Praying for a Home
Muslims in search of a home of their own
Laura Breslin
Issue date: 11/30/05 Section: features
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Versus Magazine Online [Image Edition]
Vanderbilt has a problem with space. Set in an urban environment, Vanderbilt does not have sprawling lands to expand on to, and as result, space is limited. New student groups feel the crunch, finding themselves meeting in the basement of Furman or other obscure meeting places. The Muslim students at Vanderbilt, represented by the Muslim Students Association, find themselves in a similar situation, moving from one room to the next. Yet unlike other student groups, the Muslim students need not one room for a weekly meeting, but a room every day, five times a day for the prayers that are required of them by their religion.
Meeting the needs of Muslim students in America has presented many schools with a number of issues, Vanderbilt University being no exception. While it is comparatively simpler to serve halal foods, or food that is lawful according to the Qur'an (similar to kosher foods) and zabihah meats, which butchered according to Islamic rites, it is much harder to acquiesce to the prayer needs of Muslim students, both in terms of providing space for prayer and allowing Muslims to prayer at the required times. Vanderbilt Muslims, unlike Muslims at secondary and elementary schools, are usually unconstrained by time, slightly easing the free practice of their faith.
In Islam, Muslims are mandated by their faith to do five things, called the Five Pillars of Islam. These codified requirements consist of professing a belief in God (Allah) and the final prophethood of Muhammad, articulated in the recitation of the Shahada, fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, going on a pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj), almsgiving (Zakat), and daily prayer five times a day.
Because the Five Pillars form the basis of Islamic practice and are an intrinsic part of a Muslims' religious and personal life, accommodating the Five Pillars presents a conundrum in America, a society where the church-or mosque-and state are separated. To inhibit Muslims ability to practice their faith freely is to regulate religion, prohibited under the First Amendment, yet to bend over backwards for only Muslim students in public schools, such as allowing them to leave school early to pray when students of other faiths are not allowed the same, pushes the boundary of government involvement in religious affairs.
Vanderbilt has a problem with space. Set in an urban environment, Vanderbilt does not have sprawling lands to expand on to, and as result, space is limited. New student groups feel the crunch, finding themselves meeting in the basement of Furman or other obscure meeting places. The Muslim students at Vanderbilt, represented by the Muslim Students Association, find themselves in a similar situation, moving from one room to the next. Yet unlike other student groups, the Muslim students need not one room for a weekly meeting, but a room every day, five times a day for the prayers that are required of them by their religion.
Meeting the needs of Muslim students in America has presented many schools with a number of issues, Vanderbilt University being no exception. While it is comparatively simpler to serve halal foods, or food that is lawful according to the Qur'an (similar to kosher foods) and zabihah meats, which butchered according to Islamic rites, it is much harder to acquiesce to the prayer needs of Muslim students, both in terms of providing space for prayer and allowing Muslims to prayer at the required times. Vanderbilt Muslims, unlike Muslims at secondary and elementary schools, are usually unconstrained by time, slightly easing the free practice of their faith.
In Islam, Muslims are mandated by their faith to do five things, called the Five Pillars of Islam. These codified requirements consist of professing a belief in God (Allah) and the final prophethood of Muhammad, articulated in the recitation of the Shahada, fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, going on a pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj), almsgiving (Zakat), and daily prayer five times a day.
Because the Five Pillars form the basis of Islamic practice and are an intrinsic part of a Muslims' religious and personal life, accommodating the Five Pillars presents a conundrum in America, a society where the church-or mosque-and state are separated. To inhibit Muslims ability to practice their faith freely is to regulate religion, prohibited under the First Amendment, yet to bend over backwards for only Muslim students in public schools, such as allowing them to leave school early to pray when students of other faiths are not allowed the same, pushes the boundary of government involvement in religious affairs.