Women lead the way in taraweeh prayers across Hyderabad during Ramadan

Since the sighting of Ramzan, hijab-clad women across Hyderabad have been attending taraweeh prayers in large numbers at mosques, madrasas, and community halls. Local groups and seminary students are playing a key role in organising these congregations for women.

Hyderabad: It’s 8.30 pm, and scores of hijab clad women carrying a mat and water bottle, putting brisk steps head towards a function hall. Its a scene repeated every day since the sighting of the new moon of Ramzan across the city.

No, they are not rushing to attend some function, but to attend the taraweeh prayers organized at function halls, community halls and private institutions for women. The taraweeh prayers are a special voluntary night prayer performed only during the month of Ramadan.

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With a lot of religious awareness programs both online and offline, the women and girls are taking a lead in attending the prayers organized by religious groups and individuals across the city. “In Hyderabad, our students lead the prayers at around 220 places and a few dozen more locations in the district. The women’s congregational prayers are now held in almost all localities in the city and even in remote villages with sizable Muslim population,” said Dr Mufti Mastan Wali runs the Jamiat-ul-Mominat, a women’s seminary at Moghalpura.

The local women’s groups had hired function halls and community gathering spaces in the city to conduct the taraweeh prayers. “There is a lot of awareness among women about the significance of taraweeh prayers. So we are witnessing increasing numbers of attendees,” said Syeda Nagma, an organizer at Chintalmet.
A significantly high number of women also attend the taraweeh prayers at the Mecca Masjid where separate arrangements are made for them by the mosque administration for decades.

The local groups in district headquarters, mandals and even villages with a high Muslim population, are now conducting the prayers at madrasas and mosques. “Separate space is earmarked in the mosque compound for women. The attendance is encouraging,” said Mohd Amer Ali, Imam of a mosque at Cherial mandal in Siddipet district.