The True Meaning of Our Prayer Rugs in Building Home

Five times a day, we roll out our prayer rugs to connect with our faith and seek guidance from our Creator. Thirty-five times a week, we lay down our burdens and surrender ourselves to a higher power. In a month, we offer 140 prayers - each one a humble plea for mercy and forgiveness.

And over the course of a year, we bow our heads in supplication 1680 times. That's 1680 moments of reflection, gratitude, and hope.

But our prayer rugs are more than just a physical manifestation of our devotion. They are the living artifacts of our families, our histories, and our homes. 

Each of these rugs carries its own story - a tale of love, loss, triumph, and of course tragedy.

Our prayer rugs bear witness to our lives and they are a reminder that we are not alone in this journey. That we are surrounded by the love of our families, the support of our communities, and in some cases we may even pray on the same prayer rug as our ancestors who have passed on. 

These are the things that make us feel HOME, the things that make us feel like we truly belong.

Everyday at the center for Global Muslim Life we are thinking about the big story of Muslims around the world and how we change the story about our communities in strategic ways. We see the Center for Global Muslim Life as a 50 year project as we launched in 2020 a year when Muslims were said to be one-quarter of humanity, by 2070 according to the Pew Research Center Muslims are expected to be one-third of humanity. 

To that end, we are proud to announce the launch of our Global Prayer Rug Project - a worldwide design competition and local initiative that aims to spark conversations about belonging, home, the environment, and design. Our ultimate goal is to create institutional and educational curricula that can help spread this project across the globe.

We are excited to announce a global design competition for the Global Prayer Rug Project. This competition will showcase innovative and creative prayer rug designs from around the world, celebrating the diverse cultures and communities within the Muslim ummah.

We will invite designers and artists of all levels to participate in this competition, with cash prizes for the top designs. The project will also include a major youth component with prizes being awarded to school age children based on grades. Finally, we will be launching a global refugee prayer rug competition focused on refugee designers from around the world. Winning designs will be featured in our major upcoming events and publications towards the end of 2023, with proceeds from sales supporting our local and regional Muslim impact reports.

We are currently working on building 3 other local and regional prayer rug projects to pilot how this can work and create impact at the local level. These projects are the California prayer rug project, the Coast Salish prayer rug project (Pacific Northwest), and the Islam in the America's prayer rug with a specific focus on the story of Latino Muslims and the future of our faith on these continents.

This is the prayer rug that inspired this project, known as the Canadian Prayer Rug, it was crafted by the talented and Mashallah visionary team at Islamic Family in Edmonton. Over the course of the last two years, we have had the pleasure of collaborating with them to explore issues related to Muslim Wellness and Belonging.

Islamic Family's approach to creating the prayer rug was truly exceptional. They conducted a deep listening campaign, engaging with members of the Muslim community to truly understand their needs and preferences. In addition, they worked closely with local indigenous elders to ensure that the design of the rug was respectful of the land and incorporated elements of both Islamic and indigenous design languages. The Canadian Prayer Rug was launched in 2016, and has since become a symbol of the community's dedication to creating inclusive spaces for people of all backgrounds.

By participating in our Global Prayer Rug Project, you will not only help us promote a message of love and unity, but you will also help us fund our local and regional Muslim impact reports. Together, we can redefine the story of Muslims worldwide and create a better future for our communities.

With the Global Prayer Rug Project our goal is to create conversations about love, belonging, place, home, the environment, and design, by exploring the stories and significance of prayer rugs in the Muslim community. We plan to create design competitions and local prayer rug projects in cities around the world, and develop institutional and educational curricula to take this project everywhere.

Want to bring this project to your city? We are open to adding more cities and partners to our pilot program. In this section, we invite our community to join us in exploring the significance of prayer rugs in the Muslim community and supporting our local and regional Muslim impact reports. Donate to our crowdfunding campaign today and be a part of the Global Prayer Rug Project!

Campaign Project Perks

$99 Donation - The Canadian Prayer Rug & Sock Package

$100 Donation - Pre-Order the California, Coast Salish or Islam in the America's Prayer Rug

$3000 - Narrative Change Prayer Rug Package

Interested in exploring the idea of making a prayer rug in your community? At this level you can bring out the Center for Global Muslim Life facilitators to have a conversation about narrative change and the Global Prayer Rug Project

$10,000 - Community Builder - Launch a Local Prayer Rug

Do you have a community you want to build a prayer rug project in? At this level this will create the seed funding for us to come in and start a prayer rug project with in person trainings, design competitions, and local grant based fundraising for the project.