Ramadan begins for IU Muslims

As the sun set Sunday evening, the holiest month for Muslims effectively began.\nRamadan is a month on the Muslim calendar observed mainly through fasting and prayer.\nIt is also a time for Muslims to recognize family and community. Many Muslim students at IU notice a difference in how they celebrate this holy time since they've left their families to come to college.\nMuslim Student Union Secretary Sofia Jawed, a junior, said family tradition is important to many Muslims. \n"When people come to college, everybody wants to celebrate (Ramadan) the way their family did," Jawed said, "Last year my mom would call me every morning. We would eat together over the phone."\nFasting is an essential element of Ramadan. Muslims go without food and water from sunrise to sunset. This means they wake up before sunrise to eat, and after the sun sets they break fast to eat again.\n"You really learn to respect food. You learn to not waste food," Jawed said. "My sister called it the 'left-over-orange-juice-syndrome.' Maybe you pour out a little orange juice that you don't drink in the morning, and then your thinking about that little bit all day."\nMSU Treasurer Hassan Fadag, a freshman, spent Ramadan in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, last year. \n"It's the heart of Islam," he said. "Since everyone is fasting, all the restaurants have unlimited buffets. Everyone else is fasting. You feel the fever." \nMSU President Nathan Ainslie, a senior, started celebrating Ramadan his senior year of high school in Indiana. His family is not Muslim and he did not come from a large Muslim community. \n"This past year Thanksgiving was in the middle of Ramadan," he said. "We usually have Thanksgiving in the afternoon. That year they pushed it back to the evening."\nWhile he acknowledges his family's support of his choice to be Muslim, Ainslie said that being a part of a Muslim community makes it easier to celebrate Ramadan.\nCommunity is an important aspect of Ramadan, Jawed said. \n"The whole idea of Ramadan is for the community to come together regardless of religion," Jawed said. "Some families like to have community dinners."\nSenior Shawna Ayoub, public relations coordinator for MSU, explained the deeper importance of the month.\n"It is a time of self-discipline and spiritual reflection that allows Muslims to learn about themselves, practice patience and piety, and to appreciate the hardships that many people in this world face with regards to obtaining food," Ayoub said. \nIn addition to individual observances, the MSU is trying to contribute to the community during Ramadan. They will be joining the Muslim Student Association for a national "Fast-a-thon" on Nov. 13, to raise money for the Bloomington Community Kitchen. \n"Members of the MSA are currently soliciting local businesses to sponsor non-Muslims who will pledge to fast along with Muslims," Ayoub said. "Through this process, we hope to raise $500 to help feed the needy." \nFor more information, log on to the MSU Web site at www.indiana.edu/~msuweb/. \n-- Contact staff writer James E. Klaunig Jr. at