Over 500 students and faculty participated in the 5th annual Fast-a-Thon yesterday, an event hosted by the Muslim Student Association (MSA) in celebration of the holy month of Ramadan.

“The Fast-a-Thon is meant to teach Muslims and non-Muslims alike about Ramadan and Islam by asking participants to fast for a day in order to experience fasting,” College sophomore Mukhtar Voss said.

College senior and President of Muslim Students Association (MSA), Madiha Raees, said that this year MSA hopes to raise awareness and funds for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) for a group of Muslim minorities called the Rohingya. This group of minorities from Myanmar suffer numerous human rights violations by the Myanmar government.

While the Fast-a-Thon will raise money and awareness for MSF, Voss said that he hopes it will also help explain Ramadan to the Emory community.

Raees said that the purpose of Ramadan is to bring faith back into the forefront.

“Not only is fasting extremely humbling, it is enlightening, and we have more time to focus on introspection,” she said.

Raees explained that there are five pillars in Islam that are mandatory for all Muslims: shahadah, a declaration of faith; salat, prayer 5 times daily; sawm, fasting in the month of Ramadan; zakat, mandatory charity; and hajj, the pilgrimage to Makkah. Since Ramadan is a pillar of Islam, it is mandatory for all Muslims.

Raees said that during this period of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from eating, drinking and other pleasurable activities, such as sex.

Goizueta Business School senior Zohair Mokarim said that some of the exceptions during Ramadan are that sick people, travelers and pregnant women are exempt from fasting.

However, these groups of people need to fast for an equivalent number of days afterwards, Mokarim said. He also said that aged people are also exempt from fasting, but they will be expected to donate a meal to the needy.

“Ramadan is important [in Islam] because this is the month where the Qu’ran was revealed,” Shazia Ali, College senior and MSA Vice President, said.

Ali said that the month of Ramadan requires many extra prayers and is a significant time because the holiday usually ends with a coming-together with other Muslims to break the fast.

Ali said that because of these special requirements, Ramadan brings about a certain sense of unity.

Maryam Khalid, MSA secretary, said that Ramadan is important because “it is a time of self-reflection and growth, a time to gain more patience, and to be grateful for what [one has].”

Khalid said that, to her, daily fasting is a reminder that people around the world live their lives fighting hunger daily, and a time to fast from other things, like refraining from ill thoughts, actions and speech.

Many students have faced obstacles such as homesickness and inconvenience during this one-month fasting period.

“We have to wake up early in the morning to eat before our fasts and the prospects of having to do that alone really scared me,” Raees said.

Ali said that being in college makes it harder to fast because of the rigorous class schedules that are taxing on students who are worn from fasting.

“It is hard to wake up in the morning for suhoor (the meal before sunrise where we begin our fast),” she said.

This year, Emory and MSA have joined to make Ramadan easier for all Emory students, Khalid said, citing the arrangement of a suhoor bag for students, which includes some fruit and a sandwich for a meal swipe.

College junior Seema Jabbar described Ramadan as “purity for the heart and mind.”

“Ramadan allows your mind to focus on other aspects of life that are important other than food,” Jabbar said.

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