S. Korea Universities Offer Prayer Rooms, Halal Food
Aslan, 25, a Pakistani who is working on a combined Master’s and doctoral program in digital content studies at Sejong University, says that he has been enjoying campus life more lately. “In the past, students would walk by while I was doing my prayers. I like the fact that I’m able to say my prayers in peace now.”
Starting this semester, Muslim students at Sejong University have access to a prayer room in the basement of the dormitory. Reflecting the wishes of the Muslim students, the 73 square meter carpeted prayer room has a partition separating men and women and an amplifier for reading from the Quran, The Hankyoreh newspaper reported.
As universities follow up on the Korean Wave by trying to recruit students from Muslim countries, they are making efforts to win the hearts of Muslims.
In 2010, Kookmin University built a 40 square meter prayer room for the 86 students from Muslim countries who are studying there. The name of the prayer room is “Saudi Club.”
Kyung Hee University is also operating a prayer room for its approximately 60 Muslim students, while Sungkyunkwan University built a special prayer room in its dormitory in 2013, which is used by around 170 students from Muslim countries.
Hanyang University, which has attracted around 250 students from Islamic countries, has a prayer room as well.
There is also a space in the dormitory at Seoul National University - which has around 1,000 students from 80 countries - that can be used as a prayer room.
“We have a 15 square meter open room with a wooden floor, so Muslims can prostrate themselves to pray. We want to be considerate so that students don‘t experience discomfort over religious issues,” Lee Jeong-cheol, a dormitory administrator at Seoul National University, said on May 13.
While Christian-affiliated universities do not have a dedicated space for Muslims, they do operate “multicultural prayer rooms.”
Ewha Womans University, a Protestant school, opened a multicultural prayer room in 2012, while Sogang University, which is Catholic, opened one the following year.
“We have a multicultural meditation room in the international dormitory. While this is intended to be a meditation space for Buddhists and people of other religions than Islam, it is mostly used by Muslims,” a representative for Ewha Womans University said.
Halal food, referring to food that does not violate Islamic commandments, is also on the menu at university cafeterias. Islamic strictures prohibit the consumption of pork and require that all kinds of meat must be butchered in a particular way.
Hanyang University, which has been selling Halal food at its student cafeteria since 2013, built a separate kitchen for Muslim students in the dormitories at its Seoul and Ansan campuses this year.
Ewha Womans University also provides a Muslim-style bathroom and a kitchen for preparing Halal food on one side of the prayer room.
Sejong University has been offering Halal dishes on its menu since the spring semester of this year.
Sun Moon University, which was established by the Unification Church, began selling Halal food at the student cafeteria this year.
Muslim students - who once had to buy Halal food at expensive restaurants in the Itaewon neighborhood of Seoul - are delighted to have Halal food at their school cafeterias.
“It was a burden to have to spend more than 10,000 won (US$9.15) on food, but it’s only 3,000 won to eat at school. This is welcome news for Muslim students, who are a minority here,” said Jafar, 24, a student from Pakistan.
According to the Korea Muslim Federation (KMF), established in 1967, there are about 120,000 to 130,000 Muslims living in South Korea, both natives and foreigners.
The majority of South Korea's Muslim population is made up of migrant workers from Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The number of native Korean Muslims is estimated at some 45,000.
