NYU Abu Dhabi is made up of students who practice their religions in many different ways, and sometimes, these practices can coincide with class or work. Whether it's missing a few minutes of class to go pray or entire days spent off campus for a holiday, students may find their religious obligations frequently intersecting with their academic lives.

Currently, NYUAD’s official policy in regards to class attendance and religious practice is as follows: NYUAD, as a nonsectarian institution, includes only certain legal holidays in its official calendar. However, it is also the university’s policy that members of any religious group may, without penalty, miss class in order to comply with a religious obligation.

Muslims are required to pray, according to many interpretations, five times a day: Fajr before sunrise, Zuhr at midday, Asr in the afternoon, Maghreb at sunset and Isha in the evening. These prayer times can clash with students’ class schedules, especially the afternoon Zuhr prayer.

Freshman Khairunnisa Semesta finds it difficult to balance her busy school schedule with praying.

“Some months it's definitely harder because I would have class before Zuhr and not return until Maghreb,” said Semesta. “Sometimes my internship hours also require me to put a lot more effort into creating those time windows to pray. It could get so bad that I basically would have to fit Zuhr and Asr back to back. I had to be five minutes late to lab sometimes because I wanted to pray first.”

Though schedules may pose difficulties, NYUAD has prayer rooms scattered across campus, allowing students to pick the spaces closest to them if they're in a rush. There are rooms in A2 and A6 buildings, as well as the larger and female prayer rooms on the ground floor of the Campus Center. Students can also pray in the Multifaith room on the second floor of Campus Center.

Freshman Amber Nomani has not encountered a conflict between her classes and prayer time.

“I don’t think it should ever be a problem since the time for Zuhr is so long; its 12:30 to 3:45. I think at the end of the day, it’s about taking that time and praying,” said Nomani.

Each of the five prayers has specific time periods associated with them. Some people pray anytime during that window, while others prefer to pray at the start of the period, often signaled by the call to prayer.

Freshman Muaz Ahmed said that prayer on campus is a matter of priority.

“It is more of a challenge to make prayers your priorities,” said Ahmed. “You can always find time to pray if you really want to do it.”

A professor's reaction to missing a few minutes of class for prayer may depend on the individual class. Assistant Professor of Engineering Douglas Cook said that he is very supportive of students who need to miss a bit of class time to pray. However, he also added that the student should take the initiative to make up for missed work; for example, by asking a friend to take notes.

According to university policy, students are also able to take days off in order to celebrate a religious holiday. Although the university already recognizes some holidays in accordance with UAE law, such as Eid al-Adha, students who practice other religions have the option to observe their holidays.

During Easter, freshman Violeta Ivanovska's family came to the UAE to celebrate the holiday together, causing her to ask for a day off.

“I’m Christian Orthodox and Easter is the most important holiday of the year,” said Ivanovska. “So I approached my professor and explained the situation about missing class for religious reasons."

"I asked one of my friends to turn [homework] in for me, but I was very happy to find out about this particular university policy," added Ivanovska. "I will make sure to get Easter off every year, especially since this coincides with the university’s policy.”

Ivanovska also explained the need for more people to be aware of this particular policy.

“Many of my friends from all branches of Christianity wanted to take Easter off, but they didn’t because they didn’t know," said Ivanovska. "And I didn’t either before asking my professor."

Director of Intercultural Education and Spiritual Life Alta Mauro encouraged students to approach the office if any concerns arise.

“If students are not able to complete their spiritual practices, then I would love to know [and] the office would love to know, so that we can reflect those concerns to the leadership and start to have a community conversation about how we address those needs,” said Mauro.