Students fast for Ramadan, food bank

Sophomore Sayed Zaman, like many Duke undergraduates, can be found spending his food points at Rick’s Diner, open 24 hours a day. But unlike the majority of his peers, he sets his alarm for 5 a.m. to swipe his DukeCard for Suhoor—an optional breakfast eaten before daybreak during the month-long fast of Ramadan.

“Rick’s has been a major improvement,” said senior Sameer Syed, president of the Muslim Student Association, adding that the diner’s existence makes fasting on a college campus far easier. Before Rick’s opened his sophomore year, Syed and other fasting Muslim students at Duke relied on take-out and grocery shopping for Suhoor. “Ideally there would be more places to eat,” he said, “but the Muslim population at Duke is relatively small.”

Still, from sunrise to sunset today, almost a week into this year’s celebration of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, members of MSA and more than 250 other fasting Duke students will participate in the group’s annual campus-wide fast to help feed the hungry.

MSA members tabled on the Bryan Center walkway Monday through Wednesday with flyers encouraging community participation: “Choose to go hungry so others do not have to.” For every pledge the MSA gathered, local businesses have vouched to donate funds to the Durham Food Bank. At 6:15 p.m. tonight in the Mary Lou Williams Center, the MSA and pledging members of the Duke community will join to hear speakers discuss Ramadan and the Islamic faith in preparation for Iftar, the breaking of the fast. Students will end the campus-wide fast, which began at 6:02 this morning, over a free catered Sitar Indian Palace dinner.

This year Ramadan, the observance of which is one of the five pillars of Islam, began Friday and will end Nov. 13 at sundown. Those observing Ramadan are required to fast from sunrise to sunset, abstaining from not only food and drink, but also from having sex and smoking. Ramadan, the ninth month on the Muslim calendar, is a month meant for introspection.

During this month, practicing Muslims recite an additional nightly prayer—Tarawih—in addition to their five daily prayers. Members of Duke’s MSA join each night for Tarawih at 9 p.m. in the basement of the Bryan Center, where they also meet for food once the sun has set.

Syed explained that the purpose of Ramadan is two-fold. “We fast to see what it is like for those who are less fortunate; it makes us grateful,” he said. “Also, when you are hungry you think of God.”

“The point of the [campus-wide] fast is also to raise general awareness about Islam,” said Zaman, also a Duke MSA member, adding that the group has been thrilled by the overwhelming interest in and support of the fast from both students pledging to fast and those taking advantage of all 24 hours of Rick’s today.