Western Oregon Journal

Issue date: 1/14/09 Section: News

Faisal Almenaiya talks to students in the new prayer room located in Todd Hall.

A warm glow fills the new prayer room in Todd Hall, reflected off the soft orange color of the freshly-painted walls.
Ali Govori, president of the Muslim Student Association (MSA), takes his shoes off outside the door and places them inside the room in a cabinet with multiple compartments. Then he picks up his stack of books and starts arranging them on the two white shelves holding what he calls "a mini library," a collection of volumes detailing the Islamic faith and Muslim cultural and social history.
"As you can see, it's all very, very new," he said, gesturing around the room.
Although MSA started holding Friday prayers during fall term, Govori said the need to schedule special rooms coupled with the unattractive nature of the old prayer room in Werner detracted would-be attendees.
Govori said up to 10 people attended weekly meetings, but not many students knew about the prayers.
Now that MSA has the new prayer room in Todd, "We're still trying to work out the schedule to accommodate as many students as possible. But it's because we just started," he said.
According to Govori and Faisal Almenaiya, president of the Saudi Arabian Union (SAU), MSA represents all of the Muslims on campus.
Almenaiya said his club joined with MSA because both groups have "the same purpose, the same service and the same goals for the club."
"What links us is the faith. About 99.999 percent of the Saudis here are Muslim," Govori said.
MSA, the new prayer room and Friday prayers are primarily directed toward Muslim students, but anyone is welcome to attend club gatherings.
"We want to point out the commonalities instead of the differences," Govori said. "There are so many things in common, but because of the media we tend to just see the differences."
The media usually represents Islam through the lens of current problems, Govori said. However, he said students need to study the books and the sources of Islam rather than other mediums.
"We are people, too. We fall into the media trend, too. We watch CNN, too," he said. "But if this is the only version you get of a certain thing, then it's a narrow view."
For Muslims, prayers are part of daily life.
"I pray five times a day, whether I'm here [at Western] or not. It is a very good meeting point for us to meet each other and help each other, especially during the finals," Govori said.
MSA members also help each other understand Islam better and study their faith.
"That's what we try to emphasize at the MSA-to be able to talk with others about other faiths, you have to know your own first," Govori said.
Almenaiya said MSA exists to build cultural bridges, correct misconceptions and provide students with opportunities to involve themselves at Western and in the community of Monmouth.
Open communication between students of different cultures and faiths is key to creating these links, Almenaiya said.
"That is the major step forward to building those bridges. To make them out of steel, to even make them out of gold," he said. "We are the future leaders. Whether we have positions or not, we have opinions."

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