A prayer room is a dedicated room in which Muslims can pray and worship God. As the prayer room is a place of worship it should be suitable for prayer and worship. Certain conditions should be met:

• The room should be large enough for the number of worshippers performing the prayers as Muslims pray side-by-side in rows facing the direction of Makkah (Mecca)
• Washing facilities near to the prayer room for ritual washing before prayer
• Not contain statues and pictures of living beings
• Be free from things deemed to be religiously impure: dirt, blood, urine, faeces, alcohol, animal matter that is not from halal animals
• Room to place shoes when removing shoes before entering prayer room (to avoid bringing impurity into the room inadvertently)
• Indication of the qibla, the direction of Makkah (Mecca) which Muslims face when praying
• Open at prayer times
• Quiet enough to allow concentration on prayers
• Sufficient space for both men and women to pray

The five daily prayers in Islam involve specific actions including prostrating, which involves elevating one's back end, praying close together side by side and in rows closely spaced behind each other. To preserve modesty between men and women and prevent embarrassment and distraction, men and women pray separately. However, both men and women can use the same prayer room. Often, but not always, the room will be divided during prayers, sometimes by a curtain so that men and women are separated to preserve modesty and prevent distraction. Some prayer rooms or masjids (mosques) will have two entrances so that men and women can enter the prayer room separately, whilst others will only have one entrance with the room divided on entry.

A prayer room can be shared by people of other faiths so long as the conditions for a prayer room are not compromised. There are pros and cons with multi-faith prayer rooms, many of the problems stemming from the practicality of organising the room for different faiths to use.

Advantages to a multi-faith prayer room:

• Interaction with people of other faiths, making inter-faith dialogue and understanding easier and more informal.
• Understanding one's own faith in relation to others may make it stronger.
• May unite believers of different religions in a common cause to promote faith issues and activities.
• People of no faith may be more interested to attend activities run at a multi-faith room if they are interested in different faiths.

Issues that may arise with a multi-faith prayer room:

• Muslims have a religious obligation to pray five times a day; therefore a multi-faith prayer room would have to be available to Muslims at specific times of the day. This may cause difficulty if people of other faiths wish to use the room at those times for prayer or other activities.
• Furniture used by other faiths in prayer, such as pews, kneelers, or crosses, gets in the way for Muslim prayer which requires an open expanse. Similarly, religious ornament such as crucifixes may make it impossible for Muslims to pray inthat room.
• For Muslims, the prayer room should be clean and they must remove their shoes before entering prayer room - this would have to be respected in a multi-faith prayer room.
• Due to the necessity of washing prior to prayer, Muslims need to have access to washing facilities near to the prayer room, therefore the room would have to be in a location that would uphold this religious requirement.
• As men and women generally pray separately in Islam, a division between them in the prayer room is frequently desired. Sometimes simple space is sufficient; others prefer a a curtain, which can be pulled back outside of prayer times, allowing access to the whole room for other activities.