order to lift a ban that prohibited women from entering the sanctum sanctorum of their mosque. For the last five years, the Haji Ali Trust insisted that it was a grievous sin for women to be in close proximity to a revered male saint’s grave. The removal of the ban reflects the larger campaign throughout India for women to be able to enter a number of Hindu temples and other religious sites.

The Haji Ali Dargah Trust initially imposed the ban in 2012 to conform to Sharia law. The trust had justified this decision by referring to verses from the Quran and Prophet Mohammed, arguing that Islam does not permit women to enter mosques. In response to the prohibition, Noorjehan Niaz, a co-founder of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, which fights for Muslim women’s rights in India, joined others to file a lawsuit against the Trust on the grounds that it violates constitutional rights of women.

Ultimately, the Haji Ali Trust agreed to the court ruling and stated, “Islam believes in equality among men and women.” The mosque is currently in the process of constructing a separate entrance into the inner sanctum for women.

The High Court’s decision on the ban reflects the larger issue of women’s restricted entrance into other religious sites. In April 2016, Hindu women entered the inner sanctum of the Shani Shingnapur, a Pune temple, for the first time in four hundred years. Other protests have also emerged over similar bans on women at religious places on the grounds of issues such as menstruation.  

The head of a temple in Kerala claimed that he would consider allowing women to enter if there was a machine to check if they were menstruating. Statements like these, along with the newest Haji Ali ruling, have resulted in a nation-wide campaign fighting for equal rights for women. The High Court’s ruling signals a development in greater freedom for women, particularly given its emphasis that no one group has the power to alter the manner of religious practices of any other individual or group.