While most students are taking advantage of meal plans and the newly renovated Atrium, the Muslim Student Association encouraged fasting to enlighten others of the Islamic holiday of Ramadan, and contribute to the charity, Stop Hunger Now.
The MSA’s fourth Fast-a-thon, held Thursday, is meant to be a way for Muslims around campus to come together and break their fast, and present an opportunity for non-Muslims to experience a typical day in the month of Ramadan and to abstain from eating and drinking.
During the holy month of Ramadan, each Muslim is required to fast from dawn until dusk, or from the first prayer, the Fajr , until the fourth prayer, the Maghrib . Observers of the holiday are dependent on the movement of the sun to determine prayer times and length of fasting. Thursday, Muslims fasted from 5:08 a.m ., all the way until 7:55 p.m . that night, a long thirteen hours without food or water.
The famished participants gathered into the Talley Ballroom with growling stomachs and parched tongues, ready to break their day long fast. Mark Dyson, a senior in biochemistry, fasted with his Muslim friends.
“[The fasting] made me really tired,” Dyson said. “It made schoolwork really hard.”
Before the dinner, International Operations Director of Stop Hunger Now, Allen Renquist delivered a speech detailing the world’s troubles and failures concerning hunger and how his program is working to remedy them.
The non-profit organization packages meals and distributes them to more than seventy impoverished countries around the world. So far they have packaged and shipped nearly fifty million meals to hungry people in need.
During this event, participants were encouraged to donate the amount of money they would have spent on food to Stop Hunger Now.
Philip Dail , director of Advising and Admissions of the College of Textiles, contributed to the MSA and Stop Hunger Now by donating five dollars for every student of his that attended the event. According to Renquist , five dollars goes a long way, as Stop Hunger Now can feed four people with only one dollar.
Stop Hunger Now has been closely tied in with the University since the group started its meal-packaging program six years ago. Just six months into the program, in 2005, the organization held an event on campus in which students packaged over 150,000 meals. Last week, they held a similar event and students packaged even more, totaling 160,000 meals. Renquist stressed that much more can be done to end hunger and used the Fast-a-thon as a way to get his message through.
“For one billion people, everyday is like Ramadan,” Renquist said. “Except there is no guarantee of the breaking of fast [at the end of the day].”
Following the speech, at precisely 7:55 p.m ., Muslims and participants in the fast satisfied their hunger with a simple selection of dates, which is the traditional food Muslims eat after fasting. In the midst of breaking the fast, a Muslim youth led a short prayer.
Muslims then walked to the far side of the ballroom, pointed towards Mecca, and prayed for the fourth time that day, which is the Maghrib prayer. This evening prayer signifies the end of the fast.
With the end of the prayer, at last, it was time to eat a full meal.
The majority of the food served was from Pakistan. Dishes included beef livers, rice, bean salad and naan , a traditional flat bread that is a staple in the South Asian diet.
Fatima Fareed , a freshman in elementary education and Vice President of the MSA , said the event was a huge success and enlightened non-Muslims on the tradition of Ramadan.
“It was definitely a lot more people than expected,” Fareed said, “I think a lot of people are going to benefit from this.”
