A group led by senior Mohammed Tasleem prays in the auditorium every friday.
Every Friday at 1:30pm, some students are allowed to leave class to go pray. These students who believe that they must pray each Friday because of religious purposes, get a prayer pass which allows them to leave class early to pray. TC has held prayer sessions at school for the past three years but the location of prayer was not as respectable as it is now because it never became an issue until senior Mohammad Tasleem, brought it to the attention of Ms. Maxey and Ms. Moran. “I was really impressed with the caliber number of students that came because they were really mature and they approached it well,” said Ms. Moran. That was when Ms. Maxey decided to allow certain students to pray every Friday within the auditorium doors in which they get to leave class early. Along with this new rule, students can also pray Monday through Thursday at the library during B, C, or D lunch. Praying in the auditorium allowed the students to pray in a more private place than the conference room they used before.
At first, a couple students took advantage of being able to leave class early even though they did not go pray. This issue caused Ms. Maxey to reconsider the program which is being run by Tasleem. He has come up with an efficient way so that the students who are serious about praying do not lose their privileges. Students that want to pray must go to the main office in the morning and receive a pass from room A-102 where that pass will be signed by Ms. Hill. After each Friday prayer, Tasleem must call role from the sign-in sheet to ensure that no students are allowed to get a pass to class because they are late even though they did not pray.
For Tasleem, the Friday prayer is an important part of his life. Tasleem said that, “Just like how Christians get together in church on Sunday for a religious purpose and just like how [Jews] get together on Saturday for a religious purpose, Muslims are obliged by the Quran for a congressional prayer on Friday, which also includes a religious sermon.” Tasleem believes that the Friday prayer service should continue even though students are missing class. “Well, if a student has a good grade in that class then I guess the teacher doesn’t mind. It also depends on the teacher as well,” said Tasleem. Mr. Dennis, a history teacher has several students that leave his class including Tasleem and it is not a problem to him. “I don’t think people would make the request [to pray] and take advantage of it,” said Mr. Dennis.