After a day of fasting, more than 100 students and community members, both Muslim and non-Muslim, gathered to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan last night.
Fast-a-Thon, sponsored by the Muslim Student Association (MSA), was an event held yesterday in the HUB Alumni Hall that gave non-Muslims a chance to experience Ramadan for a day.
Muslims are required to fast during Ramadan from sunrise to sunset. The fast includes abstaining from food, drink, sexual activity and any other acts considered to be sinful, such as lying.
The night started off with the Muslim call to prayer. Afterward, most of the Muslims in attendance moved to the side of the room to pray while the non-Muslims in attendance were treated to a free meal.
The program was supposed to have continued with a speech by Sheikh Khalid Yasin. However, Yasin's plane was delayed due to the storm system that passed through the region last night, the event organizers said.
Instead, Ghassan Chehab, professor of civil engineering and president of the Islamic Society of Central Pennsylvania, gave a short speech about the meaning of Ramadan.
"Ramadan is a time to stop, be patient, and to realize what is the real meaning of life," Chehab said.
According to event organizer Muhammad Atiyat, part of the reason for the event was to counter what he viewed as a perception of Islam that some people have.
"Given the times we're living in where Islam is being portrayed as a violent religion, we're hoping non-Muslims can come here and hear our story from us," Atiyat (graduate-statistics) said.
Michelle Hawkins, who is a senior Christian Ministry major at Osark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri, said she decided to attend the event after meeting many Muslims while studying abroad in India. The similarities between Christianity and Islam were one of her major motivations for attending the event, she said.
"I think that one of the things I'm called to do as a Christian is to love people, and I can't adequately love people if I don't know about their beliefs and where they come from," Hawkins said.
For many of the students, Fast-a-Thon was a way to gather in a way similar to their home country. In spite of the difficulties of fasting, many of the Muslim students said Ramadan was one of their favorite times of the year, especially for those from Islamic countries.
Roza Al-Moosafri (sophomore-advertising) said Ramadan is a special time of year in her home country of Qatar.
"When it's Ramadan, the whole day changes," Al-Moosafri said.
Part of those changes, she said, was because of the fact that most people in Qatar participate.
"You wouldn't tell if I was fasting or not unless you asked me. But back home, you would know I was fasting because everyone is fasting," she said.
