How Can a Secret Revert Pray during Her School Trip?

Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad

Question

There is a newly reverted sister who will be going on a trip soon with a group of non-Muslim classmates and is unaware that she will be sharing a room with them 24/7. When not out, she won’t have any privacy to pray, how does she pray? No one knows she is Muslim yet, not even her family, and most of her classmates are against religion.

She is past the age of puberty and will be on a controlled school trip in an unfamiliar city, so she can’t go to a mosque. I’m not sure what would happen if her family found out, but it’s a mandatory school trip. She doesn’t have any friends, and classmates will likely give her a hard time if they knew, making her school life a lot more difficult than it already is.

Answer

Thank you for your question. I empathize with your friend’s fear and concern about praying in front of her friends and I pray that Allah makes it easy for her to navigate this.

Praying

Your friend is not exempt from praying, even if she has obnoxious classmates that will bother her and tell her family. She may pray in the bathroom if she can’t find any other private place. Also, if she will be travelling, she will be able to join prayers if she follows the Shafi’i school and fulfills the conditions of a traveler. If she is following the Hanafi school, she will at least be able to shorten her prayers.

See the details here:
When Is a Traveler Allowed to Shorten His Prayers? [Shafi’i]
The Basic Rulings of Travel

Resources

I understand that she must be facing a mountain of difficulties and I pray that Allah makes it easy for her to gradually tell her family about Islam. I pray that she takes the time needed to learn how to practice the religion correctly. It is essential that she gets support from the Muslim community and that she places all of her trust and reliance on Allah Most High.

I recommend the following resources for her as a new convert.
New to Islam Reader: A Trusted Collection of Resources for Converts
My Wife Is a Convert, but We Have Kept Our Islam Secret. Is It Wrong?

May Allah give you the best of this world and the next.
[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria for two years where she studied aqidah, fiqh, tajweed, tafsir, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Masters in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan where she studied fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She later moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.