"Muslim Women Seeking a Place in the Mosque: More Are Challenging Segregated Roles in American Services," by Laurie Goodstein, New York Times, 22 July, p. A1.

"Woman's Mosque Protest Brings Furor in the U.S.: Challenging rules and traditions, and paying a price," by Laurie Goodstein, New York Times, 22 July, p. A16.

Interesting pair of stories about Muslim women inside American mosques chaffing at the traditional restrictions that require them to worship alone and too often play spectators to an all-male show of faith:

Another group of women led by a social worker in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is about to introduce a guide to making mosques more "sister friendly," proposing such measures as creating prayer space that does not exclude women, allowing women access to lectures, bulletin boards and donation boxes, and providing child care during mosque events.

Though they include college students and grandmothers, they represent a new generation of Muslim women raised and educated in North America. They include immigrants from the Middle East, South Asia and elsewhere, as well as African-American and Anglo converts to the faith. Some of the younger women in their 20's and 30's, and their male supporters, identify themselves as "progressive Muslims"óa loose but growing network of activists and writers linked by books, Web sites and listservs.

As one lady put it: "This is part of the war within Islam for how it's defined in the world. Since 9/11, I've seen that if we don't assert ourselves, we're relinquishing our religion to be defined by those who speak the loudest and act the toughest."

Osama bin Laden wanted purposely to lay a system perturbation on the West with 9/11, one that would throw all our rule sets into flux. He got his wish alright, and in the end, he will regret it in more ways than he can count.