The University of Houston Medical School will provide 2 ‘“all-inclusive” Reflection Spaces for students. There are additional plans to create more Reflection Spaces in the future across the UH campus. Unfortunately, the structure of these Reflection Spaces has inadvertently excluded Muslims, as well as other worshippers, who have to kneel or prostrate on the ground in order to practice their religion. As of now, these Reflection Spaces will be built with stone material for the floor and will not include any storage space for prayer mats, religious or nonreligious texts, head coverings, or other prayer and meditation materials. We are asking for these two additions (carpeting and a shelf) to be made so that Muslims, as well as students of all denominations, feel welcome in these Reflection Spaces.

Why is the lack of carpeting and storage space a problem?

• The Reflection Spaces in the Medical School will set a precedent for future Reflection Spaces across campus.
• A stone floor with no carpet makes praying and meditation difficult for students of denominations in which kneeling or prostrating on the ground is an essential part of their prayers.
• Muslims have to pray on a clean floor, which means no shoes can be worn on masjid carpet. It is unreasonable to ask that students of all denominations remove their shoes before entering the Reflection Space, so having a storage space for clean prayer mats (that have not been stepped on with shoes) is essential.
• Muslims need a place to store other prayer materials like the Quran and head coverings as well.

Why are carpets and shelves not included in the plans?

• The University does not want to make students feel ostracized or excluded from the space because materials of other religious or non-religious beliefs are placed in the Reflection Space.
• The University’s reasoning is that Medical students will have access to personal lockers on the second floor of the Medical School, and can, therefore, keep any prayer/religious materials in their lockers and bring them to the reflection space as needed.
• The University wants to provide a minimalist space to aid students in pursuing mindfulness without any distracting furniture or carpeting.
• Nobody has told us this explicitly, but it could also be because a carpet is arguably more difficult to clean than tile/stone. In a world that has been greatly impacted by COVID-19, this is a real concern.

How do you plan on addressing these concerns?

• Including a religious group in these spaces does not and should not make others feel excluded. We want to reiterate that we are not asking the University to provide the Qurans or prayer mats, simply a space to put them and a material for the floor that Muslims are able to pray on.
• As for offending students of other spiritual beliefs, exposure to other religions is a part of everyday life, and providing a shelf for those religions to store holy texts (Bibles, Torahs, Qurans) promotes their acceptance.
• Some students who are not medical students may need to use the space to pray. They will not necessarily have ready access to prayer materials because they won’t have lockers on the second floor of the Medical School.
• As for medical students who will have access to those lockers on the 2nd floor: they shouldn’t have to run back and forth to grab a prayer mat every time they want to reflect (which, for Muslims is 5 times a day). It is a major inconvenience and defeats the purpose of a dedicated space.
• The opening of the med school building is planned for the Fall 2022 semester at the very earliest. By then the threat of COVID-19 should be significantly less, and cleaning will not be an issue. 

Are carpeting and storage spaces unusual for inclusive spaces for worship?

• Not at all! Not only do almost all masjids have carpeting and shelves for storage, but all-inclusive reflection spaces that are open to people of all denominations have both carpeting and storage spaces as well! For example:
  • George Bush Intercontinental Airport Interfaith Chapels
  • The University of Texas in Austin Reflection Spaces
  • Texas A&M University Reflection Space
  • A.D. Bruce Religion Center - University of Houston Chapel

In conclusion:

We understand the sentiment of a non-distracting space so students can focus on mindfulness and de-stress. However, comfort in praying/meditation for ALL students should be the primary purpose and aesthetics should be the second. We want real inclusivity, not the kind that refuses to provide a religious group with what they need out of fear that it will make others feel excluded. We are not asking for anything to the detriment of other religious groups. A carpeted floor and shelf will be useful for students and will not inconvenience others in any way.

Making Muslims and students of all denominations comfortable can be accomplished with two changes to the current plans for Reflection Spaces:

1. Adding a carpet to the plans for the Reflection Spaces to ensure students who worship on the floor are able to do so.
2. Providing a shelf or storage space for religious and non-religious students to store prayer materials.

Shelves and carpeting are essential to Muslim worship, but we want to clarify that these changes to the Reflection Space will make it more comfortable for students of ALL religious or non-religious beliefs. As stated before, the Reflection Spaces in the Medical School will set a precedent for future spaces all over the University of Houston campus. If we make concessions and exclude Muslims from these spaces in the Medical School, chances are Muslims will be excluded from other spaces for the sake of architectural consistency.

I personally have prayed in almost 100 masjids in my lifetime in countries and continents all over the world. I have only prayed on tile or stone at 2 masjids. Their lack of carpeting was due to that prayer area’s size and exposure to the elements. Only the very large areas outside of these two masjids (Masjid An-Nabawi and Masjid Al-Haram) are made of stone/tile material and don’t have a carpet because they would be difficult to keep clean. 

I bring this up because the Reflection Spaces are designed to be around 160-180 square feet and are, of course, indoors. A space of this size does not warrant real concern that a carpeted floor will be difficult to clean.