How We Pray: “Faith Is What Connects Me to My Creator.”
Click on the slide show above to learn more about the Islamic faith.
On Sundays, they gather in Marsh Chapel for communal worship. Four times a day, they pray facing Mecca in a room at the George Sherman Union. On Fridays and Saturdays, they meet in Hillel House on Bay State Road, and when the seasons change, they celebrate on the lawn behind Marsh Plaza. They are the hundreds of students involved in spiritual life at Boston University, the former Methodist seminary that is now home to 29 religious groups that include students of all races, nationalities, and beliefs.
This semester, BU Today is talking to students about how and why prayer is a part of their daily lives on campus. In the slide show above, students in the Islamic Society of Boston University attend a weekly Jomeh, or Friday, prayer meeting in the basement of the George Sherman Union. They also hold four of the five required daily prayer groups in the society’s office, GSU Room 242. The society has more than 100 student members and holds regular study circles and celebrations of breaking fast during Ramadan, a monthlong observance commemorating the revelation of the Qu’ran, the holy book revealed by God to Muhammad. Muslims observing Ramadan fast between sunrise and sunset.
At the midpoint of Ramadan, Mohamed Serageldin (ENG’08), a leader of BU’s Islamic Society, talks about why praying each day is a joy, not a burden.
Click here to see a slide show from the first part of the series, "How We Pray: ‘Something Clicked, and Something Changed,’" about how Naomi Rose Konikoff (SAR’09) reconnected with Judaism when she came to college.
Edward A. Brown can be reached at ebrown@bu.edu. Jessica Ullian can be reached at jullian@bu.edu.