With or without a meditation room, Islamic students often go to stairwells to pray

The meditation room in the G Building is no longer accessible due to a power cut. This is particularly complicating for Islamic students during Ramadan, who pray five times a day. However, a walk around campus shows that even before the closure, students often turned to alternative places, such as stairwells and empty lecture rooms.

“Just any random empty room”, replies a hurried student in the lift of the Polak Building when asked about possible prayer locations. On the fifth floor, Psychology student Sueda is studying by a window. “There”, she points towards the emergency exit on her right. “In the stairwell behind that door, you can do your prayer.” She brings her own prayer mat from home. She also performs the wudu – the ritual washing before prayer – at home beforehand.

In the stairwell, another Psychology student has just finished her midday prayer. She puts her white trainers back on. Her black prayer mat is still lying next to the window. She often uses stairwells as a place to pray, she explains. “It’s quite a walk to G, because most of my classes are in Polak or Mandeville, so random stairwells are an easier alternative.”

Popular stairwells

It’s not just the Polak Building stairwell that’s popular, one in the university library is frequented as well. There are even prayer mats placed against the wall there, left behind by students so that everyone can easily perform salat – the ritual prayer.

When it’s time for the late afternoon prayer, a Law student in the quiet area of the library walks towards the emergency exit. She is used to improvising a prayer space, she says. “I look everywhere for a quiet, empty space nearby. Sometimes I spend twenty minutes to half an hour finding a suitable spot.” She uses an app to determine the qibla, the direction of prayer towards Mecca. “But now that I’ve prayed on campus often, I know that the qibla is roughly in the direction of the Novotel.”

Next door

For first-year Law student Zakaria, the meditation room at the Hogeschool Rotterdam is a better alternative than stairwells. “I’ve just come from the bus stop next to the Sports building and usually have classes in Sanders. So this room is closer than, for example, the library or the G Building.” Three Hogeschool students standing next to him don’t mind that EUR students use their space. “It’s for everyone anyway”, one of them says.

Not far from the meditation room on the first floor of the building, a student is waiting for her friend who is praying. “We used to go to a stairwell in the Mandeville building, but recently a staff member told us we were not supposed to block the emergency exit. That’s why we came here now.”

Students Noura and Esma Nur also prefer using the meditation room at the Hogeschool. “It’s more pleasant than a stairwell. At least you know the space is intended for it”, says Noura. For Esma Nur, it’s her first time using the room. “Today I happen to have enough time between classes to walk here, otherwise I might look for an empty lecture hall.”

Mindfulnest

For fellow students who don’t have time to visit the Hogeschool, Noura is happy to share tips. “You can also use small study rooms. I often take turns with a friend: one prays while the other keeps an eye on the door”, she laughs. Pedagogy student Ayça has another hidden gem: the mindfulnest in the library. “I don’t like praying in a random room. You’re not focused and you keep worrying that someone will walk in. In the Mindfulnest you can adjust the lighting yourself and choose background sounds. You can easily perform salat there.”

There are also tricks for the wudu. “Most people wash at home or in the accessible toilet, but I’m fine using the sink in the women’s toilet”, says Ayça. Noura has a tip: “Bring a bottle of water with you, that rinses more easily than the tap.”

All the students regret that they cannot easily perform their prayers. Ayça: “I already thought one quiet room was too few, given the size of the group that uses it. Let alone now that G is closed. I’ve attended schools with less diverse student populations, yet they were more inclusive. This situation does not match the image of an inclusive university.”