Worship in Spirit and Truth
You Are Respected Here
At Qal’bu Maryam we believe that worship is based on what issues from the heart, more so than the mouth. We will adhere to Islamic norms and conduct for prayer. However, sticking with a social justice model, we will not give preferential treatment to men in seating, teaching, or in any other way. All engagement will flow from individual desire to be part of a community and to learn and contribute. We will lift up our Islamic matriarchs, and teach about their contributions to Islam, as well as contemporary Muslim women who are scholars and leaders in the world . We will also teach women those skills to conduct Jumu'ah prayer wherever they are and whenever it's needed. We believe that women are not a threat to males in prayer, nor are males a threat to women. In our everyday lives we mix with the opposite sex, even at the holiest of shrines to Islam, at the Kaaba men and women mingle as they pray and supplicate. The idea of separating men and women is an innovation created by men putting women in a subservient role and space. We do not believe women's bodies are dirty, a threat, or somehow supernaturally able to have an affect on men that would call for absolute segregation.
