Muslim Student Union to sponsor 'Fast-a-thon'

It's not often a person is given the opportunity to put themselves in someone else's shoes and learn a little bit about another culture through their own eyes. \nThe IU Muslim Student Union is offering students and community members just such a chance, with the added incentive of raising money for a good cause.\nThe Muslim Student Union is holding its annual Fast-a-thon, in which non-Muslim students are encouraged to sign up and fast for one day during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Several Bloomington businesses have agreed to donate money to the Community Kitchen of Monroe County for each student participant, a news release said.\nMuslim Student Union President and senior Khalil AbuGharbieh said he hopes participants learn more about Islam and themselves during their fast.\n"Our goal is to teach people about Islam," AbuGharbieh said. "I think that they can learn about themselves, too, because it's also an experiment in self-discipline."\nThe fast will start at first light Wednesday, which will occur at about 7 a.m. and will end at dusk, at about 7 p.m. To break the fast, participants will gather for a dinner at the Forest Greenleaf Cafeteria. After the fasting is completed, a speaker will be featured who AbuGharbieh said will help explain to non-Muslims what Ramadan is and what fasting means to Muslims.\nThe slogan for this year's Fast-a-thon is "Go hungry for a day so someone else won't have to," the news release said. AbuGharbieh said 100 percent of all money and food donations will be given to the Community Kitchen, a nonprofit cafeteria in Bloomington. \nEvent co-coordinator and the group's publicity chair Khalid Ali, a junior, said the event isn't just about Ramadan and said the Muslim Student Union wants the Fast-a-thon to bring more awareness to the importance of the Community Kitchen.\n"(We want) to kind of provide for the community kitchen here because they already do so much," Ali said. \nJunior Myeda Hussain, public relations officer for the Muslim Student Union and a coordinator of the event, said it took between a month and six weeks to plan as the event, as the union contacted several businesses, primarily restaurants, requesting donations. \nHussain said 600 to 700 people have signed up for the fast. Between 200 and 300 people are expected at the dinner at Forest.\nHussain said the fast echoes the basic idea of Ramadan.\n"The whole event ties into the spirit of Ramadan," Hussain said. "With people fasting, it humbles people to make them think about people that don't have a choice about eating ... the whole event embodies all the aspects of Ramadan."\nRamadan is a month-long holiday in which Muslims fast from dawn to dusk each day. AbuGharbieh said Ramadan is a time of spirituality and self-discipline. \n"The month is about spiritual rededication because you set aside this month of the year where you do things that remind you more of God," he said. \nAbuGharbieh went on to say the month isn't just about fasting, especially within the IU community. He said people are encouraged to read the Quran more often and join in communal activities like dinners.\nAli said he hopes the event will show people a different side of Ramadan.\n"(The fast is) pretty much just to educate ... to kind of spread the word about what Muslims are required to do during Ramadan," Ali said. "It's not so much a physical effort; it's more mental."\nAbuGharbieh said he hopes the event will show the IU and Bloomington communities that the Muslim Student Union wants to be involved. \n"I hope that the community sees that the Bloomington Muslim community is a participant and cares about the broader community and also learns about something that's really important to us," AbuGharbieh said.