More than 1,400 years after the tradition of Ramadan began, the
month of fasting and prayer continues to give the Muslim community
a chance to appreciate and meditate on their lives.
Ramadan began Monday and will continue for a month.
During the period, people of Muslim faith will fast from sunrise
to sunset and continue to make six daily prayers.
For UCLA students observing the holy month, life can get
complicated; changing sleep patterns and waking up for predawn
meals are not the only concerns.
Ramadan activities can overlap with classes and in some cases,
midterms or finals.
“Breaking fast during class is usually not a problem since
eating in class is not an issue,” said Ehaab Zubi, a
fifth-year psychobiology student and the editor of Al-Talib, the
Muslim newsmagazine at UCLA.
For students who do not have schedule conflicts, the Muslim
Student Association is providing food for everyone who is fasting
throughout the month of Ramadan.
“We are supposed to eat and pray at designated times. …
I make a personal choice to alter my schedule,” said Mohammad
Mertaban, a fifth-year psychobiology and French student and former
president of the MSA.
Professors are often understanding of religious obligations of
students’ fasting, and in the case of schedule conflict with
breaking the fast, Mertaban has had professors send him notes from
classes he was unable to attend.
Designated prayer times also changed the scheduling of MSA board
meetings, said Mariam Jukaku, a third-year computer science student
and the current president of the MSA.
“We held the meeting at 5:30 a.m. as opposed to at night
because it overlapped with prayer time,” she said.
Jukaku also said her professors have been accommodating in the
past. Two years ago, when Ramadan was during finals week, Jukaku
was allowed to leave for a few minutes to break her fast.
Despite changes in daily routines, the strong tradition of
fasting continues among Muslims everywhere.
“It’s not only a fast from foods and drinks,
it’s a fast from doing bad things like indulgence and
lust,” Mertaban said.
“Fasting gets people to gain control over themselves and
abstain from worldly desires,” he said.
The goal of fasting is to recognize weakness within a person,
and because the lack of food and drink makes one physically weak,
the flaws in their actions become apparent, Mertaban said.
Throughout the month, many people of Muslim faith make an extra
effort to do good deeds because they are more aware of hunger and
other thoughts that slip their minds every day.
Many Muslims believe Ramadan is a month of blessing, and rewards
for good deeds are much greater during this month.
Though Islam doctrine requires all people of Muslim faith to
observe Ramadan, reasons such s sickness could prevent one from
fasting. In those cases, a person who could not fast can feed a
hungry person three meals as a way to make up for the days they
failed to fast.
Jukaku compared fasting in Ramadan to the Lent period in the
Catholic faith.
“Its about giving up something you do every day in order
to remember God and be thankful for things that you do have,”
she added.
Many people also donate large amounts of money to charities
during this holy month.
Interested non-Muslims will have a chance to experience Ramadan
firsthand on Nov. 6 at an event called the Ramadan Fast-a-thon, put
on by the MSA.
Participating businesses will be sponsoring the students and
will donate at least $1 for each person pledging to fast that
day.
The money raised from those businesses will go toward a hot
meals program for the “Health Fair for the Homeless,”
which will take place Nov 16.
The Ramadan Fast-a-thon is a nationwide event designed to build
a symbolic bridge between Muslim and non-Muslim students.