Ramadan in Knoxville
Jeannine F. Hunter meets Muslim students at the University of Tennessee as they invite friends, who are not Muslim, to experience their faith and enjoy a meal at a local mosque.
Knoxville News-Sentinel, December 9, 2000

Discipline rather than deprivation is what Ramadan, a month-long fast in the Islamic calendar, means, said Farah Hussain, 17, a University of Tennessee student. "It teaches self-control for me," Hussain said as she placed a steaming aluminum foil-covered pot of stew on a table filled with other food. "I really like it. It is special, and I feel closer to God because I am concentrating on my prayers and reading of the Koran. Though I do this every day, during Ramadan, it seems as if you have more time."

On Wednesday, Hussain and other members of the Muslim Student Association, their families and non-Muslim guests gathered at Knoxville's Annoor Mosque on Grand Avenue to break the day's fast. During Ramadan, the ninth month in the Muslim year, Muslims abstain from food, drink and other sensual pleasures from sunrise to sunset. Exempt from fasting are the ill, the elderly and pregnant and nursing women.

The mosque, also referred to as the Muslim Community of Knoxville, is where close to 200 Muslim families from throughout East Tennessee worship.

Performing the fast enables Muslims to also reinforce self-restraint and generosity as they obey God's laws, said MSA student association president Tarek El-Messidi.

"It's done in every Muslim country. It's a communal thing," El-Messidi said. "Even little kids ask to do it ... . It is a concept recognized in many traditions. It allows you to focus on what Allah means, what He has done. It also compels you to focus on people who don't have a sunset to break their hunger. It impels you to want to give more charity in that way."

Fasting during Ramadan, which began Nov. 27, is one of Islam's five pillars that also include the declaration of faith, daily prayers, charity and pilgrimage to Mecca.

The fast became a religious obligation in 624, 14 years after Mohammed received the revelation that was eventually compiled as the Koran.

Because the Islamic calendar is lunar, in each solar year Ramadan falls about 11 days earlier than it did the previous year. Hence, Ramadan falls during all seasons within a Muslim's life. The beginning and ending of the observance is determined by the sighting of the new moon. The end of Ramadan will be marked about Dec. 27.

As Muslims and non-Muslim guests walked into the mosque Wednesday evening, they were greeted with religious words and swift hugs. Then Muslims slipped into rest rooms for ritual washing before they entered other rooms for salat (prayers).

Afterwards, people from imams to infants enjoyed the evening's festive mood marked with sumptuous food and engaging conversation.

Traditionally, people break the fast by meeting in each other's homes or in a mosque to dine and worship together. Often, a light meal is preceded by eating dates and drinking water or milk -- thought to be what the prophet consumed after his fast.

UT student Shabnum Quraishi said as a high school student in Farragut non-Muslim peers were understanding, never trying to tempt her by offering treats.

"A few friends said they wanted to try it," she said. "They totally respected it."

El-Messidi noted that full understanding about the faith has a long way to go.

"There are people in college who think Islam is a country," he said, chuckling slightly. "I have an 8-year-old brother and he has gotten the questions. When you're young and living in areas where Muslims may not be a large part of the population, you have to put up with sitting in cafeterias not eating and everyone else is eating. You have the questions, but this strengthens you so that once you are older you have heard it all, and you have answers."

The youngest of the world's three major monotheistic religions, Islam is second only to Christianity in its number of followers. Demographers say Islam, with an estimated 6 million Muslims in America and 1.2 billion worldwide, is one of the fastest-growing religions in the world.

In a recent Washington Post article, Aly R. Abuzaakouk, director of the Washington, D.C.-based American Muslim Council said, "There is a growing recognition of the role of Muslims as a positive factor in the building of American society's fabric." But he noted that events in the Middle East can "put a damper on our image as family-oriented, value-oriented, hard-working members of society."

Two of the Islamic calendar's most important eids, or festivals, will be commemorated in the U.S. Postal Service's 2001 commemorative stamp program. The stamp commemorates the end of hajj, Eid al-Adha, and the end of Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr.

Ramadan is a time to learn more about this way of life and its followers, said Cameron Brooks, 23, a student activist at the University of Tennessee.

Brooks was among handfuls of students present who had walked over after participating in a protest and march supporting a union of university housekeepers and custodians seeking changes in overtime regulations.

"The people here, like the students who invited us, are open people, open to people who are not Muslim and open to really wanting to educate others," Brooks said.

Nearby, fellow collegians commented about various classes they have taken or MSA-sponsored lectures they have attended that helped them better understand the faith, its people, and their domestic and international concerns.

"This is fascinating," said Kristy Greene, a UT student who hails from White House, north of Nashville. "This is such a family atmosphere."

Sitting cross-legged, Greene asked questions of young Muslims. Then a few minutes later, she declared she was abstaining from food the next day.

Greene said she admires the observance that enables one to exercise self-control as he or she evaluates important issues.

"I'm participating in breaking the fast tonight, and I think I owe it to those who do this for the month to try it tomorrow.

"I don't think I could do it every day," she said, chuckling. "It takes a lot of discipline but I would like to try a different cultural tradition than my own. Millions of people do it. Why not?"