Baitul Mukaram Islamic Society

NOT A MASJID FOR WOMEN. I had a horrible, humiliating experience when I went there today for jummah. I followed the sign that indicated that women pray on the lower level. In the basement there were a number of small carpeted rooms that looked as if they also serve as classroom space. There were quite a few brothers down there - so I chose an unoccupied room. Women obviously do not usually come here, not surprising given the demographics of the mosque. Many of the men looked really startled to see me. One brother was really helpful to me, alhamdullilah and patiently answered my questions about the mosque. Things went downhill when he directed me to the designated women's prayer area - a small, dank room in a corner of the basement that smelled heavily of mildew. Half of the room was taken up by trash - construction debris, an old soiled prayer cap, various plastic bags - real trash. What horrible conditions for prayer - the awful smell, the mound of trash right next to me as I made my salat, the inability to hear (the room seemed as if it was once a bank vault or something like that; it even had a metal door). Nevertheless, I thought, I had walked this far and would endure it this time. Having bad allergies though I was not able to continue to sit in the mildew cell before prayer actually started. Instead I sat just outside of the room. I figured that even if this was an ultra-conservative mosque that this should not disturb anyone since 1) I was heavily covered and 2) my only "companions" were little boys also waiting for the prayer to begin. What made me think that? Soon an officious brother appeared and told me to get back into the room that there were "People passing by"- God forbid they should see a heavily covered woman. I told him about the trash and the smell - he said he would get a fan - which I thought would only make things worse. I thanked him and started to leave. As I left, the brother who had helped me initially asked if I was leaving and listened to what I had to say about the "accomodations." He recommended that I go to Sunnatul Jamaat which he said was not far away and even told me which bus to take from where we were. Thank God for that brother! Other than the brother trying to shove me into that nasty little room he was the only one who bothered with me at all. If you are a Bengali speaking brother you may find the experience of Baitul Mukaram wonderful - it was packed to the gills with brothers - SISTERS STAY AWAY.