Pristine white walls, mirrors lining the room, and…prayer rugs? Even though the space may be unconventional, the makeup studio in the Huss Center is doubling as an area to have weekly Friday prayer during tutorial. According to Islamic teachings, Muslims are asked to have their afternoon prayer in a mosque, or place of worship on Fridays. Since this is nearly impossible for students at St. Paul Academy and Summit School, as they cannot leave school to go to a mosque every week, a group of parents of Muslim students and faculty (Jill Romans, the Middle School Principal, Chris Hughes, the Upper School Principal, and Karen Dye, the Diversity Dean) set aside the makeup studio for Friday (or Jummah) prayer during tutorial. During Jummah prayer, a short talk is given by the person leading the prayer, who is also known as the Imam. After the talk, another person gives the Athan, or call to prayer, after which attendees stand in lines and start the prayer, following the Imam’s movements. Both middle and upper school students are welcome to attend. On September 11th, the first Jummah prayer was held.

Sophomore Adnan Askari was one of the students present for the event.

“Overall, it went much better than I expected. More people showed up than I imagined,” Askari said.

Askari likes that the prayer space has remained a quiet and private area for Muslim students: “all I want this to be is a prayer space, not a tactic to publicly announce SPA’s acceptance of students of all religions and cultures,” he said.

Although Askari is wary of the over-attention this prayer space may get, he’s happy that the option exists for Muslim students. “

I hope it continues to be a place for students to pray, and nothing more,” he said.