Chocolate, Iftar, and Finding Belonging
As a Campus Minister at Santa Clara University, my work is grounded in Catholic, Jesuit values, including Ignatius’ exhortation for us to find God in all things. Santa Clara students come from a rich diversity of religious and wisdom traditions. It is my honor to accompany them on their spiritual journeys.
Santa Clara University students participate in student-led religious organizations on campus, and receive opportunities for fellowship, spiritual formation, and service. Our Campus Ministry team supports these religious organizations. For example, every year we partner with the Muslim Student Association to care for the SCU Muslim community during the month of Ramadan.
Ramadan is a holy season that is observed in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar (the date changes each year because the Muslim calendar year is based on the lunar calendar). During the month of Ramadan, Muslims traditionally fast between sunup and sundown. They use the time they could be eating or drinking to engage in spiritual practices that bring them closer to Allah, to God. Remembering that during this month the Quran, the Muslim holy book, was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Muslims read stories from their scriptures. It is a time of reflection, prayer, community, and doing good deeds for others.
Campus Ministry partners with the Muslim Student Association (MSA) to offer Iftar meals during Ramadan, creating opportunities for Muslim students, faculty, staff, and their families to connect with one another. The Iftar community gathers at sundown to break the fast together, pray, and then enjoy a delicious meal. This year, the Christian season of Lent coincided with Ramadan, so students from MSA and College Catholics came to an Iftar Fish Fry, during which student leaders from these organizations shared about the meaning of Ramadan and Lent. The following week, a community of SCU students, faculty, and staff - Muslim and non-Muslim alike - gathered for the Iftar prayer and meal.
Campus Ministry also puts together Iftar snack packs for SCU Muslim students who fast during Ramadan.
One afternoon, not long before Ramadan began this year, I ran into Mahnoor Kareem, an Engineering graduate student and Campus Ministry Desk Assistant, as I was heading out to shop for the Iftar snack packs.
Last year we included dates, a bottle of water, and a granola bar in the snack pack, along with the dua, or the prayer that Muslims pray at sundown before they break their fast by eating dates and drinking water. I asked Mahnoor if there was something extra we should include this year. She paused to consider my question, smiled, and said “Chocolate.”
So this year, the Iftar snack include a piece of dark chocolate.
Mahnoor has fond memories of celebrating Ramadan when she was a child growing up in a Muslim family in Pakistan.
“I kept my first fast when I was seven years old, and I was very excited because Ramadan is such a special time for Muslim families,” she reflected.
“It’s a way of getting closer to God and being better humans and doing good deeds and charity and practicing a lot of goodness. One of my earliest memories is helping my mom make deviled eggs for Iftar. Even doing that was really fun. There's always such a cheerful aura about Ramadan. When it’s Iftar time your entire family is at the table. You all break the fast together and eat really yummy food. That's what I remember.”
Celebrating Ramadan as a graduate student has been challenging for Mahnoor, who cherishes being part of a community that is journeying through this month together. But she has discovered unexpected gifts in moving through the days on her own, observing and breaking the fast, reading the Quran, praying, being with Allah.
“It’s special to experience this on my own,” she explained. “First and foremost, Ramadan is about your relationship with God so when you're alone it isolates you more. It highlights your relationship with God a bit more because it’s you and him. It’s a part of growing up that’s essential. So I’m happy with how it’s going so far. I can rely on myself to still take part.”
When Mahnoor began her graduate studies, she learned about the Iftar meals.
“I was incredibly happy to know that there was a community on campus that was organizing this and helping the MSA do this for Muslim students,” Mahnoor reflected. “It felt like we were being supported and highlighted in the community. It’s such an important time for us, and an important thing in the lives of Muslims. I felt incredibly seen and supported and heard, and I thought it was an incredibly considerate and kind gesture. At my first Iftar dinner I was shocked and surprised to see how many Muslims there are on campus, because I had never been around that many before. It was nice to see how many people there even are on campus. But it was also so special to have that experience to bond with all of these new people, and to experience all of this together, and feel that community.”
Mahnoor has experienced significant spiritual growth this year during Ramadan.
Mahnoor continues, “This year when I started to do my extra prayers and listen to the Quran and the stories and verses about God, it made me realize how much I missed it, and after a few days, it genuinely changed the way I was thinking about my everyday life. It brought me closer to God, and rejuvenated my feelings and my thoughts and my relationship with him
“Campus Ministry’s efforts in celebrating Ramadan with Muslim students has been really great because it helps me practice being a little more open and take more charge of my identity,” Mahnoor expressed. “My faith is something I don’t really get a chance to talk about, so I appreciate Campus Ministry’s efforts to provide a space for us. . I feel really, really heard.”
Our Campus Ministry team strives to create spaces of belonging, so that Mahnoor and her Muslim peers and students from all traditions and backgrounds feel that they have a home in our office and on campus. We see and value every student, honoring each of them as a person of sacred worth. As Mahnoor graciously shared a bit of her story with us, we cherish the gift of listening to one another’s stories, and are reminded that unity within our diversity is what builds a beloved community.