At present, women (dressed in black in the picture) have a special section in the immediate vicinity of the Ka`bah where they can pray.

RIYADH – Saudi woman activists dismissed as "discriminatory" recommendations by an official committee overseeing the holy sites to remove a woman section in the esplanade of Ka`bah to avoid crowdedness and body contact with men.

"Banning women from praying at the Ka`bah esplanade is unprecedented in the Islamic history," female historian and writer Hatoun Al-Fassi wrote in the Saudi AL-Iqtissadiya newspaper on Tuesday, August 29.

"Officials might want women disappearing from any public prayer area, particularly holy places."

She said religious authorities have recently imposes restrictions on women's visit to the tomb of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

"The latest suggestion came as women do not take part in the decision-making process in this country," she fumed.

At present, women have a special section in the immediate vicinity of the Ka`bah where they can pray.

The official committee proposed placing women in another section of the mosque overlooking the Ka`bah while men would still be able to pray in the vacated space.

"The area is very small and so crowded. So we decided to get women out of the sahn (Ka`bah esplanade) to a better place where they can see the Ka`bah and have more space," Osama Al-Bar, head of the Institute for Haj Research, told Reuters on Monday, August 28.

"Some women thought it wasn't good, but from our point of view it will be better for them...We can sit with them and explain to them what the decision is (about)," he added.

According to Al-Bar, the proposal is not final and could be reversed.

Basic Right

Saudi woman activists insist it as a basic right to be able to pray as close as possible to the Ka`bah, the direction world Muslims take in prayer.

Urging authorities to carefully consider the proposal, Fasi said Islam puts women and men on an equal footing.

"This place has a special aura as Muslims feel that God accept their humble supplications and prayers," she added.

"Both men and women have the right to pray in the house of God. Men have no right to take it away," activist Suhaila Hammad told Reuters.

"Men and women mix when they circumambulate the Ka`bah, so do they want to make us do that somewhere else too?" she asked. "This is discrimination against women."

The Grand Mosque is one of the few places where men and women can pray together in Islam, although technically there are separate spaces for each gender throughout the vast complex.