Praying on Mountaintops in New Zealand
I received one of the more interesting responses to the British documentary “Women Only Jihad” and a related post entitled “Women’s Jihad - Praying in the Masjid” from a sister in New Zealand. After encountering resistance from brothers at certain masajid and due to the lack of prayer space accommodations for women, some sisters have taken to praying outside at fajr on a mountaintop.
From Sister Fiona in her own words:
My story is from New Zealand.
A couple of us decided we’d pray on one of the beautiful mountains in our city (how appropriate to be on the sides of a volcano as the dawn light breaks into the sky). Most of our mountains scattered through the city are reserves and parks and public spaces.
We were seeking some way to show solidarity with, and respect for the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand as their forefathers lost substantial amounts of land in the early years of European settlement. Auckland itself is built on 25,000 misappropriated acres.
Most of our Muslim population has arrived in the last decade and so this history is not known to them. It’s like the butler (the European style government) has opened the door and presented himself as the owner, so we want to get past that to meet with the host. As Allah (subhana wa ta ala) has said, we are made of many tribes and nations so we can come to know one another.
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