One hundred Mosques provided the basis for the Developing Diversity directory published by Faith Matters which looked at 100 leading mosques which met a majority of the criteria that Muslim women wanted to see within them. Over 8 focus groups were held with Muslim women from Somali, Turkish speaking, Paksitani and Bangladeshi communities and over 100 women were interviewed. The main 5 requirements they wanted to see within mosques were then used to benchmark the mosques against.
About 490 mosques were then contacted initially by letter on three separate occassions explaining the project and this was done in English and in Urdu. The mosques were then contacted by phone and to ensure verification, Faith Matters staff then visited the mosques before they were included in the directory. Finally, out of the 490 mosques contacted, 50 five star (met all of the 5 criteria) and 50 four star mosques were placed into the directory. All of the 100 mosques were then written out to so that they were aware and we offered them the chance to amend any material they wanted about themselves. Each mosque was therefore written to twice at the end of this process to ensure that they could make changes.
So, this project is about promoting (i) good practice (ii) providing a benchmark for other mosques to work towards (3) highlighting the needs of women within today’s world so that religious institutions can meet those needs.
Therefore, inclusion and accessibility to religious institutions not only helps to increase the development of healthy communities but it also sends a powerful message to those who think equality is of secondary concern within some religious places of worship.