[Except for India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, women praying inside mosques are common.]

Kozhikode: In what could be another blow to All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) after instant Triple Talaq, NISA - a forum of Muslim women in Kerala, has decided to approach the Supreme Court of India next week seeking its intervention for permission to pray in mosques across India.

VP Zuhra, Social Activist and President of NISA, said the forum was holding discussion with its lawyers on the issue and will move to the Apex Court next week. The move came days after SC allowed women in the age group of 10 to 50 years to enter the Sabarimala temple in Kerala

"Women are not at all allowed to enter mosques for prayers. In the present scenario, when the apex court has granted permission for Hindu women to enter the Sabarimala shrine, why Muslim women have been barred from the entry?" she asked.

Like instant talaq which is illegal as per the Islamic Sharia and hence banned in most of the Islamic countries, women are allowed, as per the tradition of Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him), to pray in mosques almost everywhere including Makkah, Madinah and Al-Aqsa - three most holy places for Muslims. But, clerics in countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh do not allow women to pray in mosques.

"Even during the times of Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him), women who are in their menstruating age were allowed to pray in the mosques. When the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself advocated such things, why are women in India suffering", asked Zuhra?

Interestingly, some clerics who have of late joined politics invite Muslim women to their rallies . Even All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) recently organised rallies and processions of women all across India. But, they refuse to permit them entry into mosques for prayers.

Yet there are some mosques in every city of the subcontinent that have suitable arrangement for women worshippers like other parts of the world.

It will now be interesting to see how the Supreme Court of India, which recently banned instant talaq calling it against the Holy Quran, will deal with the petition of NISA seeking permission to pray in mosques - a practice common since the times of Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) everyhwere in the world except India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

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