Email This PageRamadan is Observed
The observance of Ramadan, which occurs during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar—this year from Sept. 1 to 30—requires Muslims to spend time in reflection, prayer, and daily fasting from sunrise to sunset. Typically, they rise before dawn to eat and then wait until the sun has gone down for their next meal. On a campus where food is abundant and academically demanding classes require concentration, Swarthmore’s Muslim students exert self-control to remain alert despite being hungry. To enable them to eat when sunset occurs after the Dining Hall has closed for the night, Dining Services provides bagged meals or the students dine in Essie Mae’s snack bar. The end of the fasting period is marked by Eid al-Fitr, the Festival of Breaking the Fast, hosted on campus by the Muslim Student Association in Upper Tarble (pictured). This year, for the first time, the 2009 Swarthmore College Calendar will indicate the beginning of Ramadan.
