Ramadan, the ninth month in the Islamic calendar, falls in April. It is a month where Muslims partake in fasting and displaying acts of kindness.
Sajid Syed, Chairman of the Muslim Center of Greater Princeton on Old Trenton Road, says
“The purpose is to exercise self-control and to beat [the desires] of your inner self. So, this is the time and opportunity for us to experience what people who don’t typically have to eat or can’t get enough food or water, what they would be going through.”
The holy Muslim scripture, the Qur’an encourages Muslims to be especially generous during Ramadan. To honor this spirit of generosity, the Muslim Center held a toy drive where people donated new gifts for children in need.
Syed says “ The other aspect is to spread goodness and cheer and charity, whilst you are suffering in the sense that you are lacking the water and the sleep.”
To be able to last all day without eating, before dawn, Muslims will eat a large meal packed with nutritious foods with family and friends. This is called Suhur. The sundown meal is called Iftar when Muslims replenish their strength before continuing to fast until Suhur the next day.
Children, pregnant women, women breastfeeding, and women on their periods are exempt from fasting and can show other ways to appreciate their faith.
MCCC student, Abdul-Latif, majoring in Architecture says, “ You do the five prayers along with the fasting. We pray in the morning, in the evening, and late at night.”
There are 5 pillars of Islam. The first pillar is the belief in one God, the second pillar is praying, Devout Muslims pray 5 times a day. The third pillar is to give charity, the fourth is Ramadan, and the last pillar is the pilgrimage to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia.
According to the Qur’an, “The month of Ramadan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur’an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast; and whoever is ill or on a journey – then an equal number of other days. Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for your hardship and [wants] for you to complete the period and to glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you, and perhaps you will be grateful.”
After fasting for 30 days, Muslims have a large celebration called Eid, fully known as Eid al-Fitr, which is a festival for breaking the fast.
An MCCC Muslim student, Ziad Mahmoud, majoring in engineering sciences says “ Well, it’s the most important month in the year to me because every good thing you will make it in this month will be multiplied by a lot compared to if you did the same good thing at another time of the year.”
Despite their dedication to charity, Muslims continue to experience discrimination and Islamaphobia in the United States and abroad. An increase in hate crimes against Muslims after 9/11 has been exacerbated by anti-Mulsim and anti-immigrant actions by Donald Trump in recent years. This is shown in data from the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Pew Research Center.
One way that Muslims, including some in Central New Jersey are working to give back to their communities and combat this discrimination, is by running for political office.
Amani al-Khatahtbeh, a Muslim woman who graduated from Rutgers, who is the creator of the website MuslimGirl.com, was the first Muslim woman to run for congress in New Jersey.
Despite al-Khatahtbeh’s loss in 2020, other Muslims have been successful in New Jersey politics. For example, also in 2020, Eman El-Badawi, another Rutgers grad, with a degree in chemistry and biology, who is now a sheep farmer and mother of six, won a seat on the Township Committee in Cranbury, NJ, just 15 minutes from MCCC.
Syed, Chairman of the Muslim Center says, “Very often all of us are busy in our lives and just busy with jobs or school, and we don’t have time to think about the other person. [Ramadan] is the time when we say, ‘You know what, what’s my neighbor going through? Do they have food on the table?’ So, that’s the purpose and mission.”
