The Marquette Muslim Student Association is actively trying to obtain a bigger prayer room in the Alumni Memorial Union. A petition is currently being circulated around campus in support of the larger space.
Abdallah Shehadeh, a junior in the College of Health Sciences, serves as the president of MSA. He linked the petition back to the 2021-22 school year when a former president started the movement because the Muslim population at Marquette was quickly growing.
Currently, there is a designated prayer space in the AMU. However, MSA voiced their main concern; that the space is simply not large enough to accommodate their needs.
“We are very grateful for the space we have already, but we just need a bigger space,” Shehadeh said.
The room currently dedicated as a prayer space is not large enough to fit the 50+ Muslim students that use it. Along with students, Marquette alumni who work in the area also use the prayer room, adding to the amount of people needing the space.
As a result, there are lines to pray and not everyone can fit into the room. Shehadeh said the lines have caused students to be late for classes and meetings.
In place of getting a larger room, MSA has been reserving rooms in order to host their mandatory Friday prayer. However, there are not always rooms available and they have to resort to the multi-faith room, which still does not have the capacity to fit the needs of the group.
Shehadeh stressed the importance of a larger, permanent space, especially because the Muslim population at Marquette is only continuing to grow.
The lack of space is not without a lack of trying. Shehadeh said that the MSA has met several times with Campus Ministry, who expressed to them that they are looking but not been able to find a room to accommodate.
Shehadeh said that MSA has been meeting with Campus Ministry for years and no solution has yet been found.
“We’ve brought it up every year and we always get the same response, so to some degree we feel like this issue is not that important to the university,” Shehadeh said. “We’re optimistic that with the opening of the new [recreation facility] this spring semester that hopefully some rooms open for us to move into, but there’s always doubt they’ll have us waiting more.”
This story was written by Ruby Mulvaney. She can be reached at [email protected].
