by Mahdi Mala Abdullah
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| The new AUIS academic building Photo courtesy of the AUIS website |
On Oct. 2, 2011, Classes began at AUI-S. The new campus houses conference rooms, lecture halls, and classrooms. The students seem to be very happy to attend classes at the new campus for it is by far much more comfortable than the old one, where the students had to attend the classes in the cabins that were known as "chicken houses". However, the new campus lacks one of the most important places for many students, which is a Mosque. It was true that there was not a mosque in the old one as well, but it was not a demand because there was a mosque nearby the campus where it took only few minutes for the students to get into and pray.
The new campus is completely different for there is not a mosque nearby where the students can go and pray. It is true that the new campus is designed around a long-term plan and there may be a plan to open a mosque later. However, providing a mosque is a must along with the other services today. We, the students have a very diverse schedule. Several of us should stay at the school from earliest morning until late evening. Thus, there is no chance for us to perform our daily prayers. It takes a long time for us to get to the mosque or to the place where we can perform our prayers. If there would be no mosque from now on, we should either go back to the dorms or take a taxi to get into a mosque in the area around AUI-S. Imagine, how much money a student will spend if he takes a taxi every day? How much time does he need to go back and forth to perform a prayer?
Some people might oppose this idea by saying that AUIS is a secular institution, and there is no need for a prayer place. But this is a very weak argument. Secularism, at least in the American sense of the word, doesn't mean banning religious freedom and preventing religious people from performing their religious duties. This is the simplest right of every human being. If there are people who need a worship place, regardless of their religious identity, they should be provided with it.
The Third Eye, on behalf of many AUI-S students, is asking the AUI-S Administration to help solve this problem. We, the students, don't need a high-tech mosque with its full equipments. All we need is a room almost like a class or a professor's office where we can do our prayers.
We look forward to hearing from the AUI-S Administration soon.
Twana
ReplyDeleteabsolutely, it is a great idea to have a place for praying. It is undeniably true that most of the students at AUI-S want to practice their religious duties. so, imposing such a contingency plan like this brings more curtsy for the university and lets the students more appreciable.
Is it the case that your university administration would reply and take action? From what I heard you'll hear silence. I hope that they find a place for the prayers for us to pray.
ReplyDeletePS: there is a Barmal(Sijada) in the library as temporary plan.
I think it is possible to have a mosque there, and there is no problem to make a small place for the mosque. There is no mosques close to the new campus, and that makes the students, who do their prayers, miss the prayers which is not allowed in their religion. We need a place to our prayers. Help us, dear AUI,S
ReplyDeleteKardo Kamil
ReplyDeleteYes Yes Yes
I personally believe that it would be great if there is a place or a mosque for those who want to pray in the campus.
ReplyDeleteDo you guys realize that building anything cost money and all institutions, even AUIS has limited resources. On the other hand also, should AUIS also build a church and other religious places to cater to every religious sect that is being represented at AUIS? You see how this can be a never ending stream of requests, that don't come free. After all, many of you in Iraq seem to forget, having had a government run majority of your lives, AUIS is a private institution, that has to be frugal while providing quality education and facilities that are necessary to facilitate the quality education being received by the students.
ReplyDeleteSaman karim
ReplyDeleteYes we do need a place in order to practice our religious duties. Itr Supas
This is absolutely ridiculous. University is meant to be for education not your personal religious beliefs! it would be very stupid if AUIS actually provided a place for prayer! and who are you to speak on behalf of people and make stupid arguments like defining the "secularism" ? and btw your english is so crappy you almost don't make any goddamn sense!
ReplyDeleteSincerly,
Dear Anonymous,thank you for the comment. The beauty of university is that it is a place where combines people with various backgrounds and beliefs. Adding to that, I wonder how much you understand the word of education that you defined as if it to be out of practicing religious beliefs. If you think to have a prayer place is a stupid idea, then you should be agree that providing places for the other clubs in the campus is the same stupidity. Those who pray have the same value for their prayers as much as those who have the values for drama and guitar clubs. I am a firm believer in allowing people to be who they want to be, Muslims, Christians, Jews, atheist, or whatever. I am also the same person in allowing people to do what they want to do such as holding their girlfriend's hands, kissing them, hugging them, or whatever. Just like how these group of people act without any sensor, those who want to pray should be considered the same as the other various groups of the students. You must consider that to ban the freedom of religious expressions and practices is akin to ban the other group of people in practicing their activities and behaviors. I am not talking on behalf of all the people, but I have hundreds of friends who asked me to write that. Besides of that, I would do that even if I were the only one who pray because it is my responsibility as a religious person.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, I am just a student that could, at least, defined the word "secularism" briefly despite of my poor English, but I wonder how would you define the same word with your perfect English.
Regards
An answer for the one who used stupidity
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry to see such a 'nice' word like ridiculous for describing a university with a special place for praying. First, you should get the absolute meaning of religion, then criticize its humiliations. It is not a religion that triggers stupidity, it is the people who don't have a great insight into the beauty of spiritual duties whatever the religion would be.Besides all of that, religion provides not only personal satisfaction but also education. To make the argument plausible, The University of Leeds in England, one of the biggest educational institutions, includes a Muslim Prayer Room even though most of its students are Christians. I don't know why it is possible for a religion like Islam regards education as a holy doctrine but not for a university respects the human values. Thus, there is no space and reasonable justifications to separate religion from education. The religion department in Sulaimania university can be the best example to prove what I'm saying.
I'm curious as to whether you've asked the administration this question.
ReplyDeleteIt might not be wise to assume that posting the question here on this blog is the same as raising the question to the administration. For all I know, nobody in the administration has seen the question here. If they haven't seen it, they might not be aware that anyone feels a need for this.
I'm also curious as to whether you've scouted around for a useful area that could be used for prayer without requiring any expense, without interfering with academic programs, and without interfering with administrative functions or construction.
I once worked for an organization that had no place for prayer, and I wanted such a place. So I scouted around and found a nice quiet area which was unused by anyone. Nobody ever walked through that area. I prayed for a half hour in that space every day that I worked for the organization. Because nobody used the space, nobody walked through the space, it cost the organization nothing, and, in fact, nobody ever knew I prayed there, I didn't bother asking anybody if I could pray there. I just did it. I figured that if I didn't ask, nobody could say no.
I've noticed more than one area where there were no classes, no work going on, and as far as I can tell, nobody walking through. A perfect place for prayer. All one would need would be their own prayer rug. In fact such a place would work well for anyone, whether they were Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, agnostic, or whatever.
So I'm wondering, have you looked around for such a space, so that you might say to the administration, "Is there any reason why some of us couldn't gather in that space during the day for prayer? We don't need any work done. We don't need any expense. But it's a perfect place where we might gather for prayer without bothering anyone else."