Room Prayers Answered : : : :

http://www.le.ac.uk/bulletin/bulletinjune2001.pdf

THE Islamic Society at the University of Leicester has been provided with a new prayer room for women, allowing the society to expand its activities and pray with greater ease and comfort. 

The room in the Charles Wilson Building has come after requests for a new prayer room were made to improve upon former facilities used by Muslim women.

Afia Ilyas, Vice-President of the Islamic Society, explained: “‘For Muslims the prayer room is an area of sanctity and peace, where you get away from the hectic world, leaving your studies and work behind, and come for the remembrance of God, the one who created you.

“It is important therefore that the area in which we pray is comfortable and aids us in our worship and I feel that the new prayer room serves this purpose well. It is a spacious room, we have a newly fitted carpet, pictures of Muslim holy sites and, God willing, are getting new shelves and storage cupboards. We are extremely fortunate as all these things have come via donations.” 

The local Muslim community donated the prayer room carpet and the pictures of Mecca, Medina and al-Aqsa which adorn the walls. The room is also used for studying and group talks, its greater size making it ideal for this purpose. Afia says, “Improvements to our prayer room were absolutely necessary and we all appreciate the efforts made by those involved in achieving these. Ultimately, the prayer room now adequately caters to meet the demands of the Muslims on campus. 

Afia added that prayer is very important in Islam. Muslims pray five times every day - it is impossible to go through the day without acknowledging God. It is a way of building a relationship with God and it brings Muslims back from the material world to realising why they are here. Men and women pray separately because of Islamic laws of segregation. It is also more comfortable - women can, for instance, remove their scarves. There are no distractions and Muslims are able to focus on prayer. 

The Islamic Society was formed in 1994 and is very successful. There are now about 200 members on campus, and the society also runs talks, study circles and other events.