Curtains in mosques

In the name of God the Most Compasionate, Most Merciful,

Some members of the community believe that it is essential that mosques have a curtain to segragate the the genders.

No obligation implied from the Qur'an

There is no verse that directly makes reference to seperate prayer areas in the mosque in the Qur'an.  However, often times the following is cited:

{When you ask his [The Prophet's] wives for something, do so from behind a screen: this is purer both for your hearts and for theirs} [33:53]

The verse's context is in describing the ettiquettes within the Prophet's (peace be upon him) household.  It is specifically addressing the Prophet's (peace be upon him) wives, although most exegetes such as al Qurtubi (d. 1273 CE) have said it also applies to Muslim women generally.  However, this is only by way of virtue; the wives of the Prophet (peace be upon him) being role models for women.  For example al Qurtubi also writes in the same commentary: "Our scholars have said that it is permissible for a bride to serve food to her husband and his guests at her wedding," which means the commandment cannot apply to all women directly.  This can be understood from the context of the verse as the next part describes how the Prophet's wives are not to re-marry after his passing, which is one of their unique rulings that only apply to them, so there cannot be any legal directive to women generally from this verse.

No recommendation implied from the Sunnah

More specifically to the topic is that in the Prophet's (peace be upon him) mosque there was no curtain.  Many hadith indicate this, such as:

The companion Sahl ibn Sa`d said: "I saw men having tied the ends of their lower garments around their necks, like children, due to shortage of cloth [because of poverty] and offering their prayers behind God's Messenger, Peace be upon him. One of the proclaimers said: O womenfolk, do not lift your heads [from prostration] until men raise theirs [and readjust their garments]." [Muslim]

This confirms the verse is - legally speaking - neither obligatory or even recommended to all women generally since the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not implement it.  However as we have seen in a previous post (here), separation between the genders into rows was implemented in the mosque, for which a detailed exposition is beyond this post.

Rarely mentioned by the scholars of Islam

A screen or equivalent between genders is not normally mentioned in the widespread classical works, although it is worth mentioning that the authorotative work Nur al Idah (Light of Clarification) by Shurunbulali [d. 1580 CE] reads:

"The imam and follower must not be seperated by a wall in which the follower does not know the changing actions of the imam due to sayings resembling each other.  If there is no confusion with respect to hearing or seeing the imam, then the following is correct according to the most correct view.  It is reported the the the Prophet (peace be upon him) would pray in the room of A'isha and the people in the mosque would be praying the same prayer behind him. [Abu Dawud, Baihaqi]"

The author stresses the importance of knowing the action of the imam otherwise this would invalidate the congregation's prayer.

Virtues of a screen
 
The ruling amongst the scholars is that the screen is generally permissible although virtuous, as it is considered to facilitate the more favourable 'inner appartments' of the woman's prayer (see here), have practical benefits such as demarcating the woman's prayer area and avoids any unnecessary glances:

"The furtive glance is one of the poisoned arrows of the devil. Whoever forsakes it for fear of God will receive from Him, Great and Glorious is He, a faith the sweetness of which he will find within his heart." [Tabarani]

However, whilst it could be argued that this is a more pure state, it is well known it is not permissible for a person to obligate others to their own personal standards when God has not obliged them to those standards.  If the women of the community are in agreement then there is no harm, however it is not apparent that the women in the community are often asked.

Conclusion

Seperate spaces within a mosque for each gender is part of the mosque layout, however it is not necessary for it to be a seperate room or to be screened off.  It is both permissible to have or not have a partition such as a wall or curtain, providing worshippers know the actions of the imam.  Scholars have viewed a partition as virtuous as it facilitates the Islamic principle of modesty (haya) although unnecessary providing space allows and the usual ettiquettes are observed.

 
Despite its virtue, I might argue that in our society it causes more harm than good and should move to disliked, for the following reasons:

The screening off of women in mosques results in them often being forgotten and so suffer from inadequate resources.  Veiled from the iman they miss most of the sermon (khutbah) since 80% of communication is non verbal and the recitation is muffled at best or at worst terribly distorted through poor quality speakers.  Therefore it goes against the principle of equity and justice. 

"Abu Sa'id al-Khudry (may God be pleased with him) narrated that some women approached the Prophet and said, "The men have more access to you than we do so appoint a day for us." The Prophet then promised to set a day to instruct them on matters of religion [Bukhari, Muslim]

This is relative to the individual mosque of course; some are better than others.

Islam is the middle way (Deen al Wasata) and it avoids extremes so to avoid reactionary opposite extremes.  The insistence by some for a curtain etc simply fuels extreme feminist activism and negative press coverage.  Under the remit of blocking the means (Sadd al Dhara'i') it would therefore seem prudent to remove unnecessary material for them to use.  Similar in principle to the command:

{[Believers], do not revile those they call on beside God in case they, in their hostility and ignorance, revile God.} [6:108]

The curtain often propogates feelings of being distant from the Muslim community and that of being a second class citizen - some objective scientific research to measure the extent would be most useful.  The mosque as almost the only propogator of Islam, if unwelcoming to women by seperating them so strikingly has - anecdotally speaking - inclined some women to leave Islam.  Therefore it may be much better to not have a curtain etc for the benefit (Maslaha) of the community.

Perhaps the most religiously abhorrent is the changing  - in the minds of many - of the ruling from mere permissiblity to obligation, this is a reprehensable innovation (bi'dah) that should be explicitly reversed.  This could be achieved by simply removing the curtain from time to time.

As a possible solution, I have seen some mosques have the women praying on a balcony where they can both see the imam and also enjoy privacy.  If architecture allows, this would seem a happy compromise that other mosques could follow suit. 

And God knows best