Spring Break
Dinner celebrates diversity, breaking of Ramadan fast
Religion
J. Claire Wilson
Issue date: 9/28/07 Section: News
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"The Institute for Interfaith Dialog is an organization that fosters conversations between religions," said Father Lowell Grisham, a priest at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church.
"The purpose of the dinner is to contribute dialog among different faiths. The means is sharing a Ramadan dinner," said Apl Ertem, president of the Fayetteville chapter of IID.
Ertem said 130 people attended the event. The demographic included students, religious leaders, professionals and academics, he said.
Grisham said "Many of the leaders are Turkish Muslims who offer this meal as a gift to the community and to invite people of various religions to pray together," adding that the event is "always offered during Ramadan."
Grisham has attended the event for the past several years and was one of four speakers during the dinner.
"Ramadan is as old as Islam itself since it celebrates when [the prophet Mohammad] received the 'word of Allah' in revelation through Jabril, [which translates to] Archangel Gabriel in Arabic," said Thomas Paradise, a member of the King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies and also a geography professor.
"These revelations were codified into the Quran that we know today. It is one of the five pillars of Islam, considered the fourth and is fundamental to the faith," Paradise said.
"The ritual is rather straightforward in that no food may be eaten… liquid be drunk and sex is prohibited… during sunlight hours," Paradise said.
"Spiritually, they [Muslims] feel that by doing this, they are getting closer to God," said Asaad Al-Saleh, a doctoral candidate in comparative literature.
"God sees them and knows how hard they are suffering in their fasting. This suffering is supposed to make the Muslim feel the need of the needy and the hunger of the hungry. This feeling motivates more social support among Muslims," Al-Saleh said.
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