RIYADH, Sept 11: Following widespread protests, a suggestion to restrict women from praying in the mataf of Ka’aba in Makkatul Mukarrama seems to have been shelved for now.

“The presidency (committee overseeing the Ka’aba and other holy sites) decided to adopt a proposal to expand the two special places for women’s prayer, in addition to the one that already exists,” Mohammed bin Nasser Al Khozayem, deputy head of Grand Mosque affairs, was quoted as saying in Saudi daily Okaz on Monday.

“Women have the same right as men (to pray) in the ‘sahn’,” he said. “In fact 53 per cent of the mosque’s space will now be for women to pray, which is more than that for men.”

The earlier proposal of the committee would have placed women in two distant sections of the mosque — overlooking the Ka’aba, away from the courtyard of Ka’aba, though at a distance. Women activists in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere had said that the plan was discriminatory and vowed to oppose it. The local media also opposed the move.