By Valeria González Montero

For the first time in over 12 years, Ramadan falls in the middle of the semester. That presents new challenges for Muslim University of Maryland students.

“The first couple of days are usually the hardest, because you’re so used to eating every day that as soon as you just automatically stop, not even water, you’re not drinking it or eating anything. It’s just so hard to even focus,” said senior computer science major Esra Mahgoub.

Ramadan follows the lunar calendar and so is on a different date every year. It’s most commonly known by non-Muslims as a month of fasting, but the to Muslims, it means much more than that. Tarif Shraim, the Muslim chaplain at UMD, called it “an individual endeavor of spiritual rejuvenation.”

He said the holiday is about “letting go of our routines, dependencies, our passions, cravings and over-dependencies we have on materialistic experiences around us. Really learning about the soul and experiencing our ultimate dependency on something bigger than ourselves.”

During Ramadan, Muslims refrain from eating food and drinking water from dawn to sunset. They also don’t gossip, display envy, addictions or engage in sexual activities during the day. 

Even though fasting is individual, Shraim said, it connects the Muslim community.

“The yearnings are connecting everybody. This desire is connecting everybody, but also the spiritual joy of again living for something bigger than our desire,” he said.

Mahgoub agreed.

“It just automatically brings the community together and in such an amazing way,” Mahgoub said. “It’s just so exciting to be able to pray together and break fast together. The sense of community, it’s just a different vibe. It’s so good.”

Mahgoub said that abstaining from eating and drinking might be hard the first few days, but by the end of the month, “it’ll be like nothing,” she said. 

Campus dining

UMD Dining Services has created a Ramadan meal program for Muslim students on campus. Students need to fill out a form every week where they state how many meals they need and whether they want breakfast and dinner or just breakfast halal food. They pick up their Suhoor (before dawn meal) and Itfar (after sunset) meals every day.

Dining Services have been offering this program for Muslim Terps on campus since 2019.

“We are aware that we are the primary or only source of food for students who live on campus seven days a week,” said Bart Hipple, Assistant Director of Marketing and Communication at Dining Services, about the program. “This is a way for us to help get them food that follows the protocols of their religious observance.”

74 students used the Dining Services’ Ramadan program during the first weekend of Ramadan this year, more than twice as many than in 2019 Hipple said. Dining Services still offered the program in 2020 and 2021, but far fewer students used it because of the COVID-19 protocols, Hipple said.

“We like to make sure the students get what they need from us every single day and we hope that this is a good way to do it,” Hipple said.

Student activities

Mahgoub is part of the UMD Muslim Student Association, which is hosting many activities during each week of Ramadan for Muslim students to break the fast together.

“We’ll break fast together,” said Mahgoub, adding that the MSA will host their nightly prayers in the Muslim prayer space.

There will also be nine Itfars in the Adele H. Stamp Student Union, which are dated through the whole month of Ramadan.

“It was a collaborative effort just to make sure we spaced out the days, have some like at least two or three Itfars a week,” said Mahgoub.

The MSA will host a Fast-A-Thon on April 25, open to non-Muslims who want to experience the breaking of the fast together.

“It is an interfaith event and the intention is for others to learn about the month. Non-Muslim community members can be a part of that fasting experience,” said Ghonva Ghauri, the coordinator for Multiracial & Native American Indian/Indigenous Student Involvement at the Multicultural Involvement & Community Advocacy Office.

Ultimately, Mahgoub said, the holiday is about coming back to center.

“You go through spiritual reflection and religious devotion and you want to strengthen your relationship with God, you want to give back to people that are in need,” said Mahgoub.”

Featured image: A prayer space for Muslim UMD students is seen on Saturday, April 16, 2022. Photo by Valeria González Montero.