Feasting and fasting: Students observe Ramadan together at Stanford

“Time check! 19 minutes!” Hasana Abdullah ’28 urged the others to finish eating before the sun came up. Fifteen people gathered in the early hours of a Friday morning. Shoes lined the baseboards outside the entrance to the small dorm room in Escondido Village Graduate Residences Building A (EVGR-A) as students arrived with sleepy looks in their eyes and sweatshirt hoods serving as temporary head coverings. 

The smell of homemade biryani wafted around the room and floated out into the hallway as the door opened again and again. One man decided to dash back to his dorm room for coffee. “Nine minutes!” Abdullah reminded everyone. 

Though dark outside, the room was lit by fairy lights that cast an amber glow around the space. Paintings by Arwa Faruk ’25, one of the room’s residents, adorned the walls, while a blanket was spread across the ground for feasters. Students wolfed down breakfast burritos, smoothies, dried fruit and eggs left from the previous morning’s pre-dawn Suhoor meal. Faruk and her roommate Melina Oseguera-Arasmou ’25 offered everyone water over and over before they had to stop consuming it.

“Make sure to drink water!” they called.

“If anyone needs water, let me know, because I think water’s like pretty important!” Faruk yelled to the room.

“Anyone want any water?” they asked.

Abdullah continued to give updates on the time. One girl tapped her phone screen repeatedly to check it, for no more food nor water may be consumed once the sun has risen.

These students ate so early because they take part in Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, during which Muslims observe a time of fasting, prayer and reflection. The point of Ramadan is to practice deep devotion to Allah, God. 

“[Fasting is] an act of disobedience against mindlessness and overconsumption,” said Faruk.

They fast from the moment light peeks over the horizon in the morning until the sun sinks below it in the evening. Suhoor is the meal consumed before sunrise, and Iftar is eaten once the sun sets. These times can now be calculated through precise mathematical methods, allowing people to know the exact times without watching the sun.

On this day, Friday, March 7, Suhoor had to be finished by 5:19 a.m. Some students, such as Abdullah, wake up early for Suhoor. Since she was meeting friends, she arose a little earlier than usual at 4:30 a.m. A group assembled in the lounge of Arroyo, including Rose Garcia ’28 and Mariem Elmahy ’28, to walk to EVGR-A for Suhoor. 

Bundled up against the biting morning air, Abdullah in a long, emerald-green overcoat and Garcia in a blanket hoodie, the students trekked across the Stanford campus. The stars shone against the indigo sky as they carried paper Suhoor boxes acquired from Arrillaga Family Dining Commons the night before.

Stanford supports students observing Ramadan by offering “a build-your-own Suhoor station” inside Arrillaga and Lakeside. Muslim students — and their friends — can register and then be eligible to create a to-go meal that includes halal options such as breakfast burritos, protein shakes, chia seed pudding, and more.

The early wake-up time for Suhoor, though, can cause problems for students who stay up late studying. 

“Lucy’s looking at me like, ‘How do I have so much energy this early?’” Abdullah said on the trek. “It’s because I slept an hour and a half ago.” 

Abdullah stayed up working on COLLEGE 102 readings until close to 3 a.m. However, this little amount of sleep is not normal for her. She usually goes to bed early and wakes up early to spend her mornings productively, per the productivity that is emphasized in the Islamic faith. “I have to get up early either way. I’m honestly an early riser,” said Abdullah.

Once they finished eating Suhoor, six Muslim students went to the EVGR-A lounge to complete Fajr, the morning prayer, which can be performed anytime between sunrise and midday. Each laid their prayer mat facing east, towards Kaaba, the sacred monument in Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The group from Arroyo left EVGR-A just as the day started, chirping birds announcing its arrival.

Abdullah then devoted the rest of her morning to reading the Quran and completing classwork. Other Muslim students, however, stay up late and eat Suhoor before going to bed and sleeping through many daylight hours. Abdullah’s roommate, Elmahy, stayed up until the Suhoor meal that Friday and went to bed upon returning to the dorm. So did Garcia.

“Rose, are you excited for the nap after this?” asked Elmahy.

“I’m waking up at 12,” Garcia said.

“I’m waking up after 12,” Elmahy added.

Abdullah was unable to take anything more than a 20-minute nap. Then she had to head to her COLLEGE class at 9 a.m. “Throughout the day, I need to increase [my sleep] to four hours,” she said.

After a heated discussion in COLLEGE, Abdullah attended her math lecture and then studied at the Markaz, the Muslim student resource center. “The lack of sleep is catching up to me,” admitted Abdullah, “but you know what, it’s okay. We power through it.” 

Though she felt tired because of the lack of sleep on this particular day, Abdullah has become accustomed to the fast. The first three days are often the hardest, but after that, her body adjusts, she said. She even feels more focused during the fast because she is most in tune with her body mentally and physically.

“In the absence of food, in the absence of water, you’re more attuned to how you are in yourself,” Abdullah said. “So I’ve noticed that I checked my phone a lot, and I haven’t been doing that a lot during Ramadan.”

Abdullah has been fasting since she was eleven years old, so she is used to the practice. Long New York City commutes to and from high school each day taught her how to get through the daily fasts, along with her mom’s delicious home-cooked Suhoor and Iftar meals. 

She has been able to replicate a sense of home at Stanford. At Faruk and Oseguera-Arasmou’s Suhoor meal, the smell of biryani reminded Abdullah of her mom’s cooking. Additionally, during Ramadan, many Muslim students break their fasts together in the Old Union Courtyard each night after sunset.

“Students come together and arrange those things to emulate how the vibes would be at home,” said Abdullah. 

On March 7, the Muslim Student Union (MSU) hosted an Open Iftar where members of the community, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, broke their fasts together. Around 500 people convened in the Old Union Courtyard. Some Stanford students present were not Muslim but chose to fast with their friends. 

“I think it takes a lot of mental effort for them, especially if they’re not coming from a background that helps them to understand [Ramadan’s] spiritual benefits,” said Abdullah. 

However, Garcia admired both the mental fortitude fasting brought her and how welcoming Muslim students at Stanford were. 

“I feel like the Muslim community at Stanford is one of the nicest communities,” she said. “I see how so many students come together to celebrate this holiday and are… taking care of each other.”

That night, hundreds broke their fast together, marking the end of thirteen hours of going without food and water. First, the fasters ate something small — a sweet date — and sipped water. Then attendees drank Salaam Cola and ate Chicken G’s sandwiches, a halal fried chicken option.

Abdullah was eventually able to take another nap before setting up Open Iftar and could go to bed earlier that night. 

“Oh my gosh, my sleep has increased from 1.5 to 2.5,” she exclaimed. “I’m so accurate in my measurements.”

Her day ended at Arrillaga as she picked up her Suhoor box for the next day. Then, she sped back off on her scooter to Old Union to complete evening prayers, the tails of her emerald green coat fluttering in the wind. The next morning would bring the same cycle of waking up early, fasting and praying, until Ramadan concludes on March 30.

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