Kalayah Frazier
Staff Writer
The Common Ground interfaith club hosted a Ramadan iftar dinner Wednesday in the Campus Center Ballroom.
Roughly 45 people of various cultures and religions attended.
The dinner also allowed for guests to learn the history of the holiday.
Ramadan, which is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar, is marked by a month of fasting, reflection and communal prayer. Iftar is the daily break-fast at sundown each day of Ramadan.
The ninth month is when the Quran is believed to have been revealed to the prophet Muhammad.
The Iftar event Wednesday featured a variety of foods including curry, tikka masala, butter chicken, and flatbread.
After dinner Adonis Borer, senior psychology major and president of the Common Ground club, gave a presentation about the history of Ramadan and its importance to the Muslim faith.
Borer said this event is an important one for the club.
“We really focus on interfaith work, doing different events for different faiths, different traditions,” Borer said. “We have a lot of Muslim students on campus (and) a lot of students that are interested in participating in fasting. So we really wanted to have one dinner.”
Ramadan also emphasizes supporting those who are less fortunate.
Senior biology major and interfaith club member Eraci Hamed, said she enjoyed this event and was pleased for such an event on campus honoring her heritage.
“It is special to me since it is like my religion and I fast,” Hamed said. “I like … seeing my friends that are not the same (religion) as me get a chance to experience my culture and the food that my culture usually gets to eat.”
Some who attended had never experienced such an event.
Biology professor Victor Carmona was excited to experience and activities outside of the classroom with the students.
“I’m really glad that I came to this event tonight because I heard that I would be surrounded by my students and I thought it was a nice idea,” Carmona said. “To be able to enjoy this culture that some of my students are a part of was also really important to me.”
Sophomore biology major Syra Arian agreed.
“I feel so much more connected to my friends who do celebrate,” Arian said. “I now understand more about the Muslim culture and the Ramadan that my friends have personally been going through around me.”
Kalayah Frazier can be reached at kalayah.frazier@laverne.edu.
Kalayah Frazier is a sophomore journalism major with a concentration in print-online journalism. She is calendar editor and a staff photographer for the Campus Times. She has previously served as a staff writer.
