Religion Realized: Muslim students share the challenges of practicing their faith at Middlebury

“If you stop doing prayers you are not Muslim anymore,” explained Asma Naser ’10 of the absolute importance of this religious tradition to Muslims. Prayers allow the Muslim people to connect with Allah and express their gratitude and worship.  Yet, observing these daily prayers, as well as the other pillars of Islam, can be difficult for College students, Naser shared.

Though not a major demographic at Middlebury College, Muslims comprise over 1.5 billion people in the world. A monotheistic religion with many similar origins as Christianity and Judaism, Islam instructs its followers to lead their lives through the example of the Prophet Muhammad and through the Qur’an, a holy scripture that is said to be the word of Allah (God). Islam literally means “submission to God” and the adherents of Islam are required by God to follow specific duties that are the foundation of Muslim life. They are called “the five pillars of Islam.”

The first is shahadah, which is a profession of monotheism, stating that there is no other god but Allah, and that Muhammad the prophet is his messenger.

The second is salat or prayers, requiring all Muslims to pray five times at specific periods each day.

The third is zakat or alms tax, which is the practice of giving charity based on personal wealth and is an obligation for those who are financially able.

The fourth is sawm, or fasting, and it occurs during the entirety of the Islamic month of Ramadan. From dawn until dusk Muslims must abstain from eating, drinking and having sex.

The fifth pillar is hajj, a pilgrimage that occurs during the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah. “It is a three-day event,” said Naser. “You have to be really pious for those three days. You cannot lie to people, you cannot say harsh words to anyone.”

The pilgrimage takes the Muslims to Mecca, where they “do their rounds,” walking seven times around the Kaaba (a site incredibly sacred to Islam) in addition to Medina where they visit the prophet Muhammad’s mosque. “After pilgrimage you slaughter an animal. That’s the end of it,” said Naser.

The pilgrimage must be made once during the life of every Muslim. Those who have completed the haji are honored in their community.

“[The pilgrimage] is compulsory but I don’t want to do it in compulsion,” said Ansri of his future plans regarding this sacred event. “I want to enjoy the experience ... And wait for the right time when I’m much more mentally mature.”

Due to the strictness of these religious practices, Muslim students at Middlebury are faced with many challenges as they try to both be college students and maintain the essential religious practices that make up their faith.

“I have other commitments; I have my own life,” said Naser. “I don’t think that if I don’t pray five times a day, I’m not a good Muslim. I think I’m trying my best.”

“You have to make sure that you’re doing what you used to do when you were back home,” explained Talhi Asri ’12.“You compare your present activities with what you used to do before and kind of find the right path.”

In the case of Ramadan, breaking fast before dawn and after dusk becomes much more difficult when the dining halls are only open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. However, the Spiritual and Religious Life Administration has been incredibly helpful in overcoming this particular obstacle for Muslim students.

“Back home, we really celebrate Ramadan. We make really good food, and here, it is hard,” said Naser. “But the good thing about Middlebury College is they give us coupons for Grille that are worth almost eight dollars, and we go to the Grille and get good food and drink.”

The Middlebury Islamic Society has also played a big part in uniting the Muslim community at Middlebury by holding weekly prayer sessions and organizing religious and cultural activities.

“When I came here, I think it is much easier [to practice my religion] especially because we have our Islamic society room and we come here and we have practicing Muslims who come here,” said Naser.“It just gives us more want to be here and be with other Muslim students and pray with them.”

“I asked the advisor to create a mandate Islamic Society meeting after Friday prayer and a lot of people turn up,” said Asri. “It’s there for you to know there are other people around you.”

It is hard to imagine a bigger culture shock than moving from a traditional community in Afghanistan to Middlebury College. Naser’s transition from her home to the United States, was an opportunity to become exposed to different faiths and ideas. As a first-year in 2006, Naser was largely unaware of different religions.

“When we are back home, we are only exposed to one kind of view,” Naser said. “We are all with people who think like us, who are really religious. We know only one thing, which is to be really religious. But when we come here, it’s totally different because then we encounter different faiths. We talk to different people. I didn’t even know about Judaism or Christianity before coming here.”

Naser believes that sharing and understanding different religions is an important way to learn about each other, and that Middlebury has facilitated a great opportunity for her to experience that because of the religious diversity on campus. In her eyes, the other religious groups here share many of the same goals and ideas as Muslims, which creates a greater sense of community that is not only about religious practices, but an overall way to live life. All of the religious groups share a common bond of striving to do good works and be better people through practicing their faith.

“It had a really great impact on me,” said Naser, “because even though they are different people who are practicing different religions. There aren’t a lot of big differences between us.”

Naser has felt no discrimination being a Muslim at Middlebury. In fact, she has assimilated into American culture to a certain extent. As a result, Naser has had to make some changes in her lifestyle.

“My first year I wore hijab for a week, and then everyone would be looking at me and I didn’t want the attention, so I took it off.”
For Naser, these changes came because she realized there are many other important parts of life that are not about religion. She knows that her effort to continue to live under the ideas and teachings of Islam is still an instrumental part of her life, yet through her experience at Middlebury, she has come to accept to other ideas and teachings. For that she is very grateful.

“If I go back,”said Naser, “I’m sure I could explain things to people I could tell them that, ‘No, there aren’t a lot of differences.’ They think that Christians are totally different from us, but I think that if there is someone that could explain to them, ‘no, they are ordinary people like us,’ I’m sure they’d understand.”