Muslim students ask for more prayer spaces on campus

Andrew Kerley, Executive Editor 

Some Muslim VCU students have said there are not enough prayer spaces on campus to accommodate the high volume of people worshipping throughout the work day. 

VCU offers two spaces where students of all religions can pray without interruption on the Monroe Park Campus: one in the University Student Commons and another in James Branch Cabell Library. 

While students have said the interfaith prayer spaces are helpful, they often become crowded — especially for VCU’s estimated 2,000 Muslim students, many of whom pray at the same five times of day in accordance with their faith. 

The Division of Student Affairs provides an Interfaith Meditation Room, a space intended for individual quiet reflection, meditation, contemplation or prayer in room 156 of the University Student Commons. 

Cabell Library has a “Reflection Room” on the second floor in room 212. Both spaces are empty and undecorated to be accessible to all faiths. 

Fourth-year student Ammaarah Fulani is Muslim and prays five times a day; at dawn, midday, afternoon, sunset and nighttime. She said it would be easier for her to practice her religion if there were more prayer spaces around campus. 

“There’s different religions, it’s a really diverse community and I think there should definitely be more places to pray,” Fulani said.

Students have noted that the Cary Street Gym gets particularly packed during Maghrib prayer, when the sun sets. Many end up practicing in the stairwell.

“Like technically you can pray literally anywhere, but I would rather not put my head on the tiles. I don’t know who walked on them,” said fourth-year communication arts student and Muslim Student Association historian Dalal Alghaithi. 

Where there are designated prayer spaces, like the Reflection Room in Cabell Library, overcrowding often forces students to line up and wait their turn. Many end up praying outside the room.

VCU has continuously accepted larger freshman classes with each passing year. The class of 2029 has been estimated to be over 4,500 students, according to a previous report by The CT.

Fourth-year bioinformatics student and MSA treasurer Eilaf Aljasari said it would be helpful to have a reflection room in each academic building so students can pray where they are.

“If we have long classes, I wouldn’t want to have to leave and take too much time out of class to go pray,” Aljasari said.

Aljasari mentioned it would be helpful if students could store prayer rugs, religious books or pamphlets in the interfaith spaces. The Commons’ policy does not allow any items to be stored in the Interfaith Prayer Room as it cannot be affiliated with any one faith tradition.

Muslim students used to leave items in the room, but the Commons cleared it out during the summer of 2024 to update the room with new carpeting and paint, according to Director Carole Dowell. They clean and refresh their facilities once a year.

MSA leaders were contacted and informed the items were available to be picked up from the Commons office. They acknowledged the communication, though the items have not yet been retrieved. MSA is permitted to store a large bin of prayer mats in our Virginia Rooms storage area.

Aljasari said she still wishes they could store religious materials in the prayer rooms. She said they are open to sharing space, and did not recall any issues in the past. Qurans and Bibles would often lay next to each other, along with scarves, prayer rugs and other religious pamphlets. 

“I feel like everyone here pretty much coexists,” Aljasari said. “We all respect everyone’s religious views.”

The Commons has worked closely for several years with MSA to provide space for Jummah prayer every Friday based on room availability. They can accommodate up to 350 people.

The CT reached out to every organization in the Interfaith Campus Ministers Association to ask how they felt about spiritual accommodations. Only the Orthodox Christian Fellowship and Hillel, a Jewish group, responded. 

Father Philemon Patitsas of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship said it would be helpful if campus parking fees could be waived for worshippers. He also wants an annual Campus Ministry fair and a newsletter.

Sheri Rodman, director of Hillel, said students want more communication from VCU about available resources for faith-based groups. The few times the organization has tried to reserve space in the Commons for Friday night Shabbat dinner, no spaces were available. 

Hillel students have also said the process of getting attendance accommodations for classes is difficult, and many are not aware of the process.