Fareeha Shuttari's father used to call the family to break fast by banging a spoon against a metal plate. Samrin Ateequi used to wake up a half-hour before her family began a traditional meal to eat junk food.
Both brought their stories of family-fasting traditions to MSU when they joined the Muslim Students' Association, which is celebrating the month of Ramadan from now until Nov. 25.
Muslims fast during from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadan, which started on Oct. 27. This week, that means roughly between 7:15 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. this week.
When students are at home, breaking fast, or iftar, is a time for the whole family to come together, regardless of how busy they are, Muslim Students' Association member Rifat Khan said. They usually break fast with dates or salt, as the prophet Muhammad did, Khan said.
But fasting is only a small part of Ramadan, said Khan, a human biology sophomore.
"It's really about improving yourself as a person," she said. "The way you set yourself for Ramadan is how you want to be during the rest of the year."
On campus, members of the association support one another as a family away from home, president and nutritional sciences senior Shuttari said.
"We work on that from day one," she said. "When we sit down together for iftar, it's a way for the community to see each other."
Khan said she agreed.
"We're a tight-knit group," she said.
"The good thing about MSAs that are on campus is that they fill that void of the lack of having a family," Eman Hassaballa, treasurer for MSA National, said. Hassaballa is a research specialist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, whose Muslim Student Association grew to the point where 200 people came together for daily prayers.
"Some schools come together every day," she said. "This provides a substitute of breaking fast with family and loved ones, that spiritual bonding."
After breaking fast in the evening, many Muslim Students' Association members go to the Islamic Center for the Taraweeh prayer. During the month, the entirety of the Quran is recited at Taraweeh.
At the end of Ramadan, MSU's Muslim Students' Association will celebrate Eid Al-Fitir. It's a day of prayer, celebration and building community.
"MSA wants to open doors for people to ask a whole bunch of questions about Muslims," Shuttari said. "It's important to get people to see that we're normal people. The image that we're not, that's what we're fighting every single day."
For more information on attending iftars, e-mail shariffs@msu.edu for Sisters Social and khanjama@msu.edu for Brothers Social. Visit MSA's Web site at www.msu.edu/~msa.
