Thaindian News

London, June 9(ANI): An inter-faith and conflict resolution organisation in the UK has launched a directory of 100 “women-friendly” mosques in England.

The directory by Faith Matters has awarded star ratings to mosques judged by a series of requirements.

The criteria were providing separate prayer space to women, services and activities for women, an imam accessible to women, women holding office on mosque committees and the inclusion of women in decision making at operational and strategic levels in the mosque.

The directory’s researchers assessed 486 mosques in order to draw up the directory, and out of them 50 mosques met all five criteria while 50 met four of the standards.

“This project is the first of its kind to focus on the needs of women and their access to, and participation on the governance and day to day functioning of the Mosque,” The Mirror quoted Fiyaz Mughal, founder and director of Faith Matters, as saying.

“We hope the directory will provide key reference points for other institutions to improve upon,” he added.

The criteria were reached after consulting Muslim women in London, Coventry, Derby, Manchester, Birmingham and Bradford.

Talking about the directory, Batool Al-Toma, of the National Muslim Women’s Advisory Group, said: “This project must be hailed as a welcome and useful exercise for the whole of the Muslim community in the UK.”

“Secure and safe places for the performance of prayer for women are long overdue and will be warmly welcomed by women who have been struggling to deliver on these sought after requirements for several decades,” she added. (ANI)