Above picture and article found @: Iwishusun.de
"A famous mosque in India has agreed to scrap a ban on women entering its inner sanctum after a bitter legal battle about the restriction.
The Haji Ali Dargah trust has barred women from the mausoleum off the coast of Mumbai since 2011, insisting the presence of women near the tomb of a revered saint is a "grievous sin" in Islam.
The trustees had appealed to the Supreme Court against a lower court's decision in August to overturn the ban as a violation of constitutional rights of equality.
Above picture and article found @: Iwishusun.de
But the trust told the Supreme Court on Monday it would now admit women but needed several weeks to set up special entry areas to the tomb in the 15th-century building.
A Muslim women's rights group hailed the decision as a victory which would likely put pressure on other places of worship that have gender restrictions.
"It is restoring the Islamic values of what we have always believed as Muslims, that Islam is a religion of equality, democracy and women's rights," Noorjehan Niaz, co-founder of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, which campaigns for the rights of Muslim women in India, told AFP news agency..."
Read entire article and see photos @: Aljazeera.com
