Bringing faith to campus

Every Friday afternoon, Anwar Arafat escapes the hustle of a college campus to kneel in prayer.

Gathered in a room in the Student Union Building, about 40 Muslim students kneel and mutter their weekly prayers along with Arafat, bringing a little bit of their faith to the University of Utah.

"A Muslim's faith is a large guiding force for what a Muslim might do in their life. Their studies are a way to fulfill the commandments of our religion," Arafat said. "We are ordered in Islam to seek education, to never stop the learning process."

Ensuring the Islamic faith is not forgotten amid exams and college social lives, Arafat heads the university's Muslim Student Association. The group is one of more than 20 religious clubs on campus that aim to bring some spirituality to the rigors of college life.

For Arafat, that means keeping the Muslim faith alive for the estimated 300 Muslim students at the U.

But unifying as a religion also means educating other students about the Muslim faith, which is often misunderstood and misrepresented, Arafat said.

"The majority of information on Muslims out there today is wrong and misguiding and misleading. We see it as our job to get the truth about who we are and what we do out there," he said. "What people see on TV is not what Islam is about."

Like the Muslim Student Association, other groups like the Latter-day Saint Student Association, the school's largest religious cohort, and the Disciples on Campus, offer clubs so students can mingle with other students of similar beliefs.

James Dinh, president of the Disciples on Campus, said his group attracts Christian students who want to focus on Bible study and fellowshipping other students. The group just started meeting this semester and only has five members so far, but Dinh said he hopes the group catches on.

"Our meetings are open to anyone who wants to study the Bible," he said. "They're just mini lessons where we dig a little into the Bible and talk about how the things we're reading tie to our life."

While many students work to define themselves as individuals during their college years, Dinh said keeping their religious belief intact is particularly important. Even if students came to college with no religious background, the variety of religious clubs on campus can help a student find a more spiritual side, he said.