2013’s 13 Most Talked About Mosque Photos

In 2013, the photo blog I curate on women’s prayer spaces in mosques around the world, Side Entrance, reached thousands of people and helped to spark a dynamic online and off-line conversation about the spaces Muslim women occupy in our mosques in particular and in our communities in general. Here are 13 of the most talked about photos, videos and quotes from the year:

13. Duke University prayer room where women and men pray in the same space, with no barrier. (US)

12. Unmosqued: The trailer

11. “Women’s balcony view in the Shoreline (Bosnian) Mosque near Seattle, WA.” (US)

10. Anse Tamara Gray: “The Situation of Muslim women today is not one that would be recognizable to our Prophet PBUH” (US)

9. Families sit together at the Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, Iran

8. Children’s playroom at Chicago’s Masjid Taqwa (US)

7. A women’s prayer space in a mosque in New York City. The photographer wished to remain anonymous. (US)

6. “Masjid ul-Islam in Brixton, Johannesburg – the city’s most women friendly mosque. Men and women pray side by side separated by carved wooden lattice screens, can see and hear the imam, women give lectures and are on the working committee, the main coordinator is a woman.” (South Africa)

5. “No Sisters at this mosque until further notice.” (UK)

4. al-Habib Ali Zain al-Abideen al-Jifri: “To the men, especially those who are religious – before looking right and left, look at yourself. How do you view women? Your night prayers, your daily fasts, your memorization of scripture, your charity, your pilgrimage, your knowledge and your teaching, your struggles for the sake of God – everything you do – won’t get you to the point where you are something before God if you don’t let all of that pass through the gateway of benevolence to women.” (Yemen)

3. Women’s entrance to Chicago’s Jamia Mosque (US)

2. Women’s Rights Charter from Educating Muslims About Women’s Roles in Sacred Space

1. Women’s mosque in Beijing, China

In 2013, women and men around the world have shared their photographs, stories and videos of their mosque experiences. Mosque goers – Sunni, Shia, Arab, South Asian, Latino, African Americans, converts and raised, from nearly every corner of the world – shared a snapshot of their year in worship with Side Entrance. Some of them were heartbreaking, others, inspiring, and all are a piece of the mosaic that is the practice of Islam in the contemporary world. Check out the website (linked above) for more stories and submit your own photos in 2014!