The Kansas City-Saint Louis Room in the MU Student Center was filled with homemade food, desserts and students every Thursday during the month of Ramadan. Ramadan is a holy month in Islam where Muslims fast from dawn to sunset, one of the five pillars in the religion. Following the lunar calendar, Ramadan lasted from April 2 to May 1 this year.
In addition to fasting, Ramadan involves strengthening one’s relationship with God and abstaining from forbidden activities. For many Muslims, the month entails keeping up more strictly with prayers, visiting the mosque more frequently and observing the holy month with friends and family.
“Suhoor,” the meal eaten before dawn, and “iftar,” the meal eaten at sundown to break fast, are often community affairs. However, the college transition leaves many students without the community built in their youth. To help ease this transition, the Muslim Student Organization and the Islamic Center of Central Missouri on 5th St. in Columbia provided services and community events.
MU junior Umer Mallick, the current social chair for MSO and elected vice president for the 2022-2023 school year, helped plan and promote monthly events.
Mallick said being Muslim and surrounding himself with Muslim friends became part of his identity in high school, so he wanted to recreate that space and those relationships in Columbia. He found that community through MSO.
“[At home], every night, you break your fast with your family and usually somebody is going to be making a lot of food or you’re going to be going to someone’s party or something,” Mallick said. “[As Social Chair], I wanted to try and recreate the experience I had [at home], not only for myself, but for the majority of kids that are Muslim who are living on campus.”
Mallick helped plan weekly iftars every Monday and Thursday at sunset with the MSO executive board. Mondays were “Potluck Iftars” where students brought their own food and shared the space to break fast together, and Thursdays were “Catered Iftars” where a few families provided food for everyone to share. These iftars brought in 40 to 50 students each week.
“Breaking your fast with family and friends in your city, to going to a new city and breaking it alone in your dorm or your apartment is kind of depressing,” Mallick said. “So we’re just trying to make it more comfortable for everybody.
Mallick said that coming to MU, he felt immediately welcomed and accepted into MSO and wants to continue creating and improving that environment. Going forward as vice president, Mallick said he and the rest of the board want to create a bigger name for Muslim students on campus.
He said MSO is also interested in creating a Ramadan initiative so dining halls stay open later during Ramadan for students who are fasting. The recent addition of halal meat in dining halls which happened due to the effort of MSO for the past few years shows Mallick that change is possible.
“[MSO] is a place where Muslim kids on campus can feel safe and welcome in an environment where there isn’t that much diversity like Columbia, Missouri,” Mallick said. “Our goal in MSO is ultimately to provide a place where they feel comfortable, not only to exist in a school space, but also feel comfortable to actively and confidently express their religion and culture.”
This year’s Ramadan was a first for senior Rebecca Price. Price converted to Islam from Christianity on Dec. 4, 2021 and has spent this school year learning more about Islam and connecting with Muslim students and members in the Columbia community.
“I was ready to [convert],” Price said. “I just felt this, I can’t even describe it, I felt this rush of emotions that are so positive and warm and I felt lightness in my heart.”
After taking her shahada, the declaration of belief in Islam and Allah, Price said the support from the community was amazing.
“Ever since [I took my shahada], people still have shown support, and it’s just been growing,” Price said. “Islam is definitely a personal experience. And I’ve seen that so many people are at different levels of their faith and there’s not a mentality that everybody has to be on the same page at the same time. Everyone helps to support each other and learns from each other.”
Price said fasting for the first time has been difficult, especially physically, while still studying for school and attending classes. However, attending iftars both through MSO and ICCM has helped her through the month. ICCM hosted community iftars each Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the month which featured food from different cultures.
“It’s been really cool to see how diverse the community is here. Because of the different cultures, taking different nights like the Iraqi night, the Egyptian night,” Price said.
In addition to hosting iftars, many in the community have personally invited Price to their houses for iftar after learning that she had recently converted.
“I’m very impressed by everyone’s commitment and everyone’s open-heartedness in terms of welcoming me without knowing me or knowing my background and that’s also been the case from what I’ve seen for the other converts,” Price said.
MSO was a safe space for one freshman, who choose to remain anonymous. She moved from home country to MU in 2021 and was surprised to see such a connected Muslim student population.
“[MSO is] so welcoming and friendly,” she said. “They are always ready to help, and I feel so safe. I feel like they’re just like my family and my sisters and brothers.”
Ramadan this year was extremely different from Ramadan in past years for their country. She said that while their home country is a predominantly Muslim country, religious expression, including fasting and wearing the hijab, is societally restricted. Coming to MU, she said she felt free.
“It’s kind of difficult in my country to talk about religion and to have a conversation with teachers about religion,” she said. “Here, there are people older than us and who have more experience. I like it more here, [and] I learned a lot from [my friends in MSO].”
She started wearing the hijab this Ramadan after receiving support from others in MSO and in the community. She shared that her mindset toward religion has changed since coming to MU and the environment has helped her improve her faith.
She said she is very grateful that she joined MSO and hopes others know that MSO is not only about religion, but also about building community, having fun, making friends and learning and growing together.
“I feel like home when I join [MSO],” she said. “It’s such a good community, and I love it.”
This article was updated on July 18, 2023 at 1:28 p.m.