By Tom Ackerman
Muslim students are without a home to pray at the University of Iowa campus, often settling for an unoccupied stairwell.
But the UI Muslim Student Association is asking the administration for a permanent location to commune — for the third time in roughly six years.
“We’re pursuing it this year because everything is more organized,” said Mohammed Ismail, an event coordinator in the group. He said the officials offered the group a place to pray in Danforth Chapel next to the IMU several years ago, but they declined because of space issues.
“We told them we can’t have a room where there are symbols up in the space. It wouldn’t necessarily be the cross that would be an issue, it’d be anything,” he said. “For our purposes, it has to be a blank room basically.”
The adviser for the group, Motier Haskins, and student President Moustafa Ibrahim met with Vice President for Student Life Tom Rocklin two weeks ago to begin searching for a suitable location. The group has been a primary force vying for Muslim accommodations at the UI.
“We are looking for space,” Rocklin said declining to disclose specific locations. “We’ve got some ideas, but nothing is nailed down yet.”
The location would have to have no furniture and include enough space for a Friday prayer, in which 40 to 50 students could attend. Rocklin said the UI is not planning to spend money or pursue construction.
“Space is scarce on this campus,” he said. “That’s really the challenge.”
Ismail said the closest mosque is about two miles away, making organization and regular prayer a problem for religious students. Many students go home or have an office if they are a graduate student, he said, but others aren’t so fortunate.
“It’s really a struggle to find a place to pray,” said UI junior Wan Mat Desa. “I usually go down to the basement [of the Seamans Center]. I go between the shelves when no one is there.”
While Rocklin realizes students may hope for a cultural center such as the others available on campus, he said the UI might allocate the future space as a general prayer and meditation site.
“They have an immediate need for a prayer space they can use,” he said. “That’s what we’re working on right now.”
Mat Desa said that with fear and threats prevalent in the United States toward Muslims, having a place to count on with privacy would be a blessing.
“It’s a personal time,” she said. “I wouldn’t say [the administration] has been doing a very good job.”
Mat Desa said students often have to place newspapers down because the floors are dirty where they pray.
“It doesn’t have to be something big,” she said.
Instead, she said she hopes for a space in which students won’t be stared at or in the way.
Mat Desa said she has noticed accommodations for other students, such as for those who have disabilities and students seeking gender-neutral restrooms.
“I hope they can go just a little further for Muslim students,” she said.
