Atheists & Agnostics

I found that out the hard way one Friday morning, when I was wandering the back streets of Alexandria, Egypt.

Turned a corner down an alley, and suddenly found myself facing a whole gaggle of women wearing their Friday Prayer Day best. They were clearly not happy to see me, and glared until I moved on. Which didn't take long. It was a very awkward moment.

Egyptian friends told me I had blundered into the "women's section" of a mosque. Which happened to be located outside, in the alley.

Some Egyptian mosques do allow women inside. Though they are often relegated to a small, cramped room in the back. Many times I went out to dinner etc. with Egyptian men, and they would stop to do their prayers at a mosque while I waited outside. I don't remember ever seeing any women in the main room of the mosques - only men.

Since the 2011 revolution, some Egyptian women have pushed for more liberal rules about allowing women into mosques.

Which shouldn't be an issue anyway. Most of Islam's Sophisticated Theologians seem to agree that nothing in the Koran or Hadiths specifically bans women from mosques. Mohammed himself allegedly let women in, though segregated from men. But gradually the idea spread that women should mostly do their worshipping at home, and not at the mosque.

At least that's one Official Story. There are others, depending on which of the 9,467* schools of Islamic theology we care to research.

*For nitpicking Alerters, that's a slight exaggeration.