(NAME-MCE) Protests by Muslim Students in London

[Anselmo Villanueva]

Protests by Muslim Students in London

City University London's closure of a prayer room used  exclusively by
Muslims has led to a month of protests by Muslim students  there, Times
Higher Education reported. The  university has offered the students a room
that is used for prayers by a  variety of religious groups, but the students
say that they cannot pray  in a space where others offer prayers of
different faiths.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=410874&c=2

Muslim students continue street protest over closure of prayer room

March 16, 2010  Times Higher Education  By Melanie Newman
melanie.newman at tsleducation.com

Alternative shared accommodation offered but  rejected as ‘unacceptable’.
Melanie Newman reports

Hundreds of Muslim students have been holding prayers  outside City
University London for a month in protest at the closure of a  prayer room
used exclusively by them.

The students declare that  “multi-faith” alternatives are unacceptable
because “a vast number of  Muslim scholars throughout history believe it is
impermissible for  Muslims to offer prayers in a place where [a god] other
than our Lord,  Allah, is worshipped”.

In an open letter, the protesters also  point out that the multi-faith room
can accommodate only 40 people,  which is too small for the number of
Muslims who need to pray at least  three times per day.

All-male groups have been praying on the  pavement outside City since 15
February, with more than 200 reportedly  turning up for Friday prayers in
Northampton Square.

The protest  follows a fight between members of the City Islamic Society and
a gang  of youths last November outside the Gloucester building in
Whiskin  Street which previously housed the Muslim prayer room.

Police  described the attack, in which two students were stabbed, as
racially  aggravated. Earlier the same week, students reported being pelted
with  stones as they left the room.

As a result of the incidents, the  university closed the room and set up
temporary multi-faith facilities  in a different building. The students want
the previous room reopened.

“We  would like to think that there is an amicable rapport between
all  faiths and societies at the university,” the letter says. “But,
if  circumstances arise – which they inevitably will – that each society
has  to restrict its time in the multi-faith rooms to accommodate
other  societies to the detriment of their beliefs and practices,
naturally,  there will be a breakdown of good relations.”

A university  spokeswoman said the new room had been set up in consultation
with  Muslim scholars and was “in line with what many other higher
education  institutes are providing”.

“Practice in  other universities shows that many Muslims pray where others
have been –  City has already seen its new space used by some of its
Muslim  students,” she said. City’s great hall was available for Friday
prayers,  she added.

Fran Singh, editor of The Inquirer, City’s student  newspaper, said most
students – Muslim and non-Muslim – backed the  protests. “I think the stance
the university has taken is partly in  response to complaints that they have
let the Islamic Society have their  own way for too long for fear of being
branded as discriminatory,” she  said. “They are trying to take a tough line
but are somewhat missing the  point.”

Relations between the City University Islamic Society  members and other
student groups have been strained since last year,  when the society invited
cleric Abu Usamah to a fundraising event.

The  preacher featured in a Channel 4 documentary, Undercover Mosque,
in  2007, in which he said homosexuals should be “thrown off a mountain”
and  labelled women intellectually deficient.

The Inquirer ran an  article and editorial criticising the society for
inviting Mr Usamah.

In  its response, also published by the paper, the society warns
The  Inquirer and City staff to “submit to Allah” or face “severe and
painful  punishment” in the “next life”.

A second response, from  anonymous Muslim students at City, points out that
“male chauvinists are  everywhere” and asks non-Muslims to “take a critical
look at the myriad  media reports of angry Muslims shouting ‘death to the
infidels’. There  are approximately 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, and if
Islam  advocated violence and sexism, the whole world would be up in flames
by  now,” they write.

City’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender  Society also demanded an
apology from Julius Weinberg, acting  vice-chancellor, for allowing Mr
Usamah on to campus.

Professor  Weinberg said he had since reviewed the way the university vets
its  speakers. He said: “It is not appropriate for the university to
hold  speaker meetings where there is segregation by gender, as this is
not  consistent with the university values statement.”