Making Salat at school

[kostageas]

As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu.

This thread is a continuation of conversations I've had around the forum, so here's a little background information:

I am 16 years old and I go to a standard American high school. I am a Junior (year 3 out of 4) and I've always missed my salah. Like, I don't think I have ever made all five prayers in a single day. Recently, I've been trying to be a lot more religious but I've run into one major problem. Doing my Salah at school. For me, school starts at 6 AM and ends at 2 PM. I have 7 classes, each about 54 minutes long except for the first one (called 0 period, because it's before 1st period, which marks the official start of the day) which lasts 45 minutes. I get out of my PE class at 6:45 and "school" doesn't officially start until 7:20. Fajr for tomorrow starts at 6:07 and sunrise is at 7:30 AM. This causes a little problem for me. For one, wudu, and second the actual prayer. At school they only have regular bathrooms that aren't private. I, personally, would find it very awkward to do wudu in there. Especially washing my feet. I could do my hands, face, head, arms, mouth and nose, but the feet would just be rather awkward in a public bathroom. Then the actual salat. As far as I am aware there is no room where I could do it in private. And I don't think I could do it in a public place in school because it would just be really awkward. I am a white convert that is morbidly obese, and I get made fun of enough already, I really don't want to make myself stand out even more (I'm on a diet, btw :) ) The only place I can really think of is in the library, but even still there are students there as soon as I could get there. I know I should only fear Allah swt, but I find it very difficult. :( A sister has offered to call the school for me and ask if arrangements could be made for me to make the prayer, but I don't want my mum to find out either. She doesn't really approve of Islam and doesn't know I've reverted. Astaghfirullah. I talked to her before about Islam and wanted to revert, but she always got rather upset by it. So I just dropped the subject and didn't bring it up again. I've been going to church every week and praying with her and she probably thinks I'm just a good Christian boy again. I'm afraid that if the sister calls my school that they will contact my mum or require her to request it as well. Also, this is my 3rd year there and I've never expressed interest in salah at school, so I don't want them to think I'm just being whimsical about it. So tomorrow I was thinking about asking my 1st period teacher (class starts at 7:20) if I could miss the first 10 minutes of his class to make my prayer (I'll have to explain that I'm a Muslim and the daily prayers are recited at specific times of the day and that it really means a lot to me) and if he agrees, then I might have the sister call my school and request an empty classroom so I can do it in private. But I still don't know. I'm really confused and I just want to be a better Muslim, but I find it so hard. Shaitan is really putting blocks in my way. Please make Du'a that everything will go smoothly and that I can find a way to pray InshAllah. If you have any advice, please let me know either here or in private. InshAllah I will post updates about how things are going with the issue of praying at school, doing my salat in general, and how everything is going. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope it wasn't too boring and rambling . . .

[eternal journey]

Re: Making Salat at school

Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,

MashaAllah at reverting at such a young age brother, may Allah strengthen your eemaan (faith) and keep you on the straight path, ameen.

I'm afraid I have no fluffy advice to offer- just DO IT inshaAllah!

I understand what you mean about not wanting to make wudu in public, but it's just one of those times when we have to put what Allah thinks before what "people" think. Salaah is an obligation until we die, being embarassed about making wudu just won't be a good enough excuse for missing the prayer on the Day of Judgement- no excuse is good enough. Trust me, it gets easier inshaAllah! Once you take that first step and are determined to do it, you don't care what anyone thinks. That is what I've found in my experience alhamdulillah. If that sounds too daunting, you might want to find out if your school has a disabled toilet as these tend to be single i.e. private. If there is one, maybe you could make wudu there? Another option could be making wudu at home before you leave for school, if you are able to keep your wudu by the time Fajr comes along inshaAllah.

As for where to pray, I think if you politely ask a teacher who you like and respect if you could pray in an empty classroom they would have no problem letting you inshaAllah. Sometimes we worry our requests will be turned down so we don't even bother asking, when many a time if we only asked we would see that most people don't have a problem with things like letting us pray. You might want to invest in a portable prayer mat and compass. That way you can pray discreetly any place where no-one is around inshaAllah. Something like this.

It's not easy being a believer in non-believing environments, but it is such a blessing to be thinking of Allah at your age so please don't let what others might think dictate your actions. Put pleasing Allah before appeasing the people inshaAllah.

I pray that Allah gives you the tawfeeq (ability) to be of the youth mentioned in this beautiful hadith, ameen:
The Messenger of Allah :saw: said: 'There are seven whom Allah will shade in His shade on the day on which there is no shade except His shade: a just imam, a youth who grows up worshipping Allah, a man whose heart is attached to the mosque when he leaves it until he returns to it, two men who love each other in Allah and meet for that and part for that, a man who remembers Allah when he is alone and his eyes overflow with tears, a man who refuses the approaches of a noble, beautiful woman, saying, "I fear Allah", and a man who gives sadaqa and conceals it so that his left hand does not know what his right hand gives.' " (Bukhari and Muslim)

[Mishary Alafasy]

Wa Alaikum Salam
Mashaa Allah First of all I appreciate your effort that at this age you are giving importance to your prayers. So If it happened one day, it does not mean you make a habit of it.

Holy Quran says praying 5 times a day on due time is the responsibility of every Muslim. Please make up lost prayers and do not miss any prayers. Many students pray and study simulteneously.

[Abu 'Abdullaah]

Wa Alaikum Salam
Mashaa Allah First of all I appreciate your effort that at this age you are giving importance to your prayers. So If it happened one day, it does not mean you make a habit of it.

Holy Quran says praying 5 times a day on due time is the responsibility of every Muslim. Please make up lost prayers and do not miss any prayers. Many students pray and study simulteneously.

When will you decide to start the spam?

[Mishary Alafasy]

When will you decide to start the spam?

what do you mean?

[Abu 'Abdullaah]

what do you mean?

For Qur’an classes.

[Al-Mualim]

When will you decide to start the spam?

[yama nemati]

As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu.

This thread is a continuation of conversations I've had around the forum, so here's a little background information:

I am 16 years old and I go to a standard American high school. I am a Junior (year 3 out of 4) and I've always missed my salah. Like, I don't think I have ever made all five prayers in a single day. Recently, I've been trying to be a lot more religious but I've run into one major problem. Doing my Salah at school. For me, school starts at 6 AM and ends at 2 PM. I have 7 classes, each about 54 minutes long except for the first one (called 0 period, because it's before 1st period, which marks the official start of the day) which lasts 45 minutes. I get out of my PE class at 6:45 and "school" doesn't officially start until 7:20. Fajr for tomorrow starts at 6:07 and sunrise is at 7:30 AM. This causes a little problem for me. For one, wudu, and second the actual prayer. At school they only have regular bathrooms that aren't private. I, personally, would find it very awkward to do wudu in there. Especially washing my feet. I could do my hands, face, head, arms, mouth and nose, but the feet would just be rather awkward in a public bathroom. Then the actual salat. As far as I am aware there is no room where I could do it in private. And I don't think I could do it in a public place in school because it would just be really awkward. I am a white convert that is morbidly obese, and I get made fun of enough already, I really don't want to make myself stand out even more (I'm on a diet, btw :) ) The only place I can really think of is in the library, but even still there are students there as soon as I could get there. I know I should only fear Allah swt, but I find it very difficult. :( A sister has offered to call the school for me and ask if arrangements could be made for me to make the prayer, but I don't want my mum to find out either. She doesn't really approve of Islam and doesn't know I've reverted. Astaghfirullah. I talked to her before about Islam and wanted to revert, but she always got rather upset by it. So I just dropped the subject and didn't bring it up again. I've been going to church every week and praying with her and she probably thinks I'm just a good Christian boy again. I'm afraid that if the sister calls my school that they will contact my mum or require her to request it as well. Also, this is my 3rd year there and I've never expressed interest in salah at school, so I don't want them to think I'm just being whimsical about it. So tomorrow I was thinking about asking my 1st period teacher (class starts at 7:20) if I could miss the first 10 minutes of his class to make my prayer (I'll have to explain that I'm a Muslim and the daily prayers are recited at specific times of the day and that it really means a lot to me) and if he agrees, then I might have the sister call my school and request an empty classroom so I can do it in private. But I still don't know. I'm really confused and I just want to be a better Muslim, but I find it so hard. Shaitan is really putting blocks in my way. Please make Du'a that everything will go smoothly and that I can find a way to pray InshAllah. If you have any advice, please let me know either here or in private. InshAllah I will post updates about how things are going with the issue of praying at school, doing my salat in general, and how everything is going. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope it wasn't too boring and rambling . . .

I completely understand what your situation is because I faced the same problem in high school. The good thing there is something called qada prayer which is making up missed prayers. What I mean is if the time for prayer comes in while your at school then you can not pray it and when you get home pray it later as a missed prayer. For example the prayers comes in at 11:30 am and ends at 2:00 pm and your school doesnt end until after that and you also have to get home so lets say you get home at 3:30 pm then when you get home you can pray that prayer that you missed. I hope that helps, did you understand?