As the coronavirus outbreak spread, mosques, like many houses of worship, were required to close their doors even during the holy month of Ramadan in compliance with statewide shutdowns. American Muslims across the country were forced to celebrate at home.

With the entire country homebound, many Muslims turned to online religious programming, and a silver lining appeared in the quarantine. It opened a space for Muslim women leaders and scholars to hold virtual programming in what is a traditionally male-dominated space. Mosques across the country were suddenly in need of more speakers to fill the void of online discussions, and Muslim women, who were often overlooked despite their qualifications, were now being tapped to host virtual meetups and programs.

The success of these virtual programs hosted and led by women for women has renewed calls for more inclusive programs to translate over into the physical spaces. With Ramadan over and mosques beginning to reopen with the loosening of lockdown measures, Muslim Americans are using the opportunity to rethink how their houses of worship operate and can survive as the COVID-19 crisis eases.

It was very sad and a bit lonely praying often by myself or with my mom at home. But at the same time, what I noticed, not just for me but also for women across the country, was that there was a plethora of religious programming that was online and that was particularly alluring to women, said Hind Makki, a Chicago resident who would regularly go to the mosque during Ramadan to worship and gather with other Muslims.

Outside of Ramadan, Makki considers herself unmosqued, not regularly attending a specific mosque because the ones near her lack proper accommodations for women, she said. The inadequate physical spaces, including putting the womens section in the basement and having few programs that cater to women, turned her away. But after participating in several female-focused online programs, she said, she may not miss the physical institutions after all.

Demanding Inclusive Spaces For Women Online And Offline

In 2012, Makki started Side Entrance, a visual storytelling platform where she collected and posted photos of the womens section of a mosque. Since the majority of mosques are gender-segregated, oftentimes the womens section was neglected. In her photos, viewers contrasted the womens spaces with the mens prayer hall, which often served as the main hall and was better lighted and decorated, and was stocked with more resources.

Womens spaces were much smaller, despite the fact women frequently attended with their families and children. Sometimes the imam in the main hall could be seen only on a TV, which often broke down. The inadequacies contributed to a sense of it being a spiritually draining space.

My intention was to start a conversation and provide visual evidence of what womens experiences are like. The reason to do that was to provide a space for catharsis for women and then to show men who typically dont ever go into the womens spaces, or even think about the womens spaces, what womens experiences are like, said Makki.