Squeezing in room to pray
Multi-faith centre offers a quiet space for Carleton students
A new multi-faith centre at Carleton University is helping to ease a crunch on prayer space for Muslim students, though they expect more room will be needed as their numbers grow.
The Carleton University Student Association (CUSA) officially opened the centre this fall, replacing a hair salon in the University Centre building. The small, carpeted room can be booked but is otherwise open to everyone, and the association hopes to expand it in the future for the university’s diverse student population.
“We felt like there were these huge, faith-based groups that weren’t being accommodated properly,” said Reda Zarrug, the association’s vicepresident (student services.)
“We took the first step and took it into our own hands to try and give them a place where they feel safe and they can have their own rituals and practise their faith.”
The centre is down the hall from
‘We took the first step and took it into our own hands to try and give them a place where they feel safe and they can have their own rituals and practise their faith.’ REDA ZARRUG Carleton University Student Association
another small room with a high ceiling that serves as a dedicated prayer space for Muslim students, who pray five times a day and for years have suggested that they need more room.
Last year, students proposed adding a second floor to the room. They had a donor who would have paid for the project, but it turned out to be too complicated, said Wesam Fageera, the Muslim Student Association’s treasurer.
The association is the largest student club on campus, with about 1,800 members. (The university did not immediately provide a total number of Muslim students when asked on Tuesday, but the association estimates that it’s about 6,000.)
The dedicated room is said to have capacity for more than 120 students, but only 60 to 70 fit when lined up in prayer position in the main section and an area for female students, said Mohamed Abdalla, president of the Muslim Student Association.
At peak times, students end up waiting outside or praying in other locations such as stairwells or the library, which aren’t ideal spaces, he said, and the number of Muslim students will continue to grow as the overall student population increases.
“We need to predict that and see if anything further is needed. For now, that’s a good start,” Abdalla said of the multi-faith centre.
Extra space in the future could come from an expansion of the existing prayer room, but could also take the form of small dedicated spots on campus so that students don’t have to trek all the way to the Unicentre to pray, Abdalla said.
The group hopes to work with university administrators and for now is trying to raise awareness about the new multi-faith centre, which can hold about 50 people and is already being used by some students as an overflow prayer area.
A Christian group is also glad to have the multi-faith centre, said Ryan Marshall, student leader of Power to Change, which plans to use the facility next semester.
The club has about 30 members and meets four times a week for half-hour prayer meetings, currently in a building lobby on campus.
“It’s a quiet area, that’s a key thing,” Marshall said of the multifaith room.
CUSA has “heard great things” about the centre’s opening, Zarrug said.
“It’s a really good step toward what we’re hoping to achieve in the future,” he said.