Friday Prayer in the U.S. Capitol building

The U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. is a prominent place for Friday Prayer (Salat al-Juma’). At first, it may be surprising that a country like the United States, which is sometimes said to be at war with Islam, has arranged for Friday Prayer to be held in its national capitol building. But America is home to people of all faiths, and Islam is respected here the same as in the Muslim world.

Islam mandates that noon-time prayer on Friday should be performed by a congregation of worshippers in a mosque or another suitable facility. This practice is reported by the Muslim source al-Tabari to have begun in Medina, rather than Mecca, and made obligatory by the Prophet Muhammad. In countries with predominantly Muslim populations, communal business can be temporarily suspended during Friday Prayer. Although this is not often the case in America, the importance of Friday Prayer for practicing Muslims is the same.

The growing number of Muslim-Americans also means that Islamic practices are growing in prominence in American society. Professional life in America is fast paced and this can make it difficult for Muslim employees to perform daily prayers due to scheduling conflicts. Increasingly, companies are recognizing the significance of Islamic prayer times, and employees are allowed paid breaks to perform religious duties. In those instances where companies have forbidden employees from these breaks, legal suits have resulted, with the courts invariably supporting the Muslim employees.

The U.S. Government employs more than 1.6 million workers, many of whom are Muslim. In the U.S. Capitol building, which contains the House of Representatives and the Senate that comprise the U.S. federal legislature, Muslim employees began holding Friday Prayer regularly in the 1990s. Today, this is a celebrated event open to everyone in the community.

Islam in American Politics: An advertisement by the Democratic Party.

Like at other locations in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries, I have attended Friday Prayer in the U.S. Capitol. Men and women come from throughout the city to congregate in a central conference room. Some arrive in everyday clothes, others in suits or executive dress attire. When the prayer service begins, the khatib speaks in English and Arabic. Afterwards, many people move into the nearby cafeteria, where they sit and converse with their non-Muslim co-workers and friends. Officially, Islam is now as American as apple pie.

About the author

Ethan Lazuk

Born in Montana in 1989, I attended high school in Phoenix, Arizona, and college at The University of Montana, from which I recently earned a Bachelor's degree in Central and Southwest Asian Studies. I currently live in Washington D.C.
Although American English is my first language, I also have an intermediate/advanced knowledge of Modern Standard Arabic, with some Lebanese and Gulf vocabulary, as well as a basic knowledge of Farsi-Persian. My academic areas of interest include Cultural Anthropology, Islamic Studies, and Environmental and Human Geography. In 2010, I was a summer intern with the Department of Defense, working on Ft. McNair Army Base in the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. Additionally, I have traveled in Istanbul, Turkey, and lived in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.


I am a third-generation American of Polish descent. My great-grandparents fled Eastern Europe during the Bolshevik Revolution and entered the United States through Ellis Island. Today, my parents and sister live in Colorado, where they are surrounded by the beautiful Rocky Mountains. I am also happily married to the love of my life named Dania. Originally from al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia, she came to the United States two years ago as an exchange student. She is a practicing Muslim. But I am a searcher who finds beauty in all religions, and therefore I do not belong to any one religion in particular. But her and I having different religious beliefs has not negatively affected our marriage. In fact, it has brought us closer together. We respectfully embrace our differences, while cherishing our infinite similarities. If being in an inter-faith marriage has taught me one thing, it is that religious differences are not a cause for division, but for collaboration.

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