An imbalance in practicing faith

By: Reem Sheet

The practice of religion at McMaster University for Muslim students lacks accessibility in comparison to other faiths.

The Muslim Students Association at McMaster has worked towards making McMaster feel like home to Muslims on campus, but seems to lack in convenient accessibility to rooms where their five daily prayers can be freely conducted and their academic diligence can be preserved.

Attending Welcome Week as a first year student, I was consistently assured that my school would soon become my second home. With friendly faces and new friends who shared similar ideologies, I felt quite comfortable with my surroundings.

However, when it came time for my new friends and I to digress from the excitement of Welcome Week and find comfort in a familiar practice, we found it difficult to find an accessible location where we could share our faith. Though our reps were kind and made it their mission to assist us in finding our peace, the response I seemed to keep getting to the question, “Where can I pray?” was,  “I’m not sure.”

After integrating with the routines of the first week and asking many more questions to what had become my two week venture to find a place to practice my faith, I finally learned that there are a few locations scattered across campus where I could find some peace. T13, the Health Sciences building and Mills second floor were the common responses.

McMaster Divinity College is a place that reflects, “a broad mix of ethnic and national backgrounds, age diversity, and, of course, both men and women training together for Christian service,” and promotes, “Knowing the word of God, being transformed into Christ’s image and doing the work of Ministry.” The College also holds weekly Chapel every Monday from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. to discuss this year’s theme of “Knowing God.”

This event is a good point of comparison with the MSA’s weekly Jumaa Prayer, which is usually held in the Smith Gym at two different times every Friday. If you use the student centre as a point of reference, Smith Gym is about 10 minutes away while Divinity Chapel is about three minutes — a large difference in accessibility.

In addition, the facilities themselves differ in terms of welcoming a peaceful atmosphere. On one hand we have a make-do underground, difficult to locate play area with squash balls flying about in the background, and on the other hand we have a peaceful serene garden of tranquility.

If you compare more than just the Friday services, these differences become even more apparent. The everyday prayer areas for Muslims resemble a small corner or a secluded underground room.

Divinity College could be an excellent multi-faith location for McMaster students. However, based on their philosophies, there is only room for Christian practicing students. In contrast, the MSA identifies as the Muslim Students’ Association, though their work benefits the greater McMaster community, as their facilities are available for all practicing faiths.

With consideration to the 40 years of experience the MSA has and the growing percentage of Muslims at McMaster, the leadership of the MSA should be able to come up with more convenient means of accessibility for Muslims to practice on campus. There should not have to be any worry about making it back in time for lecture.

The MSA and McMaster Divinity College work to serve students who would like to digress from a chaotic everyday environment and find some peace. McMaster University as a community should consider how to respond to the larger faith communities, and open up doors to all faiths in all its facilities.