| OCR Text |
Show THE DAILY UTAH HRONICLE C T TTPTP JLJl JiZj J Mil - m TFTv A Local Muslims Speak Candidly About Ramadan and What It's Like to Be a Muslim in Utah and at the U viable task of balancing their scholarly pursuits with spiritual ones. And living in a Western capitalist country, Muslims in America have to find the proper balance between the society they live in and the society they come from. As most educated people know, Ramadan involves fasting. But other than just avoiding food and drink during the daylight hours, Muslims who practice Ramadan abstain from ether desires of the body. "It's an absence from sins, bad deeds, bad words," Amer said. "Your gut is fasting, but the rest of your body should be abstaining from other things as welL" Some of those "other things," Amer explains, include having sex during daylight hours, listening to music or speech that distracts from worship, or thinking bad of other people. "You're fasting as a whole," says Fatin d student at the U. 'Ton Qutob, a don't do activities you normally would." SHANE MCCAMMON Chronicle Feature Editor OUAD AMER PROBABLY wouldn't admit it, but he's glad he can eat iunch again. After spend the ing past 28 days watching people bite into their sandwiches and casually munch their french fries, Amer can join them, now that Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, 'is over. But as nice as it is to have a glass of water when his throat is parched, Amer says he will miss Ramadan, "Ramadan is a very pleasant month," he said during one of the last days of celebration. "It's very spiritual, religious, cultural and societal." Amer, an Egyptian native who recently graduated from the University of Utah with a master's degree in public health, is one of a rapidly increasing Arabic minority in the Salt Lake City area. At the U, the Muslim student population is small, but growing, and during Ramadarl, these students have the unen- - Even more difficult is fasting for a month straight in a country that places a premium on eating. prc-me- ALTOiDS AMD CCUS COUS But Ramadan isn't a somber dirge of rumbling stomachs and complaints. After all, Amer, Qutob and Jordanian native Kama! Nazzal describe it as a celebration shared with family and friends. As the sun dips below the horizon, Muslims gather at each other's homes, and finally, after not eating or drinking a thing during the daylight hours, get to eat, " "By the e.id of the day, there is a feast "You either are Amer explains. inviting or invited to the homes of friends. Ycu " , fasting is 1 big part cf Ramadan, SGCiaHzattoii is just 0$ important, as cultural and familial tics are strengthened. Children, such as tills young bey. aren't required fa vast until the' reach physical maturity. eat with...people you hardly see during the year." But Amer says you don't have to wait to eat with friends and family. "Sometimes if I'm in my car and the sun goes down, I'll eat a mint or something." While a person can eat anything from an Altoid to cous cous to break the fast, there are other traditions more strictly adhered to. For instance, it is fairly important to socialize during Ramadan since even socializing has religious significance. "If I invite Kamal and his family to eat," Amer says, "I get good deeds because I am feeding him. People invite three to four families at least. More or less, there is a feast every night, especial ly during die weekends." As would be expected during a holy month, religious worship plays a huge part of Ramadan. Qutob and Amer say it is recommended that Muslims go to mosque every night to participate in the Salat an hour-lon- g prayer that Amer says brings the day's fasting full circle. The Salat Amer says, link the "completes daytime fasting to nighttime praying." m m, FASTING !N THE LAND OF THE BIG MAC AND THE WHOPPER While. Amer, Qutob and Nazzal all expressed relief that Ramadan took . see MUSLIMS, page 20 plft'e- - video par.of th . ganes, when 1 woke ur the next looming, I didn't . !iy fe? like g in front of my computer sgcLi..,at Icart not until thsi damn Bvv HcCAMMOrj But 01 course, the gods hays spired' agaiiut me anu nave mrde the overhead llfeltt in rny car stop wortf-.- con- Chroirde Feature . Etlitat BIG PI.aNS TOR THE I HAD Christmas break. Lad visions of j B waking 1 up sometime in the erurly B afternoon, and thsri roiling out of bed and into the chair in front of my computer non:.;or. Then, for the nest 6 hours or so, I'd hsvc to remind myself to blink as 1 played Hig. Actually, this in't a re:ert dee opmcnL The gods rrudo the light stop wfkirsg aDoui two years ago, bre?k. i djoft't thir.k but un.'ii much of it. So what if I couldn't see inside my car.. What's thwre to see anyway? Ail the dried mud around d the gas peda!? The wrapscat? the in pers p?ssenger But, I thought what the heH, I'll do somctning mildly productive during te fast-foo- CHRONICLE FEATURE EDITOR ; ; the th, weeks or so that i doz'i have homework or a job. It wiH be esij- enough an v way. Zip down to Pepk)?sj4 buy a new light toib, scratch r.yself and fee! good about rcysclr Hke the resi of the vannabc: wen at auto ad'rare stores. ye)i, I quickly discovert after buir.g 17 diffcienit brjrnu and sizes of ilght bulbs that toe proaeni was & lot more serious, It's always mere serious when you re dealing wi;h a car. If cars had mobs, every sirgie One of chern w add be caaccrous. After p inchiaq he roof of Ac car (which h what I ib.inY brok" the light m the "irst p!acc, I went home SHANE McCAMMON day to somebody named Joe Bob. in th lovely cofifires of lounge and cams to sversil revelations: (1) I was aNjut to get a legalized .tick-- v from J?e Bob and Li gang of franchise gresse monkeys; O) I really should try to punch my steering Ahetl instead cf the roof; and (3) "Judge Judy" j3 on Fox ij something hke nine iunes a day and people 'will I sk-sm- video tames true the wee hours of the nlglit r J" ' While . SHAE g - th! . customer-servic- e semi-skill- The two most dreaded words anyoni who deafer-t- he ; If either a car say ewnor or an in dabt crack sddlct has ever heard. the ed damnedest things on "Divorce Court" Joe Bob finished with the some four hours (and nine episodes of "Judge Judy") after I dropped it: at off. ' "it's sLniplc," he sai j;ot burned out," llglu was fLzid, ? vent back do wn to Ri Bjys and i Jf: zcr for the bcifer l "'The fixtm , se McCAMMOK, 'rren--ii::?e- SHANECHRONICLE.UTAH.EDU 581-704- 1 page 2 2 |
