Issue 06 - Student Newspaper - Texas A&M Corpus Christi

PAGE 4 FEATURES / FEBRUARY 16, 2012
Islam:
A Reality Check
KATHLEENRAMIREZ
features editor
Accounting for one fifth of
the world’s population, Islam
is practiced by over one billion
followers from all over
the world. From elementary
school children to the elderly,
Islam is a religion that
is practiced even amongst
the students of Texas A&M
University-Corpus Christi.
Finding the time to actively
pursue a religion while
in college may seem like a
difficult task to accomplish.
However, Islamic students
Amna Ijaz, Fataha
Ibrahim and Nesreen Gusbi
said it’s really not as difficult
as it seems, For Ijaz, Ibrahim
and Gusbi, Islam is more
than just a daily responsibility;
it is also a way of life.
“Well, basically, aside
from all misconceptions,
[Islam] is all about believing
in one god and living your
life worshiping him, praising
him and loving him,”
Ijaz said. “We have all these
things around us, but as long
as you make prayer your top
priority, it’s possible.”
Central to Islam are the
Five Pillars of Islam: testify,
prayer, fasting, charity and
pilgrimage. As long as one
is physically and financially
capable of performing a pillar,
followers of the Islam
religion are encouraged to
pursue each pillar.
In Islam, prayer must be
performed five times a day:
during sunrise, noon, late afternoon,
sunset and evening.
Prior to prayer, believers
must participate in wudoo,
the act of cleansing one’s self
before prayer can take place.
“We believe when you
pray you’re in front of God
talking to him, so before you
meet him, you have to purify
yourself, clean yourself; that
is what wudoo is,” Gusbi
said. “Prayer is like a spiritual
cleansing - a refresher,
and wudoo is the physical
and emotional cleansing of
your hands, arms, mouth,
nose, ears, eyes, feet and top
of head.”
Thanks to advances in
technology, there are apps
and websites that followers
of Islam can download or
sign up for that will send a
text reminding users when
it’s time to pray. Ijaz, Ibrahim
and Gusbi also use a
more traditional approach
when it comes to remembering
to pray.
“I’m not really a morning
person,” Gusbi said. “Ijaz
and Ibrahim will sometimes
text or call me to help me
wake up.”
Ijaz and Ibrahim, who
live on campus, usually have
time in between their classes
to go back to their rooms
and pray. Gusbi, who lives
off campus, will sometimes
go to Ijaz’s or Ibrahim’s
room to pray or find a place
on campus that isn’t too
crowded.
On the occasions when
they are unable to return to
their rooms, Ijaz, Ibrahim
and Gusbi will find a clean,
quiet, private place to pray.
Some requirements of prayer
include having the place you
pray at being clean and having
your prayer be sincere -
not just an excuse to show
off or brag to onlookers.
Of course, there are those
moments
when Ijaz,
Ibrahim and
Gusbi find
themselves unable
to go off to
a quiet, private
place for prayer
and instead will
just try and
make the best
of the situation.
Gusbi recalled
an instance where
she had to pray while she
was at the Greyhound Bus
Station, and Ijaz remembers
praying in the library.
“Make prayer your priority
and then have everything
else,” Gusbi said. “It only
takes like five to 10 minutes;
you can do it in between
classes, and it makes you
happy.”
For more information on
Islam, or for any questions
regarding the Islamic faith,
visit the Muslim Student
Association meetings that
take place every Thursday at
7:30 p.m. in room 316 of the
University Center.
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