Homeless Muslim Women Find Shelter in West Baltimore BALTIMORE, MD (wypr) - Every year, more than three million Americans will experience homelessness. And the current economic downturn has put even more stress on families trying to make ends meet. But there's one group of homeless few people hear about: Muslim women. No one knows how many Muslim women are homeless in Baltimore-- but a loosely-knit network of shelters is there to help them out. WYPR's Sarah Richards files this report.

It's Saturday and it's hot. The perspiration is beading under the handkerchief tied around Qadria Shabazz's head. She's sitting behind a table on a sidewalk in West Baltimore. Shabazz is selling grilled chicken, crab balls, and dessert to raise money for the row house right behind her. It's the homeless shelter where she lives.

What did you give me twenty, right?

A deathly-thin brunette is buying a piece of homemade sweet-potato pie.

Two dollars right, here we go, two, three, four, five is ten, fifteen...

Some of the people Shabazz sees seem worse-off than her.

Thank-you for your support. Come back, we try to be here every Saturday.
I didn't even know there was a shelter here. I could use one myself.

What the woman doesn't know is that the Al-Mumtahinah shelter is special. It's for homeless Muslim women who feel uncomfortable about staying in traditional shelters. Shabazz came here after she lost her job. She tried the Christian shelters

They resent you if you're Muslim, number one, most of them. It's kinda like you sneak and pray. If you caught, you might get ostracized.

Nadia Auxila McIntosh runs the shelter, and over the past two years, she's helped more than 20 women. But she struggles to make ends meet. The shelter, furnished with second-hand couches and tables, is desperate for donations.

Every month is a hustle, but God is merciful. Rent is paid and we're moving towards next month. We got $400...

McIntosh says Muslim women hear about her place through word of mouth. They come for different reasons. Some can't find work because they wear a veil, like the full-face niqab McIntosh wears.

Some, it's because of the abuse they would get at the shelter. And some, in the past-- most of the women that came to me, I don't know if you know about our religion, but we do the polygamy thing. Not all of us.

Polygamy is illegal in the U.S. Still, people marry through religious ceremonies to have multiple spouses. Sometimes the relationships work. When they don't, McIntosh is there to help. She's the founder of this shelter.

When you visit McIntosh at her shelter, the phone never stops ringing.

Salaam aleikum. I haven't heard from the sister...

Today, McIntosh is waiting for a new arrival.

Her situation, like I said, is a very critical situation. She do have paperwork to be here, she's not illegal. She got married to a brother that didn't tell her the truth about his other wife that he married legally. The way we get married is not like marriage here. It's in the eyesight of god. Here the law is you can't do this polygamy thing. He didn't marry her that way because of the law here. She still want to be married to him but he don't want to. So he left he left the house where he was with her to be with the other wife.

No, I never heard that until I came here.

Sahmuddeen Harun is an imam from Ghana, in West Africa. He's sitting in his office at the Ul-Haqq mosque in West Baltimore. He says he'd never seen people get married so quickly until he moved to America. Some Muslim men, he says, take advantage of women who are desperate.

There are rules, perquisites on who is qualified to take another wife and who is not. I found it very strange that some men have four wives, but guess what: all the women are on welfare. But religiously, Islamically, the man has to be able to provide in order to take another wife. I take that as a privilege of convenience. They are taking advantage of the system, because the government is providing everything for the women. The Section 8 is there. Welfare is there. Food stamps is there. So I said to them when I was giving Friday lecture: So where is your manhood? Your manhood is just to be with her intimately. You are not doing anything else.'

Back at the Al-Mumtahinah shelter, the Muslim woman from C te d'Ivoire finally shows up with her son. But McIntosh now has a problem. There's only room for three women in the row house, and there's already a waiting list.

I have another sister that needs a place to stay. I was kinda holding things for you because of your son. The other lady don't have a child, but she's waiting for me right now to speak with her.
I know. I pack everything. The House of Ruth is taking care of my situation and stuff. I told them yesterday when I was going to call they gave me a number to call the shelter, but I'm scared to go in the shelter as a woman. What I hear from shelter, I'm scared to bring my child there

There are three small shelters that help Muslim women in Baltimore. They're almost always full. Which means life is stressful for the women in these shelters and the women who run them. Asma Hanif runs the Muslimat Al-Nisaa shelter on Liberty Heights Avenue. She says she can barely keep up with the demand.

On Monday, I got a call at 4 am. Somebody said: I'm at the bus station in Baltimore, could you pick me up?' I said, Who is this?' My name is X, could you get me?' I said, How do you know about us?' I went on the website, I looked up women's shelters and you were the first one to come up. I knew I needed help.' I said, Why are you at the bus station?' She said, I got on the bus from Missouri.'

Missouri. New York. Virginia. Qadria Shabazz came all the way from Chicago. She's just thankful she found the shelter.

It is very tough times. I'm glad to be alive and be able to go, no bad illnesses to stop me. Some people get stuck, mentally physically. So thank god I was able to move and have an open mind.

Shabazz is hoping to save enough money to move out in the next few months. Until then, she'll be spending Saturdays with McIntosh and the other shelter women, selling food and cold drinks on the street collecting any money they can to survive.

I'm Sarah Richards reporting in Baltimore for 88-1 WYPR. y research in the U.S.
© Copyright 2009, wypr