'Fast' food breaks religious boundaries

Saboora Chaudhry handed a cup of water to a Muslim student, one of the many Muslims filling HUB 108 last night who had not had any water all day. She then moved three, large, steaming, tin-foil-covered dishes of chicken and lamb with rice into the center of the table. In front of her were more than 100 Muslims and Jews, hungered by the smell of food prepared either kosher or following Muslim dietary rules.

Students from all backgrounds lined up last night at an event funded by the Muslim Student Association (MSA), Hillel and the ASUW.

As the first event MSA and Hillel have held together, it was a feast of sorts. And as Mindy Goldberg, the Hillel coordinator of the event, said, the religions have a lot in common. The evening was to unite them and remind them of their histories.

"With the whole Israeli-Palestine [conflict], we forget that there are new conflicts and our histories have more similarities than differences," she said.

"We are both monotheistic, and I think Judaism and Islam have more similarities than Judaism and Christianity. I think a lot of the fundamental principles are the same."

The festivities of the evening created a common environment to learn about each other.

"It is not supposed to solve any issue," Goldberg said. "That's not the goal, the goal is to learn about the culture, and for people who don't know anything about either can learn, and to know that it is not only about conflict, there is another side."

The speaker from Hillel, Joey Katz, also felt that the dinner was the place to change current conceptions the groups have of each other.

"There is a lot of animosity on campus between Muslim and Jewish students," Katz said. "We thought it would be a good idea to have an event that bridges both the Muslim and Jewish students together. And Jewish culture and Muslim culture both fast, on Ramadan and Yom Kipper respectively, so this is the perfect [thing to] bring them together."

The afternoon began by making the only division in the room, the genders -- women sat on one side of the room, and men on the other. This was when Katz and MSA President Humza Chaudhry spoke of the two religions' commonalities: fasting.

Jews fasted late last September to celebrate Yom Kipper, and the Muslim Ramadan fast is currently half over. Both holidays are determined by a lunar calendar. Fasting is a time to think about what it is that is greater than man, and greater than the physical world.

"When you hold something back, it is a test," said Katz to the audience. "To get hold of your physical self with a mental battle, when you see someone walking down the street with a whopper or doughnut, not to crave. Fasting is a true test of will power."

Chaudhry explained the nature of fasting in Islam; similarities emerged.

In both of the religions, fasting is a tradition that was passed down from ancestors, he said, and that they share their belief in God.

"People don't come from the same racial background, people don't come from the same cultural background," Chaudhry said. "It is the belief in God that binds us together."

He described fasting as a way to understand who you are and the people who came before you. "Fasting is a way of waking up; fasting is a way of coming out of ignorance."

The dinner was open to anyone what was interested in attending, which was why Christa Eide came. She graduated in June with a degree in comparative religion and in the fall took some classes on Islam, which sparked in her the desire to see what Ramadan is like.

"I had a lot of Muslim friends and so I decided to fast with them," said Eide. "I had fasted before as a Christian, but for, like, a day, never from sunrise to sunset. I wanted to do it to share their experience and also for my own relationship with God. It was really hard that first year. I decided to do it again this year just because it was such a good experience, and it is hard to do without water and it is a long fast."

Eide found that fasting in order to share another's experience ended after about two weeks, and for her, it was for her own issues with God.

"I think [it helped me] learn that God is more real than the physical objects around me and how to wait on God -- delayed gratification," she said.

She and her roommate went to the event to support their relationship. They felt it was good, and necessary.

"I thought it was awesome," said Eide. "I don't go here anymore but I showed up to support it, and I wish the Christian groups could have been a part of it too, that would have made me really happy too, reconciliation."

But is reconciliation between the groups possible?

"I definitely think it can be done on a personal level," said Eide. "But I'm not so sure about a world level -- there is power and money, and there is so many things other than religion that factor in, and all the different extremes within the religion."

In some ways though, reconciliation on the UW campus took only food and prayer last night. Extremes and differences were curbed as Saboora Chaudhry dished up a meal to the Jews, Muslims, Christians and any others present.

"They're rice with chicken and lamb," she said. "It is a common Muslim meal, we eat rice with everything."

She continued to organize the plates and silverware to accommodate the line forming in front of her of Ramadan participants. The participants had just broken their day-long fast with dried fruit, peanuts and cookies, and were lining up to get their meals.

"It is a common misconception that after you fast for so long that you just gorge," she said. "But that's just not true. Your stomach shrinks and it is not possible."

And together, Jews, Muslims and Christians tasted the food.