“Also, I just felt like, ‘Can’t we defend women’s right to wear hijab without accusing non-Muslims of being shallow, body-obsessesed maniacs and without making it seem that hijab makes you into super woman!?’”

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY, WORD-FOR-WORD. This kind of stereotyping not only makes non-hijabi Muslim women out to be like those “slutty westerners” (further reinforcing that absurd stereotype), but also is not true to the reality of wearing hijab at all. As a hijabi, I can say I feel suffocated by this assumption that hijabis are superhuman. We as Muslims are so obsessed with trying to defend hijab before non-Muslims, that we fail to address the de-humanizing views that exist in our own community towards both hijabis and non-hijabis.

I’m surprised MANA was as segregated as ISNA and ICNA. I’ve been to the latter two, but not yet to MANA. I assumed that since ISNA/ICNA are mainly run by immigrant Muslims, that they would be far more strict about segregation than indigenous-Muslim-run MANA. Maybe this is my ignorance, but I’ve generally been under the impression that aside from the pockets of Salafi influence, the indigenous Muslim community is generally more secure with itself when it comes to these issues and therefore not as segregation-obsessed. But perhaps it occurred this time because the conf was in Philly, where having lived there I know the Salafi influence is very strong.

@Sobia:
Great responses to the gender segregation issue.

As a Muslimah who is “obsessed” with being in close quarters with Muslim men let me try an explain why, for me at least.

- This is not a new trend. Men and women prayed in the same room, without any barriers, during the Prophet’s time and in his mosque. Something that started 1500 years ago cannot be called new.

- Personally, I feel there is nothing immodest or un-Islamic about being in “close quarters” with men. I grew up in a small Muslim community and we had no choice but to pray in “close quarters” – ie in the same room. There were no barriers and no problems. Muslimahs like myself who are “obsessed” have seen this system work very well and successfully Alhumdollilahf.

- Many Muslimahs, like myself, feel like being separated in such a harsh manner so as to have physical barriers between men and women otherizes us and inferiorizes us. If things really were egalitarian then the Imam should take turns speaking – one time in the men’s section, then next time in the women’s. The men’s section gets all the “knowledge” and the women’s get noisy children. This doesn’t seem fair to women like myself.

To other women the benefits outweigh the problems – to women like me, the problems outweigh the benefits.

@ Fatemeh: I’ve only been to one event sponsored by ISNA but it wasn’t their main conference. It was an education summit and I liked it. I thought it was pretty productive.

@Jamerican: Yeah, the Salafi presence this time around was pretty big. My husband got into a bit of a heated exchange with a security guard who I’m pretty certain was a Salafi. He was upset that my husband was looking for me in the “sisters” area outside the hall where the jumu’ah took place. Bizaare!

@musicalchef: ITA!

@Haleemah: I’m not sure what you mean by we are not suppose to pray with men. During the first day of the conference, women weren’t praying with men but praying about 3-5 feet behind them. The second day a partition went up.

@Sobia: Thanks for the link!

Many Muslims believe it is fine to pray with the men. I’ve been to mosques/gathering where men and women pray in the same room. So this is not the case across the board.

You should check out the documentary “Me and the Mosque.”

This is part one of 6.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPgQtDB318Y

Thanks for writing about this. I didn’t know a lot about the MANA conference, and it’s interesting to see your take on it. Have you ever been to any ISNA conferences? What are your takes on those?

The gender segregation thing is pretty interesting, too. I wonder if this is a trend.