Islamic Center looks to incorporate Muslim House

The University may move the Muslim House to the same building that houses the Islamic Center next year so that prayer and residential space for Muslim students will be combined.

The Islamic Center at 176 Curtis St. was renovated this summer to accommodate the increased number of students who have flocked to there in the last few years. The residence at 92 Curtis St. functions the Muslim House for its residents, but the students must go down the street to the Islamic Center to pray because the space above the Islamic Center is used as a normal, non-cultural living space by Residential Life.

Although not everyone who lives in the Muslim House has to be involved with the Muslim Student Association at Tufts (MSAT), which uses the Islamic Center, or vice versa, many feel that it is appropriate for the two groups to be located in the same location.

"It will give us more freedom to use the rest of the house," Muslim Associate Chaplain Imam Nouredinne Hawat said. "We would be able to cook meals right in the kitchen upstairs and make use of all of the bathrooms. It would ease the use of the basement. There would be a lot more freedom to make use of the facilities."

Membership in the Muslim Student Association has grown significantly in the group's 15-year existence, as has the popularity of attending services at the Islamic Center _ an estimated 60 students attended services each Friday last year. The demand prompted the University to renovate the center to make more room by knocking down walls in the basement and expanding the prayer space. There are no plans for further construction, according to Hawat.

An inaugural ceremony was held in September to open the renovated facilities.

Though the Muslim chaplain and Paul Stanton, the administrator who helped plan the renovations, were pleased with the changes, many in the Islamic community feel it is an important next step to bring the residential and prayer facilities together.

"It is one of those things that when you look at it, you say 'how did this happen?'" Stanton said.

The fact that the housing above the Islamic Center is open makes the trade easier. Hawat presently has a verbal agreement with Residential Life that this can happen next fall.

"There is no confirmation on it, but they swap all the time, and if it would help us out a lot, then maybe it will happen," he said. "But as of now, nothing is 100 percent."

The Islamic Center is a large, multi-functional room reached through a side entrance in the building located behind Carmichael Hall. The center holds Jumma prayers every Friday, hosts holiday parties and guest lecturers, and participates in many interfaith and intercollegiate activities.