Community, traditions converge in iftar meal on campus

On an innocuous night in March, an array of Augustana students and faculty trickle into the 2-in-1 room of the Morrison Commons. 

The rich, fragrant, smell of butter chicken and biryani saturates the room, accompanied by the melodies of Lebanese R&B artist Maher Zain. The music plays behind friendly conversations in a variety of languages: Arabic, English, Amharic and more. 

Despite the many warm dishes resting on the folding tables in the corner of the room, all of the plates lay bare.

As the sun slips silently below the horizon, freshman Mariam Alinizi, the president of the Muslim Students’ Association, gets up to make an announcement. Now that the sun has set, attendees may begin the meal. 

On the last day of interfaith week, the Muslim Students’ Association, in collaboration with the Office of Faith and Spiritual Life and the Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion hosted a campus-wide Ramadan iftar party. Iftar is the fast-breaking meal held each evening during the sacred month of Ramadan. While an iftar is an Islamic tradition, followers of Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and other faith practices were all in attendance.

Following Alinizi’s announcement, a line quickly forms behind the food-laden tables, each person waiting to fill up their plate. As the line shuffles forward, guests saunter back to their tables, ready to share their evening with the students and faculty gathered around them. 

Here, at the heart of campus, in a room used in almost every capacity one could imagine, community blossoms.

“It was really beautiful to see the Muslim students on campus coming together for the iftar meal, a lot of [whom] I didn’t even know were Muslim,” freshman Ashirvad Sharma said.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. During this month Muslims celebrate Allah revealing the Quran to Muhammad in the seventh century.

Fasting during Ramadan, alongside profession of faith, prayer, alms and pilgrimage, is one of the five pillars of Islam and serves as a time of deep reflection. The intentional deprivation of food and drink reminds Muslims of humanity’s vulnerability. In breaking the fast, Muslims experience a renewed gratitude towards Allah for providing their basic needs. 

Iftar is far more than just a meal. Iftar is a spiritual and social experience.

Attendees of different cultural and religious backgrounds came together through ritual on this chilly March night to share their cultural and religious background.

“I believe that stereotypes play a big role in people’s views on Islam,” Alinizi said. “Not many people are exposed to Muslims and only make their judgements based on what they see on the news or on social media.”

Stereotypes create sweeping, often negative, generalizations that encompass large groups of people. These oversimplified perceptions do not accurately reflect the intricacies of groups they represent and reinforce boundaries between members of society.

“By getting educated, individuals can better understand and challenge these stereotypes. Education is the key to understanding and accepting of others,” Alinizi said. “Educating other people about who I am and what I stand for is so important in today's world.”

In 2023, the Council on American-Islam Relations reported a record 8,601 complaints regarding anti-Islam incidents, the most in the organization’s 30-year existence. 

Recently, Augustana experienced its own incident of religious intolerance during interfaith week in which offensive sticky notes were posted onto a board meant to celebrate religious diversity. 

“It was very shocking to see those notes and to see what people were genuinely thinking,” Alinizi said. “I always thought that most people at Augustana were respectful and kind to all, but this truly opened my eyes into seeing that there are still so many hateful people in this world.

Acts of intolerance demean religious minorities and drive further division. When community members at Augustana come together through shared rituals like iftar and openly discuss cultural and religious differences, they heal these divisions.

“Just having conversations with people who are genuinely interested in Islam has been so helpful at Augustana,” Alinizi said. “Religion for me is who I am. That’s like my identity.”

When students of different cultural and religious backgrounds share personal elements of their identity, they foster empathy and recognition of shared humanity. Understanding shared humanity does not mean students should ignore what makes cultures and religions unique, but rather acknowledge and embrace human differences.

“It’s so nice that I can have community with Christians, Muslims and other faith communities,” Alinizi said. 

As attendees dined on lentil soup and vegetable korma, conversations bubbled up. Many conversations centered around attendees comparing their cultural and religious traditions.

One table discussed the differences in how Ramadan is celebrated in various countries. Religion professor Hans Harmakaputra noted how, in his home country of Indonesia, children dress up in traditional clothing like a baju koko or a kebaya kurung and go door to door for pocket money.

Across the room, another group shared their experiences with cultural diffusion. When cultures come into contact with one another, practices tend to spread from one culture to another. Freshman Hannah Sedlak, a member of the Muslim Students’ Association recounted how, one year, her mother arranged an Islam-based Easter egg hunt on Eid al-Fitr. 

“My mom didn’t want us to feel left out compared to the students that lived in America,” Sedlak said. “She hid our presents all around the house and [we] had to find them all. We had to answer Islamic trivia questions and whoever answered first got a head start.”

Meanwhile, at another table, junior Zachary Van Meter asked Rev. Ann Rosendale about the  development of the New Testament canon in Christianity. Rosendale discussed how even within Christianity different groups accept different sets of biblical texts as canon, highlighting the diversity of beliefs even within a single religion.

In participating in a shared ritual, students and faculty created a shared experience together. These moments, when members of the Augustana community gather to learn about each other's unique background, act as a bridge between the social divides at Augustana.

As the evening went on, the number of people in attendance began to dwindle. Conversation came to a close and one could once again hear the voice of Maher Zain playing in the background.