Surrounded by groups of people heading to class or lunch, a group of students gathers five times a day to pray behind Kerckhoff Hall.
Daily prayers are a significant part of Islam, and many Muslim students on campus take time out of their days to complete the ritual, along with other religious obligations.
But while these students adhere to a strict interpretation of Islam, others take a more liberal approach, fusing their personal beliefs with the basic tenets of the religion.
Sarah El-Annan, a fourth-year international development studies and political science student, says she falls into the latter category.
“I’m a moderate,” she said. “I do the five pillars, like praying five times a day … (but) I might not be perceived by other Muslims as being a strict Muslim. From the way that I look, no one could tell that I’m a Muslim. Like, I don’t wear the scarf.”
El-Annan says though she considers herself a practicing Muslim, her beliefs and practices are in many ways highly personal.
During her first year of college, El-Annan began investigating Islam and became more religious than she ever had been growing up, she said.
“I wanted to learn more,” she said. “I was learning it sort of like a convert would, and it was really intense. (Eventually) I took a year to kind of step back and reassess my practices.”
El-Annan said she began researching and looking more critically at her religion. She added that being a native speaker of Arabic allowed her to read the Koran in its original language.
“I felt like I was being spoon-fed things instead of actually reading up on things,” she said. “I needed to step back and actually learn what I’m practicing.”
She attributed changes in her beliefs partly to her upbringing ““ El-Annan’s father is not very religious and her mother is more “culturally Muslim,” she said.
“It was actually a huge blessing that my parents were so secular,” she said. “I was able to research Islam and decide why I want to be a Muslim.”
Naqib Shifa, president of the Muslim Student Association, said his organization exists to foster this type of connection between Muslim students and their religion.
He emphasized the importance of a community like MSA for Muslim students on campus.
“The Muslim experience here at UCLA is the community,” he said. “You want to surround yourself with people who share your purpose in life.”
Shifa himself practices Islam more strictly, participating in voluntary religious activities such as charity and fasting beyond what is required, such as during the holy month of Ramadan.
He said though Muslims’ religious practices are circumscribed to some degree by the Koran, students have some leeway in the way that they practice.
“In terms of the actual acts of worship, those are defined for us,” he said. “People’s day-to-day connections with God, people’s relationship with God, I think that varies.”
Shifa said things like charity and fasting are voluntary acts some students undertake to enhance their own faith.
Both Shifa and El-Annan said Muslim students, like many students raised religious, sometimes struggle when they come to college and are faced for the first time with issues that run counter to their religion, such as drinking.
“Here in college there’s this tendency (toward) excessive improper social ills,” Shifa said, noting that strict Christian and Jewish students encounter similar problems. “These social impurities are not within the folds of these religions.”
El-Annan took a somewhat softer line, saying she believes it is not impossible to reconcile typical college culture with Islam.
“You can be a Muslim and you can do those things, all in moderation. You’re not killing anyone, you’re not hurting anyone,” she said. “But you have to reconcile it with yourself, between you and God.”
Maral Parsian, a second-year psychobiology student, said she has personally faced these decisions, but because of her faith and background, chose not to partake in some activities, such as drinking.
“I’ve been curious to try things, but there’s a part of me that says, “˜Oh, my parents have never done this,'” she said. “It’s a guilt factor.”
Still, Shifa, El-Annan and Parsian all said that despite the constraints it may place on some of students’ activities, Islamic culture does not fundamentally clash with Western culture.
Rather, they said Islam is often misunderstood.
“I think that a lot of the misconceptions are bred off of ignorance of Islam,” El-Annan said. “A lot of people are like, “˜Why do you guys have jihad?’ But they don’t actually look it up. People are given these weird conceptions of Islam. … It’s a peaceful religion.”
Parsian agreed, adding that even at UCLA she has encountered a level of difficulty.
“It just makes me sad,” she said. “It’s disappointing to hear, but at the same time it’s good to hear that some people are educated, or have friends that are educated. People need to open their minds, and not just to Muslims but to all religions.”
Shifa said though the Muslim Student Association continues to educate the community about Islam, for the most part, he has found UCLA students open to learning more.
“The UCLA campus is one of the most open-minded,” he said. “That’s very essential.”