The daily and Friday prayer schedules of Muslims often seem rigorous to outsiders. Muslims are required to pray in solitude five times each day, and attend a prayer service on Fridays.

But Ahmad says it is possible to balance academics with religious devotion.

"It's much more natural that you would think," she says. "It just takes a little bit of planning. That's where the Muslim community comes in."

Khairul H. Jamalludin '98, who moved to America last year from Malaysia, says she saw prejudice against Muslims in the United States.

"Back when I was in Indiana, my friends got harassed for wearing their head coverings," Jamalludin says.

But Jamalludin says she has never encountered anything similar from other Harvard students. "Since the student population is so diverse, it's not a problem," she says.

Another first-year, Leila S. Bham of Matthews Hall, says she felt pressured to conform to Catholicism at her parochial high school in Maryland.

"Participation in religious activity at school was difficult," Bham says. "I didn't think the non-Christians should have to participate."

"Simply because Harvard is non-denominational, it seems much more diverse, and much broader in the spectrum of different religions and ideas," Bham says.

The Islamic Society

Many of Harvard's Muslim students are members of the Harvard Islamic Society, which says it educates about Islam and provides for the religious and social needs of Muslims on campus.

In addition to a bi-monthly newsletter, the Islamic Society provides space for daily prayers and a weekly service for Muslim students.

This November, the society sponsored an Islamic Awareness Week to promote an accurate awareness of the faith.

The week featured a panel discussion on elements of the Islamic faith and the screening of "The Message," a film chronicling the life of the prophet Mohammed.

"I think the response was fairly positive," says Khan, the organization's president.