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CAIRO \u2013 Forced to move from class to another for daily and weekly prayers, Muslim students in Ottawa are demanding permanent rooms to accommodate their religious needs during school time. <\/p>\nCAIRO \u2013 Forced to move from class to another for daily and weekly prayers, Muslim students in Ottawa are demanding permanent rooms to accommodate their religious needs during school time. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s highly problematic because (students) don\u2019t have any security knowing whether they\u2019re getting the rooms or not,\u201d Washim Ahmed, the director of Carleton University\u2019s Muslim Students\u2019 Association, told Toronto Sun.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s a room available, they\u2019ll get it, otherwise they don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Muslims pray five times a day, with each prayer made of a series of postures and movements, each set of which is called a rak\u2018ah.<\/p>\n
The five prayer times are divided all through the day which starts with Fajr prayer at dawn.<\/p>\n
As the prayer time falls, Muslim students slip between classes into any empty room to start their daily prayers to Allah.<\/p>\n
With no permanent prayer room for Muslim students, they are often shuffled between classrooms or the gym, depending on what is available.<\/p>\n
Maged Arab, a 23-year-old student, said without a permanent prayer room, Muslims have to either find a quiet place at school or else cram in all five of their daily prayers into their evenings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThankfully, if there\u2019s no prayer room, you\u2019re excused and you can catch up on all the prayers when you get home from school,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Abdulaziz Dahir, 27, who goes at Sir Robert Borden High School, was able to take part in the Friday prayer at one of the school\u2019s English classes.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking back now, we would have wanted more time to pray at school but back then we were just happy to have a room at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Muslims make around 2.8 percent of Canada’s 32.8 million population.<\/p>\n
A recent survey showed that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are proud to be Canadian, and that they are more educated than the general population.<\/p>\n
Protected Right<\/strong><\/p>\n The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board said they always offer a multi-faith prayer room when students ask for one.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are only accessible during non-instruction time and are supervised by staff,\u201d Walter Piovesan, the board\u2019s associate director of education, said.<\/p>\n With a demand for rooms at around 60% to 70% of their schools, Piovesan said none of the schools have permanent prayer rooms.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile there may be no dedicated room, there is a duty to accommodate under the Ontario Charter of Human Rights,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But Muslims complain that the system is often disorganized, finding themselves obliged each week to make arrangements to reserve a room.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s happened in a couple of schools where I went to lead the prayer and I couldn\u2019t find a prayer spot,\u201d Ahmed said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not organized, it\u2019s just random.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this week, a school in London, Ontario, opened the first permanent prayer room.<\/p>\n The idea has been in the works since the end of the last school year after a group of Muslim students lobbied the administration to create the space.<\/p>\n Source: OnIslam & Newspapers<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CAIRO \u2013 Forced to move from class to another for daily and weekly prayers, Muslim students in Ottawa are demanding permanent rooms to accommodate their religious needs during school time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n