The Gifts of Iftar

The Gifts of Iftar

Interfaith, campus-wide collaborations served Emory’s nightly Ramadan meals 

By Michelle Hiskey

As the clock ticked to 7:58 pm on March 28, the volume of people and conversation rose fast in Brooks Commons, the main fellowship hall in Cannon Chapel. The sun was setting on the final weeknight of Ramadan as a voice boomed from a microphone.

“We made it!” said Mohamed Ataelfadeel 25C, co-president of the Emory Muslim Students Association (MSA). The ritual daylong fast ended and signaled the final weeknight iftar dinner—the last communal meal for 100+ attendees (Muslim and not) held after sunset Monday through Friday during Ramadan. 

The 15 halal buffet meals over the month (one week was spring break this year) were all about support for Emory’s Muslim community, made possible through major assists from volunteers of many faiths and backgrounds and Campus Dining staff.

From campus groups like the Black Student Alliance that provided Insomnia Cookies for the final iftar dessert, to outside organizations like the Ismaili Council of the Southeast that sponsored an entire meal one night, every Emory iftar was made possible by Muslims and non-Muslims joining together. 

The holiest month of Islam will culminate in a campus Eid Festival on Saturday, April 12 at 6 pm on McDonough Field co-sponsored by MSA and the Emory Office of Spiritual and Religious Life (OSRL) and other sponsors. Emory community members can register on the Transact app here. 

Meet and connect

“There’s more community this year,” said Ikran Ismail 27C, who said the nightly ritual nourished her professionally, too. Dinner sponsors usually say a few words, and she heard members of the Muslim Law Students Association speak one night. Pre-law interests her as a political science and data science major.  “As an undergrad, my path wouldn’t cross with them,” Ismail said. “At iftar dinner, we meet and connect.”

Asmaa Ali 28C only missed a few of the 15 iftars. She arrived early on the final night and, after prayers, helped spoon servings from the steaming chafing dishes of basmati rice, vegetable pakora with tamarind sauce, butter chicken, chicken tikka masala, and naan, catered by Café Bombay.  The halal meals from a broad swath of Atlanta restaurants reflected the many ethnicities and cultures in Emory’s Muslim community.

“It’s so convenient, and it’s easier to break fast on campus, and this is better food,” Ali said. The meal was even more meaningful to her for another reason: “I can’t cook.” 

Food creates community

Ali estimated that about 1 in 5 iftar attendees are non-Muslim, and she had met people from Morehouse College, the CDC, and other student groups. Emory’s multi-religious chaplains cycled through as well.

Six Davidson College students, their religious studies professor, and their Buddhist chaplain visited for this Friday meal. They were making a weekend trip to Atlanta for their course entitled, “Nonviolence: Can it Work?”

As non-Muslims, they followed the request to let those who had been fasting go to the front of the buffet line. “Food is a creator of community,” they said.

 “The 15 iftars represented a close collaboration between OSRL and MSA throughout Ramadan,” said the Rev. Gregory W. McGonigle, Emory’s university chaplain and dean of religious life.

The OSRL staff arranged for the dinner sponsors, reserved and staged the chapel spaces, purchased the needed supplies, and ordered the catered dinners for 100-200 people each night. MSA leaders recommended the restaurants used, decorated the space, coordinated the sponsors of desserts, and arranged the volunteer teams of students to serve the meals and clean up each night.

Muslim Chaplain Ustadh Rahimjon Abdugafurov 20G coordinated the prayers before and after the dinners and greeted and supported the community each evening as they gathered. And Emory Campus Dining provided drinking water and suhur (breakfast) bags to distribute for predawn meals before fasting the next day, as well as weekend iftars.

Administrative sponsors for the dinners included the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Emory Campus Life, Emory Libraries, the Carlos Museum, Emory College, the Laney Graduate School, and the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Public Health and Theology.

Many partners support Ramadan

One night was sponsored by a faculty dean who practices Buddhism, and another by the Hindu Students Association, “a testament to the inter-religious respect, understanding, and cooperation that has long been a deep value at Emory,” McGonigle said.

“It’s always a joy to return to campus, and the Ismaili Council was honored to host,” said alumna Nadya Merchant 95C 97MPH 03PHD, a volunteer with that organization. “Joining Emory’s thriving Muslim community as we come together in Cannon Chapel to celebrate our faith, break our fast, and share a meal is truly inspiring.”

Many Christian and Jewish student organizations, who ordinarily use Cannon Chapel on a weekly basis, relocated their events in March so that the Muslim community could observe at the only campus building that has contiguous prayer and dining facilities.

“We have a symbiotic relationship with these different organizations,” said MSA co-president Mikaayel Aasim 25C, who set up the serving buffets for each iftar, and cleared the plates of dates that broke the fast. A few leftover dates became his snacks.

Thankfulness and reflection

Fasting in Ramadan means no water either, so thirst is an issue. Two sweating urns of cold water beckoned as Ataelfadeel thanked the litany of donors before his biggest shoutout. 

“This Ramadan does not happen without the great support of Emory Dining,” he said. “They have been instrumental in making sure that this Ramadan is special to everybody, from these water dispensers to the suhur bags to offering iftars on the weekends at the DCT [Dobbs Common Table] for those who can't go to community iftars.”

Most nights after iftar, students gathered upstairs in Cannon Chapel to recite and learn Qur’an led by several Islamic Civilizations graduate students.

“Gathering at Cannon Chapel with our community has been a reminder that Ramadan is not just about abstaining from food and water for a time, but also about coming together, caring for each other, and strengthening our social bonds,” said Adnan Merja, a PhD student who led the Tarawih, the special night prayers during Ramadan.

“These moments of shared prayer, conversation, and generosity have made this Ramadan a meaningful season to pause from the intensity of academic life and reconnect with the essence of the soul,” he said.

“Ramadan iftars, for me, signify the hope and optimism that come from gratitude,” he added. “The social solidarity and the spiritual connection of breaking the fast in the same place together have fostered in me a deep sense of thankfulness and reflection.”

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