Muslims Holding Regular Friday Prayers in U.S. Capitol

By Rick Marshall, Washington File staff writer

Washington -- A group of Muslim congressional staff aides and friends have begun meeting every Friday in the U.S. Capitol for prayer sessions.

The practice began in early 1998 when Suhail Khan, press secretary to Rep. Tom Campbell of California, began meeting for the Muslim Holy Day prayers in one of the House office buildings with Asim Ghafoor, a legislative aide to Texas Congressman Ciro Rodriguez, and Sabah Karam of the American Muslim Council.

Originally they met only once a month, but the sessions proved so successful that they soon began meeting every Friday, Khan explained in an interview.

Over the next several months, as word of the Juma'a prayer sessions began to circulate, they were joined by other staff aides and Muslims who worked elsewhere in the government. Soon Khan and Ghafoor were scrambling to find offices large enough to accommodate them all.

Finally, Khan approached Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, and through his office worked out an agreement so that the group -- now regularly numbering around 35 -- could meet every Friday in the Capitol itself.

The first of the prayer sessions in the Capitol building was September 3.

"His staff was very accommodating," Khan said of the Speaker, who promised the group they could use the room as long as he holds his office.

The group often lingers after their prayers to socialize and argue politics over pizza and coke, Khan says. One of the regulars at these Friday gatherings is the owner of Al's Pizzeria, who not only delivers the food, but, being a good Muslim, attends the prayer sessions too.

"We've had nothing but good experiences," Khan says of the Juma'a prayer sessions. "Things are going along very well."