"Whatever my individual desires were to be free, I was not alone. There were many others who felt the same way." ~ Mrs. Rosa Parks

November 2005

Ramadan In Oberlin
By Ali Najmi

Ramadan, the holiest month on the Muslim calendar, began the first week of October. Muslim obligations during Ramadan include fasting from sunrise to sunset for the entire month. Fasting includes abstaining from food and drink; however, according to some religious traditions, a person’s fast can be broken for certain reasons.

“Ramadan is not just a fast of your stomach, it is a fast of your ears, eyes, tongue, and brain” said Imam Samir al Tabba, a Muslim clergyman from the Lorain Islamic Association during a biweekly religious study he provides to Oberlin students. The Imam was referring to the spirit of self discipline involved in Ramadan and implying that a fast can be broken by improper thoughts, speech (cursing), and surrounding yourself around un-Islamic behavior. Fasting is also a means for Muslims to worship Allah and to empathize with the underprivileged who go hungry.

Oberlin’s Muslim population has been observing the month of Ramadan in different ways. The daily breaking of the fast, known as iftar, is conducted at the Kosher-Halal Co-op and is immediately followed by prayers. Weekend iftars are more elaborate and include trips to the Lorain Islamic Association to break fast with the Lorain Muslim community as well as dinners held by the Muslim Students Association in Wilder. Traditional, but not obligatory night prayers are held during each night of Ramadan in which a selected reading of the Qur’an is completed each night in hopes of completing the entire book by the end of the month. This ritual, known as tarawih, includes a smaller portion of the Oberlin Muslim community than other events, but does occur on a regular basis.

A large range exists in the level observance and practice of Ramadan at Oberlin.

For Rehan Jamil (’07), the “cultural aspect of it like food and getting together” is what matters the most. Subsequently, Rehan hasn’t kept all his prescribed fasts. Others such as Lee Hislop (’07) focus on the spiritual aspects: “I feel like Allah is with me because I am making a sacrifice.”

Experience with Ramadan also varies from those born into Islam, who have fasted since they were 11 and 12 years old, to recent converts like Oheneba Amponsah (’09) who is fasting for the first time. “I’ve been around a very supportive community and its allowed me to reflect on my relationship with God,” said Oheneba on the course of his first Ramadan.

The daily fasting can be challenging for some in Oberlin. Rehan Jamil contrasted Ramadan in Oberlin with his experience in his native Pakistan; “The pace of life in Pakistan changes, unlike here. In that sense, for Muslim-Americans they have a much tougher experience because the entire society is not fasting with you. You might have class when you are supposed to break your fast”.

Some Muslim students have also fasted while participating in Oberlin athletics, such as Oheneba Amponsah who plays tennis for the college: “I practice while I am fasting and at times its tough but it’s made me a different person and more disciplined”. Umra Omar (’06) played field hockey the past two years and fasted during the season. This year, since she isn’t playing her biggest challenge during Ramadan, it is a different one, “the long days make it worse” she says.

The Muslim calendar is lunar based and Ramadan moves back about 12 days every year, meaning in a few years people will fast in the middle of the summer with the longest days of the year.

Oberlin’s Muslim community has been affected by low numbers of Muslims applying to the college; however it still maintains observance of traditions with the hope of creating a supportive community for those currently at Oberlin. Islam is practiced by more than a billion people worldwide, but only comprises a fraction of the Oberlin population. However, as Umra Omar points out, that can be a positive element “it makes you stronger, makes you get in touch with where you are from.”

For many in the Oberlin Muslim community this month has been about understanding their identity as Muslims and relationship with God, usually over various Arab and South Asian delicacies.


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INSIDE THIS WEEK'S IN SOLIDARITY

Letter from Francisca Chaidez-Gutierrez
Hate Crime hit close to Oberlin
Marjane Satrapi
Lord/Saunders and Sewage
New World Boder
Ramadan in Oberlin

John Roberts
What Did You Say?!?!?
Students Advocating for Peace in Sudan
Columbus Day
Hate groups, post-Katrina
Violence in New Orleans



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