In your Muslim community is a non-Muslim man or woman allowed inside the mosque?

Question

This questions stems from an answer I gave and an email I received from a contact I think is Muslim. He quoted the quran as it say something to the effect of "don't keep a woman from the mosque even if the hour is midnight". He says that non-Muslims are allowed inside the mosque and if not allowed in then that is because of the communities rules and not the quran. I am curious to know how many different communities will not allow entrance to a non-Muslim. Also please tell me if indeed the quran says this or in your opinion is that surah only in regards to Muslim women. Thanks for your replies.

WOW, thank you all for your replies. I didn't expect everyone to say it was acceptable. My husband lives in Morocco and it is not allowed there, not even in the one mosque that is supossed to be a tourist spot and Morocco, in my opinion, is one of the countries that are no so strict about Islamic law as many of the women there wear "western" clothing. In most cases I was more modest than they were.

Answer 1

When I lived in the U.S. non Muslims were allowed in granted they removed their shoes and the women were requested to cover their heads if entering the masjid. There are scholars who say that if a non Muslim entering the mosque, even in the state of janaba, benefits them from learning and accepting Islam then it is okay.

In the Quran it states that non Muslims are not allowed to enter masjid al-haram and there are scholars who use this as their basis for their ruling about not allowing non Muslims in any masjid. A person in the state of janaba (even a Muslim) is not to be in the masjid.

One day in the masjid here (Agadir) an OLD French woman wanted to see in and began to enter the womans section. She did not know it was not allowed here. Unfortunately a woman in the mosque was quite abrupt with the French woman, embarrassing her. I felt bad for the woman as I felt this may of been her first taste of Islam :-(

In Morocco there are two mosques non Muslims can enter, Hassan II in Casablanca (there is specifically a tourist section at certain hours) and Tin Mal Mosque in the Atlas mountains.

Answer 2

It is allowed for women and non-Muslims to enter mosques, as long as they respect the dress code and cleanliness conditions. The countries where they don't allow it are not really strict Muslims, they are actually EXTREMIST or ignorant.

About the quotation you mentioned, it's not from the Quran. There is a Hadith (saying of Prophet Muhammad) that says: "Do not prohibit the women servants of Allah from visiting the mosques of Allah". This was the practice during the life of the Prophet and for many years after that. Later there were problems and insecurity in some places so it was preferred that women not go, but this is not a religious practice. Also some cultures are too suppressive of women, like that of India, because of the effect of the Hindu religion and culture, and that's why in these places women are not allowed to enter a mosque. In reality, these are rotten traditions that must be abolished, as the original Islam gave the right to women to pray in the mosques, to study, to work, and to participate in public life including politics.

As for non-Muslims entering Mosques, there is an oft-misunderstood verse in the Quran that prohibits the disbelievers from going frequently to mosques. A mosque is a place for prayer basically, but it can be visited by someone who is curious about Islam, or even as a tourist, as long as they respect the worshipers and do not produce noise or enter with inappropriate clothes. The verse was about the polytheists who used to go to the Holy Mosque in Mecca regularly to worship their idols. As there were no more idols and they were not really worshiping Allah, there was no reason for them to go to the Holy Mosque in Mecca any more.

Hope this makes things clear.

Answer 3

I live in a Muslim community,in Iran, yes they allowed inside the mosque,in Iran we have lot of mosques that also they have tourist aspect and many non-Muslims visit them, I've been in Turkey and Dubai ,also in those countries non-Muslims can visit mosques,and there is nothing in Quran that bans entering non-Muslims to the mosque.

Answer 4

Yes they can visit but the women must cover their hair before entering the mosque. Many tourists actually look at mosques and enter.

Answer 5

As Salaam Alaykom:

I live in Oregon in the USA. The Muslims here allow women at any time they wish, but they can not enter the men's section of the Masjid. We are in a separate room where the men can not see us and we can not see them.

Ma Salaama

Answer 6

in Egypt non Muslims can visit mosques with no fear
in the Islamic history
the prophet Mohamed hosted non Muslims in the mosque

Answer 7

I used to live in Massachusetts and during Ramadan and holidays we would have Non Muslims that would come in and listen and to learn about our celebration and then the brothers or sisters would answer there questions. Im now In Ohio and they do the same thing here so yes its allowed :).

Answer 8

I was a non Muslim a while back and I was allowed in the mosque.

Answer 9

Yes, non-muslims are allowed to enter the mosque but, they have to remove their shoes

Answer 10

Muslim community allows non muslims man but women are not allowed .Never seen women in the mosque.i went twice to mosques with friends, They have their fixed timings.Those whoare interesred are being allowed.Even Hindus too go and none objects.No lady allowed.I am not knowledgable of Surah.