Prayer stickers a welcome gesture for hospital’s Muslim patients

Muslims getting MINNEAPOLIS — care at Hennepin Healthcare will no longer scramble to locate the right direction for prayer.

The hospital and Muslim leaders Tuesday affixed stickers in 60 rooms around the emergency department indicating qibla, the direction they should face when praying. Hennepin Healthcare also made a commitment to put prayer stickers throughout the hospital as a nod of support for their growing caseload of Muslim patients.

Minnesota is home to at least 150,000 Muslims.

The Hennepin Healthcare’s emergency department alone serves more than 210 Muslims on average a day.

“This is a historical moment for both Hennepin Healthcare and our Muslim community in Minnesota,” said imam Sharif Abdirahman of Dar Al-hijrah mosque, which donated about 250 qibla stickers to the hospital. “When patients come to HCMC, a level one trauma hospital, they may experience emotional distress so we want to make sure the environment is welcoming and inclusive.”

Muslims are obligated to pray five times a day and must face toward the sacred structure called the Kaaba in Mecca, the holiest city in Saudi Arabia. Many use a qibla finding app on their smartphones to know which direction to pray.

Hennepin Healthcare physicians were the first to notice the importance of prayers to their Muslim patients and the additional stress it caused them when they struggled to tell which direction to face when praying.