Junior Naya Aburajab

What is your religion and how do you practice it?

(It is) Islam. I practice Islam by practicing my five pillars of Islam which are reciting that I only follow one god and I believe our prophet, Prophet Mohammad, is the final messenger. I pray five times a day, fast during the holy month of Ramadan, give charity once a year, and finally in the near future I (hope to) perform the Pilgrimage Paj at Mecca. 

Have you found any commonalities between Islam and other religions?

Yes; since Islam is a Abrahamic religion, there are a lot of similarities between us, Christianity and Judaism. For example, we all believe in the same one god (as) we are all monotheistic. We also have a lot of similar prophets that we believe spread the message of god. 

Do you share any common experiences with students of different religions?

Yeah, all the time. Especially at Carmel, you meet a lot of new people and you realize a lot of culture is the same. Your place of worship whether it’s a church, a mosque or a synagogue, (has) similar experiences. 

What holidays and experiences do you take part in?

First, I take part in Ramadan which is the holiest month in Islam. It’s a month where you fast, so you don’t eat or drink from dawn to dusk. As well as this, you connect yourself more with God. At the end of Ramadan, there’s a big celebration which is Eid. It’s a really fun celebration to meet family and celebrate the hard work you put into Ramadan. Then, there’s a second Eid, a month later for people who complete pilgrimages but it’s celebrated worldwide for Muslims, so I (participate) in that. 

Do you ever celebrate any holidays that aren’t normally within your religions?

No, I do not. It’s actually forbidden to celebrate certain holidays such as Christmas or Hanukkah or St. Patrick’s Day. 

How do you connect with people of the same faith?

I feel like I connect best with people through my mosque, I’ve (known the) people there since I was in sixth grade. We’ve been good friends and I feel like the connection never goes away just because you see them all the time.

Senior John Gilbert

What religion do you practice and how do you practice it?

I am (Christian). For my faith it’s all about trusting and believing in Jesus. I try to go to church every Sunday but I’d be lying if I said I was 100% good at it because obviously nobody’s perfect.

How do you incorporate your faith in everyday life?

In reality, it’s not about just acting nice and all that, but it’s more about teaching others what you believe and not being scared of your own religion. That’s something I struggle with since I have a social media following and I don’t really post about Jesus or anything, so in the future I want to do that more. 

How do you learn and support other faiths?

I took AP Human Geography where learned a lot about other religions. I don’t really know too much in-depth about other religions,(but I want to learn).

Have you found any commonalities between Christianity and others?

The most common thing is finding a purpose and that’s usually the main goal in life. Honestly, I’m still trying to find my purpose in life. I feel like every religion kind of has the same sense of belief that we are here for a larger purpose than ourselves. 

What holidays do you take part in?

It’s kind of bad to say Christmas because now it’s all about the gifts and everything. But my family and I still go to midnight mass on Christmas and try to find a deeper meaning. My favorite part of Christnas is just that it’s a great time of the year and everyone seems to be happy to spend time with family as it goes back to the sense that we’re (all here together). At the end of the day, we’re all humans, we’re all the same, so nobody’s perfect. 

Do you ever celebrate any holidays that aren’t normally within your religions?

I haven’t done too much of that, but I’m really interested in learning about all other religions. 

How do you connect with people of the same faith?

The number one is definitely church, but sometimes we go to the youth (group) on Wednesday nights. I have this really nice pastor and he’s a great minister, and when you find people like that the conversations just (keep flowing).