Omar Shaik’s voice resounded in an even cadence on Wednesday night, as about 80 Muslims from Northwestern and the surrounding community lined up behind him.
Shaik, a Weinberg freshman, was leading the maghrib prayer, which takes place at sunset and, during the Muslim holiday Ramadan, designates the end of the day’s fast.
Up to 100 students have been gathering nightly in Parkes Hall to pray and have dinner together in celebration of the holiday, which began Sept. 13 and ended Thursday at sunset, said Medill junior Hibah Yousuf, co-president of Muslim-cultural Students Association.
Eid ul-Fitr , a three-day holiday marking the end of Ramadan, begins Saturday.
“Many students are planning to go home and celebrate with their families,” said Yousuf, who plans to go home to Texas this weekend.
From sunrise to sunset during the monthlong Ramadan, Muslims abstain from eating food, drinking water, smoking, chewing gum and other worldly activities. Many students said it’s not too hard, though there are moments of weakness – namely walking through Norris University Center and smelling the pizza, according to Yousuf.
Talha Merchant, a Weinberg freshman from Pakistan who is celebrating Ramadan in the U.S. for the first time, said it’s difficult to be away from his family, but there are benefits to spending Ramadan in Chicago.
“At home my mom would wake me up to eat the meal before the sunrise, but here I just eat before I go to bed, whenever that is,” Merchant said. “But today it was much easier to fast here than at home. It was so cold I could hardly feel hungry.”
At sunset on Wednesday, students broke their fast with water and dates, then turned to Shaik to lead them in prayer before dinner.
To lead prayers, one must know the entire Quran – more than 300 pages in an English-translated version – by heart.
A month before Shaik entered seventh grade, he casually decided to try memorizing the Quran. It stuck. Shaik skipped the seventh and eighth grades to memorize the Quran at a madrasa, or “place to learn,” on the west side of Chicago. Shaik memorized the book in two years even though he didn’t know any Arabic. Now, Shaik has picked up enough Arabic to understand about half of what he’s reciting.
“It was such a major milestone for me in my life,” said Shaik, who has been leading prayers in front of as many as 400 people for three or four years now – usually at his high school and the mosque in his neighborhood. But the idea that the Quran flows from his mouth like a favorite song is a misconception, Shaik said.
“It’s just like when you have to learn or memorize something like organic chemistry,” he said. “Some parts you learn really well, and they’re going through your head all the time. For other verses, you have to put a lot of preparation in beforehand.”
Ideally, Shaik said he would practice every day. But, he said, “We have school and other stuff. It’s called being a college student. All summer I planned on taking the time, but then a few weeks before Ramadan, I had to start cramming.”
Any time the Quran is recited, two people who have memorized the Quran must be present in case whoever is reciting makes a mistake, said Atiya Haque, a Weinberg sophomore.
“Some of verses are similar, as they come back to the basic fundamental beliefs,” Shaik said. “So to not make a mistake, I have to be very conscious of pretty much every single moment and every single word.”
Reach Amanda Craig at [email protected].