M. Hasna Maznavi: Remembering the Founder of America's First Women's Mosque

The forty-year-old founder, M Hasna Maznavi, unexpectedly passed away this week and I'm reminded of her profound impact.

Women’s Mosque of America, 2015. Photo: Alexa Pilato

"Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un"

إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

M. Hasna Maznavi, the forty-year-old founder of the Women's Mosque of America in Los Angeles—the first-ever all-female place of worship for Muslim women in the United States—unexpectedly passed away this week, leaving behind a profound legacy that transformed Islamic spaces for women.

A Revolutionary Vision

"It was always a childhood dream of mine to build a Mosque before I died, but I had no idea it would be a women's Mosque,” Maznavi told me in 2015 for an interview for Marie Claire magazine.

Her vision was ambitious yet deeply rooted in Islamic history. What made Maznavi's work groundbreaking was her rediscovery of Islam's early traditions. She uncovered that current cultural practices regarding Muslim women differed significantly from the early days of the religion, when thousands of female scholars thrived. The Women's Mosque was not just an innovation …