By Abdul Gani, TwoCircles.net,
Guwahati: Taking part in Jumma Namaz at Islamic Education Centre Jame Masjid at Hatigaon in Guwahati on Friday, Assam Governor JB Patnaik advocated that women should also be allowed to offer Namaz at mosques along with men. The governor who was also accompanied by his wife Jayanti Patnaik said that such activity will help the women folk in the society for a better tomorrow.
“It’s a great feeling to be a part on this occasion here. I’m not an Islamic scholar but what I feel is that every religion teaches us to love our fellow being and spread the message peace and harmony for the welfare of the entire community. I also feel that the women in the society should also be allowed to be a part of this great opportunity,” said the governor after offering namaz at Islamic Education Centre Jame Masjid, which is probably only mosque in the state where women are allowed to offer namaz.
His wife Jayanti Patnaik was seen sitting in the row made for women and expressed her pleasure to be present on the occasion. Islamic Education Centre Jame Masjid which was established in 2004 has set an example for the community by letting in women to offer namaz in mosque.
Vice President of the Islamic Education Centre and Jame Masjid Akhtar Uddin Ahmed said women are allowed to offer namaz in the mosque since 2004 after the new building of the mosque has come up. “This mosque is the first declared mosque in the whole of state where men and women offer their namaz together in the same building,” he said.
It can be mentioned that in 2011 Governor Patnaik stirred up a hornet’s nest among a faction of Islamic fraternity after he offered namaz along with women for the very first time inside the 17th century Ajan Peer Dargah in Sivasagar district. He also took initiative to get women devotees inside Vasnavite monasteries or better known as Sattra in Barpeta where women were not allowed to get inside earlier.