M. Hasna Maznavi (born circa 1986) founded the first Women's Mosque of America in Los Angeles, California, in January 2015. The women's mosque is an effort to give Muslim women a more prominent place in the mosque community. The women's mosque had precedents in other countries in Muslim-majority nations and elsewhere, but this is the first such space in the United States. Maznavi was inspired by her own study of Islamic history and concerns about female Muslim participation to establish the mosque, which sets a precedent for women's leadership in American Islam.
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Background
Maznavi is currently the president of the women's mosque she founded. She is a filmmaker and comedy writer, and she received an MFA in Film and TV Production from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and a BA in Art and Mass Communications from UC Berkeley. Maznavi was 29 years old when she established the first-ever women's mosque in the United States. Maznavi was inspired to start the mosque because of a feeling that women need a more prominent place in American mosques. She was also inspired by her own study of Islamic history, where she found examples of Muslim women who led prayers and devotions.
Women's Mosque of America
The Women's Mosque of America was founded by Maznavi and fellow Muslim Sana Muttalib. Southern California Muslim women meet for Friday prayers on a monthly basis, with some programming during the week. Housed in a former synagogue and interfaith women's space in downtown Los Angeles, the mosque is led by women. The call to prayer, speeches on Islamic scholarship, taught Quran classes, and Friday sermon all come from women. The mosque permits men at some activities but is led by women and has discussions and classes dedicated to their concerns. The women's mosque represents the development of the Muslim community in America both internally and externally. Muslim women in the Islamic heartland do not attend mosques regularly, so American mosques established by new immigrant Muslims were sometimes ill-equipped to accommodate the needs of Muslim women in America. The mosque also sought to counter a stereotype of Muslim women as having no leadership roles in their faith.
After the mosque was founded, Maznavi published an article in the Huffington Post to explain the motivation for her work with the women's mosque. She tried to counter the image that the women's mosque represented a rebellion against both Muslim men and Islamic history. She wrote to clarify that the women's mosque was not a rebellion against the men of the Islamic faith and that Muslim men were involved and supportive of her work.
Women's mosques
Women's mosques have offered female-only worship to Muslims at various times in Islamic history. Although Islamic scholarship shows Muslim women have led prayers since Islam's founding, scholars have debated whether women can lead the Friday sermon.
Women's mosques can be found in various countries, including India, China, Chile, Egypt, Israel/Palestine, Sudan, and Syria.