H/T Dorrie

http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=ProfileofSuccess&article=8110

Marygrove College designates a prayer room for Muslim students

By Ali Harb

Friday, 01.17.2014, 12:50am

DETROIT – Marygrove College, a private Catholic school [so they don’t even have the excuse that the gov’t made them do it; they are willingly taking in students who are taught to hate everything non-Islamic with (read on) no thought to converting these students to a different way of thinking], has established an interfaith prayer room, which will serve as a space for prayer for Muslim students. Marygrove’s president and staff, along with students and representatives from the Muslim community, celebrated on Wednesday Jan. 15, the grand opening of the room, reflecting the college’s diversity. 

President of Marygrove College Dr. David Fike said the celebration of the interfaith prayer room [what is interfaith about it? It is set up for Muslims to pray in] is “symbolic” of our coming together as diverse communities and individuals in the journey of life. 

Imam Hassan Al-Qazwini of the Islamic Center of America stressed the common spiritual goal of all religions: So sit back and listen to a master da’ee spread the da’wah “All roads lead to god,” [not according to the Qur’an. Only one road does, and it’s the Islamic road. If you aren’t Muslim, you’re a kafir, and if you’re a kafir, you’re on the hot seat for killing] he said. “We worship him in different languages [but only Arabic is the true language of Allah, the rest of us are outsiders, so we can’t know the real god, you see], and he’s the one who understands all languages. By celebrating the grand opening of this chapel, we are celebrating our commonalities. [Name one. And since this is my game, you can’t say Jesus or Moses or Abraham, cuz they aren’t the Jesus or Moses or Abraham of the Torah or Bible] And I’m sure our commonalities outnumber our differences.” [This bit of muruna (monster lying) is just breathtaking! “I dare you,” he’s saying, “to argue with me.” I’d be happy to, beginning with my first statement: We have no commonalities, so our differences have to outnumber them.] 

Alia Zeidan, a Marygrove graduate, started attending the college in 2008. She said it was hard for her to drive 30 minutes to Dearborn [! Oh! We’re talking about Dearborn here] to pray [ahhhhhh. She doesn’t have to, of course. A prayer mat in the ladies’ room and she bows toward Mecca works just fine] when she had morning and afternoon classes. Zeidan proposed the idea of the prayer room in 2011 at a business class. “We have chapels in the school. I thought to myself why can’t Muslim students have a place to pray?” [Because this is a Catholic school! Not a madrassa!] she said. “I talked to [director of campus ministry] brother Jesse Cox about the issue, especially that the number of Muslims on campus was growing because of the soccer scholarships and the international studies program.”

Zeidan said she did not actively push the project, as she was busy with her academic life. But . . . the school was following through with the proposal. Janice Machusak, Marygrove’s director of mission integration, voiced Zeidan’s demands [now, I would have taken that to be a suggestion; what was she thinking?] to the school’s leadership. The college consulted community organizations in Dearborn [oh, well, there you go. The plot is not only thick, it’s set like cement] to pick an appropriate room. 

In the Fall semester of 2013, which was Zeidan’s last, the room became available to students. Zeidan said she raised about $600 for rugs, prayer dresses, and Qur’ans for the room. “I was very excited. I wanted to see it happen before I left,” she said. “This room makes us feel equal [pfui. They are told by Allah that they are “the best of men.” Oh, well, maybe that left Zeidan out and she needed to compensate.]. They have a place to pray; we have a place to pray. We believe in the unity of all religions. [In what part of the Qur’an does this belief reside? Well, LOL, it does, you know. The unity means all fold up and become Islam.] This school is like a family. You never feel alienated because of your faith.” [In a Catholic school, yet. That clearly isn’t trying to bring the Muslims to Jesus Christ, so the missionary aspect seems not to be the motive. Why would Muslim men and women apply to a private Catholic school? Maybe the MSA is at work here? CAIR?]

Zeidan said she could not obtain the exact number of Muslim students at the school while proposing the project because it is optional to declare faith on the college application. But according to her estimates, about 100 Muslims attend Marygrove [out of how many, I wonder?]. Zeidan thanked the school for its efforts to accommodate Muslim students and singled out  Machusak in her gratitude. 

Noor Hussein, who moved recently to the U.S. and is pursuing a degree in social studies at Marygrove, said she did not expect to see a Muslim prayer room in an American Catholic college [well, one can see why, huh?]. “It’s a beautiful thing,” she said. 

Marygrove is sponsored by The Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (I.H.M.), a Catholic religious institute based in Monroe, Michigan. The school was established in Detroit as a 2-year college in 1905. Today 984 undergraduate and  1,713 postgraduate students attend the school. [Of which 100 or less are Muslim. I don’t know why there are even that few. But let’s by all means give them special treatment. Are the other students ONLY Catholic that they don’t need any special accommodations, or does it just not occur to any of them to ask for special accommodations?]

Machusak thanked the students “who started this conversations. Students have been the driving force behind everything we do,” she said. [So, more than just Zeidan?]