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Young Muslims in U.S. Observe Ramadan on University Campuses

Iftar dinners bring together Muslims, students of other faiths

Muslim students attending universities in the United States are able to practice their faith away from home, and many young people observe Ramadan even more strictly on their own.

Attending iftar dinners on campus is a way for Muslim students to connect with other Muslims and to reaffirm their commitment to their faith, Joe Eldridge, university chaplain and director of the Kay Spiritual Life Center at American University in Washington, said in a Washington File interview.

"These Muslim students are inner-directed," Eldridge said. "Everything in American culture entices them to break their fast and yet they keep the Ramadan fast strictly."

During the month of Ramadan, which this year ends on or about October 22, depending on the sighting of the moon, Muslims refrain from eating or drinking during daylight hours and break their fast at nightly iftar dinners at sunset. Iftar dinners are intended to be community gatherings where Muslims invite family and friends to join in the festive meal. At U.S. colleges and universities, that means Muslim students usually come to the iftars as much out of the need to see each other as they do out of the need to eat and drink.

IFTAR DINNERS AS SOCIAL GATHERINGS

At American University, 50 to 60 students attend iftar dinners sponsored on weeknights during Ramadan by the Muslim Student Association. Usually the dinner is catered and hosted by individual students, their families, and local restaurants and businesses. In addition to fasting, Muslims are encouraged to be charitable during Ramadan.

According to Erica Brown, chaplain at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and president of the National Association of College and University Chaplains, most private U.S. colleges and universities employ religious advisers such as pastors or interfaith chaplains and many schools sponsor student Muslim associations on campus. Brown explained that public universities use private funds for these purposes, because in the United States public money cannot be used to pay for most religious activities.

"When Muslims fast during Ramadan, we incorporate our faith into our life," said Nafiza Shepheard, a sophomore and president of the Muslim Student Association at American University. "While we are fasting during the day, we still go to school, take exams, some of us play sports and we do all the things we are supposed to do here. The fasting makes us think about Allah constantly throughout the day," she said.

Students who live at home and commute to American University to attend classes particularly enjoy observing Ramadan on campus because it is the one time of the year they are able to meet for a meal and socialize with other Muslim students their age.

At Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, freshman Na'eel Cajee attends the Harvard Islamic Society-sponsored iftars nightly. Cajee is unique because he has memorized the entire Quran and therefore each night leads the sunset prayer, called maghrib, picking up where he left off the previous evening. By the end of Ramadan, he will have recited from memory the complete text.

Freshman Asli Bashir said she enjoys iftar dinners at Harvard because they bring Muslims together, which does not usually happen on campus. When she is unable to attend the Harvard Islamic Society iftar dinners, she sits and waits among her non-Muslim peers at the freshman dining hall for the exact moment when she is permitted to eat. Her friends help distract her by asking her questions about Ramadan.

"If you do everything - the prayer, fasting, abstaining from bad habits and bad thoughts, you're absolving yourself of your sins," Bashir says. "After a while, the hunger goes away. Ideally, you're supposed to wake up early before dawn and eat - this is called suhoor [the morning meal]."

FASTING AT SCHOOL

Cajee said there is a different level of companionship in observing Ramadan on campus because of the lack of family influence, but this way the observance becomes even more personal. Although the type of food served at the Harvard dinners might differ from what his family serves at home, all iftar dinners begin with fresh or dried dates and water, milk, or "pink milk" made from pomegranates. Observing these traditions and customs helps students feel at home away from home.

"My parents aren't calling me and asking if I am fasting. Nobody on campus is checking in on me to see if I'm fasting," Cajee said. "When you make the choice yourself, it makes it more meaningful."

Cajee, who rows crew at Harvard, has cut back on his workouts, but he still practices every day in the afternoons, which uses up any reservoir of energy before breaking his fast. "Socially, you have to re-orient yourself to see your position in society. Fasting reminds me of those people who are starving because they have nothing. Psychologically, I am reminded of patience, despite the hunger."

At American University, faculty members are encouraged to refrain from administering important exams during Ramadan or to offer them to students early in the day rather than late in the afternoon.

"We don't ask for special things during Ramadan," Bashir said. "We adjust ourselves to it."

INTERFAITH IFTAR DINNERS

Many U.S. universities have active interfaith communities. For example, Harvard's iftar dinners, attended nightly by up to 100 students, are often hosted by other faith-based groups on campus, including the Harvard South Asian Association. During the Jewish holidays Yom Kippur and Sukkot, iftar dinners were co-sponsored by Harvard Hillel, the Jewish student organization on campus, and the Harvard Islamic Society.

"The joint dinners show the continuity among faiths," Cajee said, "and we are reminded of the relationship shared by the various religions."

In 2005, Bashir said, freshman Jews and Muslims who met at an iftar dinner at Harvard formed JAM (Jews and Muslims) and continue to meet every Wednesday evening throughout the year for dinner.

Eldridge said when he brings international visitors to American University, they are amazed that Muslim and Jewish students are housed in association headquarters 20 yards from each other and that the interfaith chapel one minute is used as a mosque and the next as a church or synagogue.

"We welcome people of all faiths so that all people of faith can be members of our community," Eldridge said.

Source: U.S. Department of State