BY ADERONKE ADEYERI
Imam Talihat Yunus is the Chief Imam, Adiam Memorial Central Mosque Iporo Ake, Abeokuta. He speks on sitting arrangement or what some people called segregation of women in mosque. Excerpts
Sitting with or among the opposite sex is strictly prohibited. When men and women sits together, it results to different mishaps happening in our society like fornication, adultery, sexually transmitted diseases and even unwanted pregnancies.
The major reason for this segregation in Islam is that whatever you are close to, can make you sin. The only reason that a man and woman can sit together in Islam is only when the two parties are related by blood.
The Qur’an went as far as teaching us that in Islam, men and women should not handshake, hug or peck the opposite sex that they are not related with. The sitting arrangement in the mosque is a vivid example of what is expected of Muslims whereby where the menfolk will be seated will be different from where the female will be seating. Nowadays, most mosques have where the female will have their ablution separately and it will be far from where the male will have theirs and they do not share the same toilet. In fact, the women do not see the Imam during prayer but only here his voice because of the way mosque are built. Even when we have societal gathering like funerals, weddings in Islam, it is expected of us as Muslims to seat separately and segmented.
