More than 300 members of the Muslim community at Northwestern gathered Sunday night in Norris University Center for Ramadan dinner to celebrate the fast that lasts from dawn until dusk during the 30 days of the holy month of Ramadan.
After the dinner, keynote speaker Amer Haleem of the Quranic Literacy Institute, spoke about Islam’s holy text, the Quran, and its significance to Muslims, especially with the hostile climate some Muslims have felt since Sept. 11. Haleem’s institute translates Islamic literature into accessible English.
“If people outside the Muslim world wish to understand the Muslim experience, they must come to terms with the Quran,” Haleem told the audience after they ate a dinner of traditional Persian cuisine.
The Quran mandates that all physically able Muslims fast during the ninth lunar month, which is also the month that the Quran was revealed to the prophet Mohammed, Haleem said.
Haleem explained the significance of fasting during Ramadan, a word that literally means to burn or purify.
“Rather than trying to pull us out of the world, fasting serves to engage us with it,” Haleem said.
Syed Majid, a professor of computer science at Truman College in Chicago, said fasting, unlike other acts of faith, is something only Allah can know and therefore yields the greatest reward.
“Fasting is the true test of the believer,” said Majid, whose niece, Sadiya Farooqui, is a Weinberg junior.
In addition to explaining Ramadan and the importance of fasting, Haleem dispelled some myths about Islam that threaten its practice in the modern world. Contrary to reports that associate the Muslim faith with violence, ignorance and a backward way of thinking, he said, Islam is defined by tolerance for and encouragement of diversity.
Haleem went further to criticize the Western world, and the United States in particular, for its practices of ethnocentrism in politics and social life, including the prospect of national identity cards suggested by some politicians in the wake of Sept. 11.
“Ethnic characterization is demeaning of men,” he said.
Responding to Haleem’s speech, Saif Patel, a software engineer who attended Northwestern, worried that non-Muslims would take Haleem’s views to be too radical.
“Maybe one of the things that needs to happen is that both groups (Muslims and non-Muslims) need to realize their commonalities,” Patel said.
Shireen Pishdadi, a resident of the same Chicago suburb as Haleem, on the other hand, was pleased with the speaker’s message.
“I thought he told it like it is without dressing things up,” she said.
Many attendees wore traditional Muslim attire, a long dress-like shirt called salwar kameez. Other women wore the traditional head covering, hijab, and most of the Muslim women in attendance covered their heads during the reading of the Quran.
“Ramadan is a fun time of year for us,” Umar said. “We’re very social with the other Muslim students, gathering to eat dinner every night and break the fast.”
Muslim students, as part of NU’s effort to accommodate the religious observances of students, can obtain a refund for the meals that they don’t use during Ramadan.
Non-Muslims, such as Weinberg juniors Ashwin Chandramouli and Niru Putcha, came with friends to learn more about Ramadan and Islam.
“I will be interested to see the cultural significance and observances of Ramadan,” Putcha said.
