Discuss & Debate | Share | Learn

[Muhammad]

IMPORTANT UPDATE
A meeting between concerned members of Ask and the Office Bearers of Jamaat took place on Friday 24 Aug 2012. Click here to read the update

Update: Ramadhan 2012 - 1 year after this discussion was started.
A member has started a petition addressing the KSI Jamaat to take action on this matter.
If you feel that the rotating camera is a problem please sign the petition.

Lets sign with respect and without attacking any personalities.

In His name, the Most High.
In the month of Ramadhan, together with my friend, I went to meet the head of media room for requesting about the showing of gents on the screen in the middle of amaal and other forms of worship. And when we entered in 1 of the computer screens I could see the Zarih inside the ladies mosque whereby the ladies were paying their respect. To be sincere it didnt stirke me then and there as I had gone with a different intention all in all. When I reached home is when I realized that they have cameras installed in the ladies mosque at the disposal of gents.
This is a serious issue. So please contribute and lets make a move if need arises.
Thanks
Muhammad

A detailed account of the meeting that took place between the Media Room Team and Concerned members of the community can be read here

A summary of an important follow up meeting with Br. Lalji about the vulnerability of the systems in the media room can be found here

[sadika]

Wat??????????

means gents can see me without my hijab while i'm in the imambargah?

[sadika]

I dint realize there were cameras in ladies site

[Muhammad]

well yeah thats the scary part... something really has to be done..
the primary question is WHY is there a need to keep cameras inside the ladies mosque????

[Fatimah Zahra Karim]

I get the reason why they're there. When it's ladies only majlis, the majlis is relayed onto the screen in other halls as well. But there definitely should be a system where if there is input from the gents side, the ladies cam is automatically disabled or something similar. Let's just hope the men there are decent enough to not have been rotating the cam and looking at the women. Astaghfirullah.

[Muhammad]

well from my point of view living on that hope might be hanging on a very thing string..
and again the question comes: is/are the camera/s rotating ones or stationary? for the purpose that you mentioned a stationary should be sufficient..right?

[Moonbeam]

Salaam

Scary indeed! Yes to my knowledge it is rotating camera, since in the evening they focus on ladies who recite munajats and marsias.

What measures (if any) are in place to assure that the media room is not misused? I think as members of jamaat we have a right to question and know. They are trying to serve the community to their best, but we should not blindly take everything just because the people in power think it is necessary. Rotating camera in ladies (or in gents for that matter) is not necessary. We just need to see the Zakir(a) recite.

[Muhammad]

Alhamdullilah, good response. Lets hear what few other brothers and sisters have to say then we can write a pledge... God bless you

[Muhammad Mahdi]

I agree that there is no need for a rotating camera.

For gents as well, surely there is some ishqal for ladies to be seeing them on their screens?
I understand that a rotating cam is useful when a podium is used instead of the mimbar but a cam with less rotating abilities can be used perhaps.

Regarding the camera in the female side, this is a very serious matter and it should be addressed at once. Whether the gents in the media room are decent or not is another issue altogether. If there is a chance of abuse then it is likely it will take place. Rem, B Fatimah used to wear hijab in front of a blind man, what would she do in such a case?

I propose a mixed media room presence of minimum of 2 males and 2 females (if 2 mahram opp gender volunteers can not be gotten). The female controls/ensures female privacy is maintained during gent broadcasting.

[imz]

How about restricting access to ladies cameras to only ladies volunteers - may be a separate control room under the leadership of the ladies committee. Surely, that way they can project ladies programs on big screens in the ladies section as well as have a peace of mind that male volunteers do not have access to it.

[Muhammad]

For some reason I am inclined to imz's idea. And Alhamdullilah we have well trained female volunteers who can 'run the show'
Muhammad Mahdi has a great point as well.. We also need to question more about the gents camera in the ladies side. If many people dislike it then I am sure it can be dealt with..
The cameras that we have are so advance that they can be zoomed so accurately and still get a perfect view if you have noticed when they zoom the gents sitting /standing right at the back of the mosque..

[Fatimah Zahra Karim]

imz has a good idea, lakini I'm assuming the equipment used to transmit the video feeds is the same for ladies and gents. That means to have a totally separate media room for ladies would require doubling the equipment. However, a password to access the ladies' cams might work. Then the female volunteers can be the only ones with that password hence restricting access. Or, as mentioned earlier, a program to suppress the ladies' feed when there's a feed from the gents would work equally well. I'm sure software to do both exist.

[abuali]

The following are the contacts of the media room team:

MEDIA ROOM
KSIJ DAR ES SALAAM
P.O.Box 233,
Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania.

Email: mediaroom@ntl.co.tz

Can someone who is involved in the media room comment on this discussion please?

From what I understand currently all it takes is to plug in one wire and the cameras in the ladies side can be activities by anyone who is sitting in the media room.

Password protection would be great but is not fool proof. Its not difficult for a tech-savvy person to find/steal the password.

Physical separation is the ultimate solution with no access to gents.

[Muhammad]

Let me send media room a link to this discussion..

[Muhammad]

Have already sent it to them yesterday.. Let's see what they have to say and what options are feasible, both short and long term..