According to Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA) hundreds of UW students abstained from food and drink Friday between dawn and sunset for the Muslim Student Association’s (MSA) seventh-annual Fast-a-Thon. Amina Ramadan, public relations officer for the MSA, said that 366 people pledged to fast.
Local business sponsors donated money for each pledge collected. Funds raised in the event will go to Islamic Relief, a nonprofit organization currently supplying food, water and tents to victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
Participants in the Fast-a-Thon gathered in the HUB West Ballroom Friday evening to break their fast with a free dinner provided by the event’s sponsors, and to share their experiences.
Freshman Dustin Chiang learned about the Fast-a-Thon a few days before the event from MSA members tabling outside the HUB.
Chiang said that the opportunity to help Haiti appealed to him.
“I’m still a freshman, and I don’t have anything,” he said. “This is something I could do for Haiti, something on a personal level.”
Guest speaker Mohammad Sarhan described the personal experience of giving up food as a way to relate to those who are poor and hungry. While it is impossible to fully know how someone else feels, Sarhan said, feeling hunger and thirst “gives you that fraction.”
In addition to raising money for a cause, the event serves to promote cultural awareness in the UW community. The Fast-a-Thon is designed to help educate non-Muslims about the Islamic month Ramadan, during which Muslims fast throughout the daylight hours. Ramadan took place during summer break last year.
Sarah Davis, an MSA member who volunteered at the Fast-a-Thon, said she was happy to see a large number of non-Muslims attending the dinner.
“Since it’s related to a religion, I didn’t think that many people would be comfortable to come,” Davis said. “We were worried about it being awkward.”
Events like the Fast-a-Thon can help bring together students with a variety of beliefs.
“Fasting has no religion,” said Naima Idris, vice president of the MSA. “It’s this common experience that we all share.”
One purpose of the experience is to strive to become a better person through discipline. Hannah Kalinoski, who will enter the UW as part of the 2010-11 freshman class, said that fasting during Ramadan builds self-control.
“You abstain from being angry” as well as from food and drink, Kalinoski said.
The Fast-a-Thon required a high level of commitment from the volunteers before the actual day of the event. Davis said that the planning process was “really hectic” and lasted about a month.
“It was hard balancing coursework and the event, but it was really fun,” Idris said, smiling.
The volunteers were pleased with the results of their work.
“It was amazing,” MSA member Kasim Siddiqui said. “So many people came and learned, and we raised a lot of money.”
For the students who participated, the Fast-a-Thon was an illuminating experience.
“I used to think fasting was crazy,” Chiang said. “I still think fasting is crazy, but it’s a good kind of crazy.”
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