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How have you celebrated Ramadan?
Ramadan is one the five pillars of Islam, a month where Muslims fast and get much closer to Islam and their God. It’s a month where Muslims ask for forgiveness and pray for their wishes to be accepted. After 29/30 days of fasting, Muslims commemorate the end of the holy month on Eid al-Fitr.
At Manchester Met, we have a large Muslim community – around 20% of student population. You might have seen Islamic Society around campus, who’ve created a thriving and welcoming community around celebrating and practising Islam. They host many events for students to get together and make friends, as well as a regular charity bake sale at the Students’ Union.
Whilst Ramadan has mainly fallen over the spring holidays, here’s what’s happened at The Union and around campus to celebrate and support students participating in Ramadan.
Iftar Night
The BAME Ambassadors and Student Officers put together an Iftar night event on Monday 27 March, welcoming Muslim students to come along and break their fast as a community. This event was open to all students regardless of their faith, giving everyone the opportunity to learn about Islam in a fun game of quiz bingo, and celebrate with their Muslim peers.
150 students came along to enjoy a three-course meal of samosas, kebabs, curries, not forgetting gulab jamun and gajar halwa for dessert! Before breaking fast with a date, Manchester Met student Kamran Sajid performed two thought-provoking spoken word pieces about his faith, which everyone enjoyed.
Students also had the opportunity to pray throughout the night, as well as a photobooth where students took pictures with friends to remember a special night.
Islamic Society
The Islamic Society have created and shared lots of useful resources for Ramadan on their Instagram page, including top tips on how to study whilst fasting, how to plan the day between Sehri (the meal eaten before sunrise) and Iftar (the meal eaten to break the fast after sunset), and a prayer timetable.
They provided daily reminders of what can be done whilst you are away from family during Ramadan and a reminder to help students strengthen their relationship with God.
ISoc have also done multiple charitable acts throughout Ramadan, such as fundraising for Human Appeal to build houses in Syria, alongside encouraging charitable acts within their community.
Prayer Spaces
To help balance your studies with prayer, the newly refurbished Cavendish Prayer Space is open on campus with separate male and female prayer spaces.
There are also dedicated spaces to pray in Brooks building and John Dalton building, as well as prayer mats next to the Advice Centre in The Union building.
