Prayer Room Proposal

Presented by Katsura Muslim Community

Introduction
Islam is one of the three major religions of the world. It is a monotheistic religion that obligates all Muslims
to perform certain mandatory duties, one of which is prayer. In Kyoto University, also many international
Muslim students such as from Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and many Arabic and African
countries those believe in Islam. It grows fast year by year. No exception with Kyoto University especially
in Katsura Campus. Also if there are some exchange programs or conference held in Katsura Campus joined
by the member of the university from Muslim country, they also need space to obtain the prayer. So that,
the need for a space to obtain the prayer has begun to be felt.
Generally, there are 2 kinds of prayer those we must to obtain. Firstly, There are daily prayers those consist
of 5 daily prayers. Muslim prayer is based on a lunar calendar, which causes the timings for the five daily
prayers to vary between 5:00 am to 12:00 midnight. Each prayer must be performed within a limited time
frame and completed prior to the next prayer time. The prayers can occur in a group or in an individual
manner; the group prayer is preferred and more vocal. The prayer includes bowing and prostrating to Allah
(God), and reciting from the scripture, the Qur'an.
Secondly, on Fridays, the Muslim holy day, congregational prayer is mandatory. Due to these various facets
of Muslim prayer, having access to a Muslim prayer room (musallah) on campus would eliminate the
problems that Muslims face in observing this mandatory act of worship. Because normally we must go to
Kyoto Muslim Association (KMA) Masjid/Mosque near Yoshida campus to obtain the Friday prayer and
we take almost half of the day transporting to the location because the distance is too far.

The Objective
The Katsura Muslim Community is requesting approval for the use of space on Katsura campus for both of
the Daily prayer and Friday prayer.

The Issues
There are some issues that cause the need of the space, consists of:
1. The number of students facing this dilemma. Muslim obligation to pray 5 times a day and also
Friday Prayer (ie it's not a matter of choice). In other hand, prayer timings are also considered
respecting to class schedules but the Masjid or Mosque is too far from the campus. We have some
informal spaces, but practically in some cases, they are intersecting with the other activities for
space, so it makes the inconvenient situation. In the case of Friday Prayer, we do not have any
option rather than go to KMA Masjid in Yoshida, or we obey our obligation to our God because
Friday Prayer need special room/space to obtain it to do the preaching for the peace.
 2. We know that the Constitution in Japan provides for freedom of religion, and the government
respects this right in practice. At all levels, the Japanese Government seeks to protect this right in
full and does not tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. But in the other hand,
when students are required to take classes during certain hours of the day and this intersects with
prayer times, students have to fulfill both obligations. So, if there is a room for prayer, it helps us
to receive our right without breaking our obligations.

3. It is also big respect for us if we have the prayer room because of high care from University. In
Yoshida campus Kyoto University, there are many formal spaces for prayer provided for Muslim
students, such as in the Faculty of Economy, Agriculture, etc., also a Prayer room in Uji campus.
Also, hundreds of prayer rooms in almost all of the university in Japan those we heard are provided.
Big respect for it.

4. We also know that our university is respecting diversity. So, given the prayer room only for Muslim
is not fair. So that, it does not matter if the name and the purpose of space is named by multipurpose
room. We think this option is a win-win solution

Closing
At the end of the part of the proposal, we want to say thank you for the attention from the university
leadership, administration staff of the Katsura campus and other parts those supported us. We also attach
the list of Muslim students and the other parts those related. Please kindly receipt. Thank you very much.