At sunset last Thursday, many Brown students were enjoying their second or third meal of the day at the Verney-Woolley Dining Hall. Just down the hall, in the Brown Muslim Students' Center in the basement of Champlin Hall, approximately 60 others were eagerly anticipating their first.
Noor Najeeb '09, president of the Muslim Students' Association, weaved through the lively crowd, offering fresh dates and almond milk, the traditional first course of the Ramadan evening meal, the "iftar." It was just after 7 p.m., and the students had been without food or drink since before sunrise - which came at 5 a.m. on Thursday.
"We have people from literally everywhere in this room right now," Najeeb said as she handed out the fruit. "So I think the one thing that bonds us all is the dates. Everyone eats the dates, that's pretty staple."
The MSA will be hosting an iftar every night for the holy month of Ramadan, which began Thursday and ends around Oct. 12.
Many Muslims use the month as a time for prayer, reflection and community in addition to daily fasts. After the customary consumption of dates and almond milk, a number of students assembled in the rear corner of the room to pray the "maghrib," the fourth of five daily prayers in Islamic practice. Rumee Ahmed, the Muslim chaplain and associate University chaplain, led the worship with a melodic prayer that included recitations from the Quran in Arabic.
After the communal prayer, it was time to eat. The much-anticipated feast came from Shanghai on Thayer Street.
"Every night we have a contract with a different restaurant," said Ayesha Ahmed, Rumee's wife, as she dished out rice, lo mein, spring rolls and stir-fry. Ayesha Ahmed, who frequently works with the MSA and is coordinating the nightly iftar during Ramadan, said students contribute unused meal credits to a fund for the dinners.
The Office of Student Life and various community groups have also contributed to the program, she said.
"Ramadan is a time for
community and family, and all these people are away from their families. ... So it's important, I think, to have a time when everybody can come together and share this experience," she said.
A number of the students at the BMSC Thursday said they are still adjusting to Ramadan in the United States.
"Back home, for a month of the year everything changes," said Asad Jan '10, who grew up in Pakistan. He said schools and businesses adopt different schedules during the month to accommodate fasting.
"Over here, when Ramadan starts, everything just kind of stays the same," Jan said. "You have to fit your fasting routine into the rest of your college routine."
But Vivette El Fawal '09, who was born in Egypt and raised in New Jersey, said the Ahmeds revolutionized the observance of Ramadan at Brown when they came to campus in January of 2006.
"Freshman year, my friend and I would grab food from the V-Dub and bring it over here, so that way we felt like it was still Ramadan," El Fawal said, noting that five people might have shared the meal on a good night. She said she was excited by the high turnout at the first iftar, which included a number of first-year students.
"The first night of Ramadan is usually the hardest because you're not used to fasting yet, but at the same time, it's like entering a new world," El Fawal said. "You just feel more connected with other Muslims because everyone's doing this together."
And not all students at Thursday's iftar were practicing Muslims. Lily Sorber '10 came to support her roommate.
"I'm Catholic ... so I've fasted before, but definitely not to this extent," Sorber said. Her roommate, Michelle Ramadan '10, said she appreciated Sorber's support.
Ramadan, who is Lebanese by birth but lives in New Hampshire, joked that her name is "easy to remember."
"The weird thing about (fasting) is that I'm so committed to that notion in my head that I don't think about food ever during the day," Ramadan said. "In Ramadan, I start my day by telling myself that I am not going to eat food, and I can look at it and not get hungry."
She said she occasionally goes to the dining hall during her fast "just to hang out."
"Towards the end of the month, you start to feel more spiritual as you realize how much you can accomplish and how much, as a human being, you have control over your body, you have control over your thoughts," Ramadan said. The question, she said, is, "How can you take that with you after the month is over?"
Najeeb, the MSA's president, also said she felt the spiritual dimensions of Ramadan on the first day of fasting.
"Today at about 2 p.m., I got the hunger pangs ... I looked at my watch right away to see what time it was, and I knew that in a few hours I was going to be eating. And it just hit me ... there are so many people around the world that feel this and don't know what time they're going to eat," she said. "It brings you back to your humanity."
Though Najeeb emphasized that fasting is ultimately a personal activity with meaning that varies among individuals, she said the knowledge of so many "God-conscious people" sharing the challenge was powerful.
"It builds a really great sense of community," Najeeb said. "By the end of the month, everyone's going to be going through Ramadan withdrawal."
At the close of the meal, Ayesha Ahmed addressed the group in the first of a series of "reflections." A different student, community member or faculty member will volunteer to share an experience or idea on each night of Ramadan.
Ayesha Ahmed's reflection recalled the life of a family friend who spent the last years of her life studying the Quran before passing away on Wednesday.
She said her friend's greatest lesson was that "no matter what place we are in our path towards God ... other people are in different places, and we have to love them and care about them and respect them nonetheless," she said.
Rumee Ahmed suggested his wife's words were relevant to religious life at Brown. "We know there are a lot more people who maybe don't know (about the iftar) or who are exploring their religiosity in different ways," Ahmed said, noting a number of interfaith activities the MSA is planning for Ramadan and expressing his hope that people from different religious backgrounds would participate in the iftar.
