By Daniyah Yaqoob

New rules are in store for the prayer room on the third floor of Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) Student Campus Centre (SCC),  leading to mixed reactions from students who use the space.

The multi-faith prayer space was closed for the duration of the winter break for “much needed repairs and cleaning,” the TMU Student Centre (TMU-SC) told The Eyeopener in an emailed statement. It was reopened on Jan. 12.

When students returned to the space, it had been reorganized with “additional storage for items used in different religious/well-being practices.” 

According to posters plastered around the prayer space, there was also a new daily schedule in place, with curtains dividing the space pulled back for “open practice” from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., and closed from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. for “multi-faith practice.” 

TMU-SC said the schedule was created in collaboration with the Muslim Student Association at the university.

New rules also stipulate that the space can’t be used for sleeping, eating, socializing and cannot be used for long periods of time beyond prayer.

A post on Reddit gathered mixed reactions, with some students lamenting the new rules as restrictive towards their practices.

Others said the rules were good for reinforcing the space as a prayer space only.

Navaal Ala, a second-year occupational health and safety student, said she uses the prayer space every time she’s on campu campus—it has become a hub for the Muslim community at TMU. 

Her first time there after the winter break, she felt a sense of discomfort, particularly over the new curtain which replaced the previous divider.

Muslims often pray in spaces segregated between men and women—the gaps the new curtain leaves between the two spaces made her uncomfortable.

“When I walk into a space that I’m comfortable in, it’s much easier to create that connection [with God],” Ala said.

However, Ala said she understands the desire to cater the space to people of other religions, and said it could have been done even with the old room divider.

“If other religious students were to come in and add in their own prayers or their books and stuff, I don’t think anyone would have anything against it,” she said.