The student whose first class is at 11am may sleep in… even though his/her roommate may get up early for an 8am class, or even earlier to get to 6am rowing practice. Or pre-dawn prayer.
I.e. is it really a given that getting up early for religious activity will be an issue for the roommate?
Part of the college experience is learning how to live with and compromise with people of varying beliefs/practices. Your son will have to figure it out. (And yes, many freshmen have had roommates they couldn’t stand, or whose actions violated their beliefs. They lived through it, even if not happily.)
An hour? Really? I thought more like 5-10 minutes. Also, I know they have to be said out loud, but how much volume is required? Can it be more like singing to oneself than shouting?
These are intended to be honest questions, not arguments. I have never considered before that reciting prayers five times a day as a Muslim might be incompatible with having a non-Muslim roommate.
I think too many colleges are experiencing a shortage of housing to be able to offer a single to your son. Hopefully there is another place on campus where he can say his prayers in private. I agree with the others—dating preference isn’t likely to be considered unless there’s room available. Back when I went to college, we had single sex dorms and members of the opposite sex weren’t allowed in. Things seem to have changed so much. My D21 is already a bit nervous about the possibility of co-ed dorms. Good luck finding a solution!
I think (hope) @myos1634 was giving a “for instance” by suggesting that she/her son (and I would put the responsibility on the son) outline the circumstances. The OP did not mention the specifics of what the morning prayers entail.
Personally, if housing just assigns him a roommate on the crew team, the problem is solved - these guys need to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn to get to the boathouse/tanks. 
If the college does not offer crew, a swimmer would probably work as well.
As far as bringing over dates, that is part of standard negotiations with college roommates.
If the college has the option to select “substance-free” housing and/or single-gender housing, choosing that might increase the chance that he gets a compatible roommate on the “girls in the room” issue. There is no guarantee, of course, but the odds might be better. My son said that although the student group on his sub-free floor was quite diverse (not only with respect to religious beliefs, but also in terms of political beliefs, race, SES, and everything else you’d expect at college), he almost never saw any girls on his hall, even though many of the guys had girlfriends. In any case, as others have mentioned, it seems like a lot of colleges require students to come up with a “roommate contract” to agree to certain guidelines from the very beginning, in hopes of avoiding major conflicts down the road.
Can’t he just live with a religious room mate?
This may vary by college, but I don’t recall ny housing questionnaire asking about religion or religion practices. It was more about loud vs quiet, early bird vs. night owl, clean vs. messy, along with a free response question or 2, that I suppose could be used by an incoming student to talk about their roommate preferences.
Additionally, without knowing the college (which is not needed), we don’t know if the roommates are matched by computer or by hand. Which again goes back to the kid needs to talk to the housing office.
My very non-religious roommate got up at 6 AM for a large chunk of college because she worked in the art studio before classes. No big deal. It was common for people to be up and about at basically all hours of the day.
Lots of students don’t date for various reasons. Why would someone else’s date affect him?
I’ve got a kid who likes to study in the morning. She often gets up at 4:00am to do that. I don’t think it has ever been an issue with her roommates. She’s going to be a senior next year, and she and her roommate from freshman year are happy to be rooming together again after being in separate suites for two years. So it must not have bothered her that much when they were freshmen and new to campus and each other. They managed to become best friends despite different habits, different interests, and different faiths. Honestly, some of our current problems as a society might be better if more of us DID room with people who weren’t carbon-copies of ourselves when we were 17 years old.
My son had a roommate who was observing Ramadan during a summer program. The roommate had to wake up and eat in the room before sunrise (because food services wasn’t open that early). It wasn’t a problem; kids are pretty good at sleeping through things in the morning. I suppose the roommate also had prayers, but my son didn’t mention that. He only mentioned getting takeout food for the roommate from the dining hall when it closed before sunset.
That was a much smaller issue than the college roommate who played video games that involved talking into the microphone at increasingly later times–until he was gaming until about 6 am. (And, yes, the roommate failed all his classes that term.)
Yes, I was using random numbers rather than “x mn” which my stupid autocorrect wouldn’t let me type (am.experiencing phone issues) :).
A dorm with a quiet lounge would also work.
Most dorms have a place where I imagine prayers might be done; a kitchenette, a lounge, even the laundry room, in case it was a problem for the roommate.
^How workable that will be will depend on how the common spaces are used and the OP’s son may not learn that until he’s there. For instance, if he’s using a kitchen he may find that all those early-morning athletes are stepping over him to get their coffee and the lounge may end up being the de facto sleeping room for kids sexiled from their own rooms. Laundry room floors are often filthy, not a place I’d want to roll out a prayer mat.
In any case, if he’s up front about his needs hopefully he and his roommate can arrive at an arrangement that works. He may want to ask for a suite-style living arrangement because that usually leaves a common room available.
I think all he can do is do what he needs to do as quietly as he can, set firm boundaries on sleepovers and he is being reasonable. If the other roommate really doesn’t care for it, it will be on them to switch.
FWIW the OP hasn’t been back in a couple of days – probably not getting the answer/support that he/she wanted.
^^Exactly. But for those reading in the future, it’s important to check if a college has plenty of singles, if that is your family’s requirement. Or, focus on schools with a religious bent, in the OP’s case, so many students will be in a similar situation.
Applying to a college that does not offer singles to Frosh, except for medical reasons, is not a good plan if that is one of your requirements.
Your child is not the first person to go to college as a Muslim. Just have your child call the housing office. But do it soon, since room mate assignments are happening now.
I think you are trying to isolate your child.
Your son would actually find my Jewish kid to be a great room mate. He likes to get up with the sun. He doesn’t want overnight guests. He barely eats, so wouldn’t eat in front of your son during the day. He knows other Muslims, so this all would be no surprise.
Where is the OP?
Wondering if this parent has taken any of the fine suggestions made.
@Sue22 … “sexiled”… LOL! I had not heard that phrasing before but it is perfect.