Bangladesh transgenders get their own mosque  

DHAKA: Kicked out of other prayer services, members of Bangladesh’s transgender hijra community have been welcomed at a new mosque in the Muslim-majority nation with the promise of worship without discrimination.

The humble structure — a single-room shed with walls and a roof clad in tin — is a new community hub for the minority, who have enjoyed greater legal and political recognition in recent years but still suffer from entrenched prejudice.

“From now on, no one can deny a hijra from praying in our mosque,” community leader Joyita Tonu said in a speech to the packed congregation.

“No one can mock us,” added the visibly emotional 28-year-old, a white scarf covering her hair.

The mosque near Mymensingh, north of the capital Dhaka on the banks of the Brahmaputra river, was built on land donated by the government after the city’s hijra community were expelled from an established congregation.

“I never dreamt I could pray at a mosque again in my lifetime,” said Sonia, 42, who as a child loved to recite the Koran and studied at an Islamic seminary.

But when she came out as hijra, as transgender women in South Asia are commonly known, she was blocked from praying in a mosque.

“People would tell us: ‘Why are you hijra people here at the mosques? You should pray at home. Don’t come to the mosques,'” Sonia, who uses only one name, told AFP.

“It was shameful for us, so we didn’t go,” she added. “Now, this is our mosque. Now, no one can say no.”

“We all are human beings. Maybe some are men, some are women, but all are human. Allah revealed the Holy Koran for all, so everyone has the right to pray, no one can be denied.”

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Motaleb said that other Bangladeshis could learn from the faith and strength of the hijra.

“Since I have been here at this mosque, I have been impressed by their character and deeds,” he said.

The new mosque is already tackling prejudice. Local resident Tofazzal Hossain, 53, has offered Friday prayers there for a second week in a row.

He said living and praying with the hijra community has changed his “misconceptions” about them.

“When they started to live with us, many people said many things,” he told AFP.

“But we’ve realised what people say isn’t right. They live righteously like other Muslims”.

Tonu hopes to expand the simple mosque to be big enough to cater for more people.

“God willing, we will do it very soon,” she told AFP.

“Hundreds of people can offer prayers together.”