Justice in Sacred Space

This part explores “contemporary spirituality” as a holistic and transcendent lens through which to expand the scope of justice—not only within the built environment but also across the ontological frameworks that shape our collective existence. Built environments support hierarchies of power and access that significantly affect people's lives. Spatial justice proposes strategies of reform, that is, regulatory or participatory approaches to create more equitable built environments with the goal of social change. The part argues that contemporary “gendered” Muslim worship spaces—which allocate asymmetrical spatial privileges to men and women, granting men central access while relegating women to less visible, secondary areas—effectively spatialize female worshippers as less significant. Gendered segregation in mosque spaces is an issue of accessibility and a form of injustice rooted in patriarchal interpretations of the Qur'an—particularly those that emerged during and after the Ottoman era.