Students reading this article in the dining halls or while snacking in class may not be giving a second thought to their food. For those Jumbos who are observing Ramadan, however, lunch in the dining hall isn't an option - and many say that the college setting makes staying observant particularly difficult.
Ramadan, an Islamic religious observance that takes place during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is a month marked by prayer and fasting from dawn to sunset each day.
Sophomore Hana Agha's observation of Ramadan took a difficult turn when it came to fasting.
"I was [fasting] until just a few days ago, when I just stopped because I had exams," she said.
Agha is not alone; she joins a predominant group of students who find fasting at college considerably more difficult than at home.
At her high school in Jordan, Agha explained that students were "let out of class at 2 [p.m.] during the month of Ramadan; a lot of teachers would go easier on the homework."
But at Tufts, students say, exceptions aren't made for students observing Ramadan.
"Here, if you have a class that goes past sundown, you have to go," Agha added. "You can't miss it."
Junior Maciej Czos echoed Agha's sentiments, explaining that the difficulty of schoolwork prevented him from observing Ramadan this year.
"Junior year is extremely intensive, and I would not be able to do all my courses and go about hungry all day," said Czos, who is not Muslim but chose to participate in Ramadan for the past two years. "You need energy to study, to go to classes and to understand everything, so I think [observing Ramadan at college] is very difficult."
Muslim chaplain Shareda Hosein agreed that fasting has a serious effect on the body.
"When one fasts, there are a lot of things going on in the body itself. The body is getting a break; there's healing that goes on in the body, the gastro organs aren't working like crazy," she said. "There's a sense of lightness about the body that allows you to really think about God, to think about who you are as a human being."
The purpose of fasting during Ramadan, Hosein explained, is to make people empathetic towards the plight of others.
"The essence of Ramadan is really ... to understand what it is to have mercy for others if they can't afford food or they're poor; in some ways, the fasting gives you a sense of how you feel hunger," she said.
Tufts Dining Services offers an adjusted meal plan to those students who choose to fast.
For students who observe Ramadan, Tufts Dining Services converts the value of their meal plan to Dining Dollars for the month of Ramadan, according to Director of Dining Services Patti Klos. Those Dining Dollars can be used in Carmichael and Dewick dining halls or Hodgdon for meals served after dusk.
From Sunday to Thursday, Dewick is open until 9 p.m., while Carmichael is open until 8 p.m, Hodgdon is open until 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Agha and Czos agreed that, while fasting is still difficult on a campus, the dining services option was helpful.
"I think most students are pretty satisfied," said Agha, who did not sign up for the plan.
"I think maybe Tufts could do something more in terms of ... having the dining hall open maybe an extra half hour," Agha continued. "If the sun goes down at 7 [p.m.], it doesn't make sense to eat a huge quick meal between 7 and 8:30 ... What you're supposed to do is start off slowly, because you've gone the whole day without eating."
Agha said that traditionally, the fast is broken with a small meal of dates and water, after which one waits before having soup, breaking again and finally having a large meal.
Czos said he found the dining accommodations "definitely" helpful.
Hosein agreed with students that the university atmosphere makes fasting more difficult.
"[At] the time to break fast, some [students] are at class," she said. "[Otherwise,] they would be at home and breaking the fast at home with their families,"
The family setting is a large part of Ramadan, second-year graduate student Hoda Mostafa said.
"It's like Christmas time; it's very homey, the time when the family gathers every night through the 30 days," she said.
The distance from their homes can also make observing Ramadan more difficult for Tuft' Muslims, which are about two percent of the student body, Hosein said.
"They may not have ... their larger Muslim community where they could go to a mosque, where they could be part of that community for the night prayer," she said.
The Muslim Students Association (MSA) has tried to ease that difficulty for students by attempting to build community and having nightly prayer and Iftar dinners.
"I would say that the Muslim Students Association here has tried to create that sort of environment," Hosein said.
On Tuesday, the International Center hosted Iftar dinner for Muslims at Tufts. The center's director, Jane Etish-Andrews, explained that various organizations at Tufts sponsor Iftar dinners throughout Ramadan. Mostafa found that the MSA dinners did a good job at attempting to create community.
"I have been to different Iftars, here at Tufts and at different schools - MIT and Harvard... They are doing great effort in gathering people, making it feel like home," Mostafa said.
Mostafa and Agha are from the predominantly Muslim countries of Egypt and Jordan, respectively. Both explained that being in America, not just in the American university system, made fasting far more difficult.
"In Jordan, you don't see people eating outside," Agha said. "It's 'illegal' to eat outside in public during the month of Ramadan ... Here, it's very different because no one else is observing."
Mostafa also found that being surrounded by others who are not fasting makes observing Ramadan harder.
"It's different, and to be honest it's difficult, because at home everybody around you is fasting," she said. "But here only you and a few people are fasting during the day."
Agha gave a comparison for her experience: "Coming [to America] from a primarily Muslim country, it's like going somewhere where they don't celebrate Christmas."
