Masjid, Y U NO WOMEN FRIENDLY?

assalamualaikum wahai orang orang yang awesome belaka

how are you?
im fine thank you.

ok, i'm going straight to the point.

Masjids in Malaysia are, masyAllah, beautiful!

i've been to Istanbul and seen their majestic mosques, but the unique thing about Malaysia's mosques, is that every mosques have their own identity.

alhamdulillah, i've had opportunities to pray in some mosques. ye la dah duduk bujang, sometimes on the way back from meeting or whatever, i'll just go to the nearest masjid to pray since i have nothing to rush home for.

don't get me wrong (due to the title), i love going to mosques!

it feels amazing to pray in a jemaah.

but i just don't get how they're quite unfriendly towards women. i don't mean the mosque itself, but the architecture of it.

i went to this one mosque, and tempat ambil wudhu for women is further than mens'!

i went to a this other mosque, and guess what, tempat wudhu is outside, and it doesn't have a door! just a shower curtain which starts from the knee up. lagi best kan, TEMPAT WUDHU PEREMPUAN IS EXPOSED TO THE MEN'S PRAYING AREA!

you get that?

the tap is at waist height, so i thought "takkan nak cangkung amik wudhu? kalau diri, nak kena angkat kain tinggi-tinggi.. kalau cangkung, silap silap my tudung slipped and then gelabah pastu habis basah baju.. kalau laki lalu kat luar.. &*(&$*()" 

what i did then, i angle kan my body (konon so that men won't be able to see my exposed arm, hair and ears) and sacrificed my kain when washing my feet. i was on the way to a wedding. huhu.. 

and then sarung tudung basah basah and lari terkedek kedek into the prayer area. i think it was a good 2 meters kot. 

at first i thought "takpe la.. redha la.. maybe this is a test for all women"

but now, i think it's not right.

this is not a test made by Allah SWT. this is the problem with architects or contractors or engineers who did not take women's comfort into consideration.

apart from tempat wudhu being a tad bit far from the prayer area, i have been in masjids that provide a really small confined space for women to change!

some women have to change into telekungs.

some have to wear their hijab.

some women have the habit of taking of their pants or skirts when wearing the telekung.

some have to wear makeup after praying. (maybe ada event?)

imagine.

if there are 50 women in the mosques, and all they have is a 4ft by 6ft area to change and stuff.

it's uncomfortable.

also, a few times i've seen mothers with their young children sit outside by the road coz there's no proper waiting area for them. i know some of them don't wanna go inside the mosque because they don't want their kids to disturb the jemaah's concentration. 

not all mosques though. some je la yang takde area for mothers and children.

think about it. 

whenever there's a majlis ilmu, whether it be in a hall or masjid, paid or free, women have always dominated the majlis.

then why won't the masjid architects take women into consideration?

is it really hard to extend the water piping to a place nearer to the prayer area?

is it difficult too to build a proper room for women to change?

im no architect or civil engineer, but im imagining a linked closed hall from the wudhu' room to the prayer area for women.

i don't know if it's feasible but i am positive that there are ways to make women feel comfortable taking ablution, change and setting off to pray.

come on la. dah how many years dah ada women pergi masjid, takkan la still takde orang sedar? dah berapa tahun dah we acknowledge Malaysia as a muslim country and still you cannot remember ada women beragama islam kah? orang duk bising pasal women tak jaga aurat, tapi masjid pun dibina without making it easier for us. how?

so, you future masjid architects, TOLONG LA. make it more women friendly!! family friendly! 

boleh kan? kan? KAN?

PLEASSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

fiuh!

glad i got this out of my chest. im hoping to see some improvement. old masjids yang tak consider women, can start doing something about it. probably longer shower curtains, or a door.

please try to cover the ablution area, not just leave it exposed.

help us cover our aurat, please =')

salam.

ps: the name of the masjid is not as important as what i'm trying to convey. please read through thoroughly before jumping into irrelevant conclusions. i ask for bigger and more covered room for women to change, not a bigger space to pray. astaghfirullahalazim..