COMMENT: I am not Muslim, in fact I'm Agnostic. But looking at Islam from the outside has me wondering how much of orthodox Islam is cultural based. After all the roots of Islam (and Christianity for that matter) is from an era of male dominance and cultures who treated women like possessions belonging to men. Are extremests today refusing to let Islam evolve.
Excerpts
SUMMARY: A Muslim academic recently opened a gay- and women-friendly mosque in Cape Town, South Africa, which was largely regarded as a response to the culture of exclusion and conservatism in the Muslim faith. And despite receiving death threats and fierce criticism, experts say the house of worship's policies represent an adaptation of centuries-old traditions. Martin Seemungal reports.
MARTIN SEEMUNGAL (NewsHour): The call to prayer at Cape Towns newest mosque, which advertises itself as one of a kind in South Africa.
TAJ HARGEY: We are the only mosque by the way in the whole country that has the words all welcome. We chose the name open mosque to really identify what the mosque was about—it was open to all.
MARTIN SEEMUNGAL: Sixty-year-old Taj Hargey is the man behind this new mosque– a mosque he sees worthy of being replicated in other parts of the world.
Hargey says his mosque is open to non-muslims, homosexuals—women are allowed to preach from the pulpit—they pray side by side with the men.
Tanweer is one of the few who prays here regularly ever since the Mosque opened last September.
TANWEER: I come to this mosque every week because this is the only mosque that I know of where there’s equality in the genders, where females sit and can actually view the sermon from the front and we’re considered equals to men.
MARTIN SEEMUNGAL: A counter, he says, to the daily stream of news and images that portray Islam as extremist and violent.
In fact, Hargey has been challenging Muslim orthodoxy for years.
Born and raised in Cape Town Hargey went abroad and studied at Oxford-he has a PHD in Religious studies.
He made headlines in Britain last year because of his ‘ban the burqa’ campaign.
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TAJ HARGEY: This idea of face masking (burqa), if its an Islamic practice. Why is it banned in mecca? No woman which goes to mecca the holiest mosque in Islam is allowed to cover her face—so this notion that is an Islamic practice with due respect is nonsense..it may be a cultural expression..fine..it may be a personal wish..fine—If I want to put a bone through my nose—I have a right..but then do I have a right to say a bone through my nose is an Islamic thing?
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