Ramadan is one of the holiest months in the Islamic calendar. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk to strengthen their consciousness of Allah, the Arabic word for God. To celebrate this month, the Muslim Student Association (MSA), Creighton Intercultural Center (CIC) and Campus Ministry hosted the Creighton Community Iftar last week in the Mike and Josie Harper Center’s Ahmanson Ballroom.

Iftar is the communal dinner where the daily fast is broken. During daylight hours, Muslims fast from food and drink, including water. This year, Ramadan began on Feb. 28 and will last through Sunday. Iftar attendants could read about Ramadan in a pamphlet at their table, and each table had a pitcher of water accompanied by a basket of dates. Attendees could only eat and drink after 7:34 p.m., when the sun set. Before the dinner commenced, Imam Samyr El-Refaie of the Millard Islamic Foundation took to the podium to reflect upon Ramadan.

“I am training myself, through the act of fasting, to be obedient to Allah and to be conscious of Him,” El-Refaie said about the purpose of fasting during Ramadan. “And also, throughout the day, no one is watching us. Nobody is observing you 24 hours of the day. … You can find moments where you can take something to eat, and nobody is going to catch you. But how…you develop God-consciousness is [to] refrain from doing it. [I refrain] not because someone will catch me, but because I know God is watching me.”

Ramadan is also about giving.

“The month of Ramadan is the month in which Muslims push themselves to do as much good as possible, and one of the biggest acts of goodness that they can do is charity,” El-Refaie said.

El-Refaie also spoke about the importance of gratitude, empathy and self-discipline as principles of Ramadan.

“Ramadan is not just about food. It’sno, actually, it has nothing to do with the food. The fact of fasting is nothing but a tool to train you to be conscious of God, and that consciousness of God reminds you about the people around you. Having empathy doesn’t make you weak—it makes you human,” he said.

Following the speech, practitioners of Islam gathered in a separate room to offer prayers before breaking the fast. The remaining attendees were shown a video that Ramadan celebrates the revelation of the Qur’an to the prophet Muhammad. The video explained how the pre-adolescent, the sick, the pregnant and the elderly are exempt from fasting, and, in addition to Iftar, there is a meal that takes place before sunrise called Suhoor.

After prayer, dinner was served. For the main entrees, Fattoush salad, saffron pilaf rice, jalfrezi curry chicken skewers and yogurt sauce were available. For dessert, there was ghorayebah (an Egyptian pistachio butter cookie), dziriat (an Algerian almond tart) and layalilubnan (a Lebanese nights milk cake).

Some University of Nebraska Omaha students, such as freshman Palwasha Amin, attended Creighton’s Iftar.

“I think one of the most important things about Ramadan is giving back to people and just providing food for people in general,” Amin said.

Students and faculty dined for about 45 minutes. For Robby Francis, the director of Campus Ministry, the community fostered by the event was a highlight.

“Watching them [students] be able to come together on our campus and find community in that [Iftar] is beautiful,” Francis said.

Once dinner was finished, the MSA and CIC gave final remarks to the attendants. Director of the Creighton Intercultural Center Mario Alejandre said he hoped that students would gain something valuable from the night, namely feeling a sense of belonging on campus.

“Especially for our Muslim students, that they know that Creighton is committed to their sense of belonging, and even for our non-Muslim students who are here, that they would experience a part of their peers’ life… [such as learning] something about the world that is a little bit bigger than maybe what they’ve been familiar with or what they grew up with,” Alejandre said.

“I thought the speech was very impactful,” Fauzan Siddiqui, a Creighton College of Arts and Sciences junior, said after reflecting upon El-Rafaie’s speech. “It gave the students a very deep understanding of the religion—one that presents a welcoming view of the religion in general.”