Anis Shakirah Mohd Muslimin
[email protected]

As a Muslim, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

Last week, the Freedom From Religion Foundation demanded the closure of the prayer spaces in the IMU on its website, deeming the rooms unconstitutional.

Although the prayer rooms were provided to help Muslims students fulfill the daily requirement of prayer, the spaces was never intended for Muslims exclusively.

Anne Bassett, the media relations manager at the UI Office of Strategic Communication, said in a statement to The Daily Iowan that it is the IMU’s policy to provide space for registered student organizations regardless of the mission of the organization, whether academic, political, or religious.

“The new temporary space for prayer and meditation in the IMU was requested by students of the Muslim faith but is open to all students,” she wrote in an email.

Additionally, the spaces were not created with the intention to disregard other people with or without faith. Beyond that, people are welcome to peacefully use the space as they need or want.

For me, the rooms reflect the UI’s willingness to improve the quality of life of minority students such as me. It also shows that the UI is trying to assist students from all walks of life. Isn’t inclusivity a practice that the university has advocated for a long time?

While I am grateful to the UI for providing me with a space to practice my religion, I’ve never felt that I should exclude myself from the larger community on campus because I need to be with people who share some similar values as me.

Before the presence of the prayers rooms, Muslims such as me always had to deal with unwanted stares and glances whenever we would randomly pray in secluded areas. The rooms in some ways provide a win-win situation for everyone.

Looking beyond the Constitution and from a more humanistic perspective, I believe the rooms can potentially serve as a bridge that unites people of different values and beliefs.

Besides the prayer rooms, the Freedom From Religion Foundation also called for the removal of all Christian iconography and the Latin cross on the altar of Danforth Chapel. I do not understand the opposition directed at these relics. The iconography has been at the UI for more than 60 years, so why is this an issue now?

It is distasteful to claim that fear and hate drove the group’s motives for the letter that could potentially affect both Muslims and Christians, but my mind can’t help but feel that way. 

I’m all for separation of church and state, but that doesn’t mean taking away the ability of people to practice their religion. Although Muslims are still very much capable of practicing their religion without the space, creating the rooms is a sign that the university is progressing.

I know the Freedom From Religion Foundation argues on the grounds of the First Amendment, but as I have iterated, the UI has always intended the rooms to be open to everyone.

Fear is fueled by ignorance, and the only remedy for ignorance is education. Muslims want other community members to learn about them. But how can they do so when they are never given the chance? How can you learn more about Muslims if their every move and existence is seen as threatening, worthy of suspicion and scrutiny?

This week is Islam Awareness Week; if you don’t really know who Muslims are, this week is a great time to learn more about them. You’d be surprised to see how ordinary a Muslim is.