Muslim university students across Australia are one week into fasting during daylight hours for Ramadan.
“Sometimes I feel really sleepy during class because you don’t have food and water, you get sleepy and start yawning,” says University of Western Australia Master’s student Agustiawan.
Agustiawan is the secretary of the Indonesian Muslim Community at UWA and a member of the UWA Muslim Students Association.
He has experienced two Ramadans at UWA and says the community is supportive and has a great spirit.
“Something that I love when we have iftar together is we always meet with new people, we talk to each other, we embrace each other and talk lots about what we experience here,” says Agustiawan.
Iftar is the daily celebration of breaking the daily fast. This is held after dark and is the second meal of the day, the first is eaten before dawn sometimes as early as 4 am.
UWA holds free events daily during Ramadan for Muslim students.
UWA has a musalla on campus for students to use during the day. This is a place where Muslim students can go for prayer in which there are separate areas for men and women.
The daily iftar is held at the local UWA coffee shop Hackett Café which the Muslim community rents out for the occasion.
“Sometimes you even run into your lecturer, and you talk about what you feel doing study when you have your Ramadan and your class at the same time,” says the UWA master student.
Curtin University student Imaan Rashid describes her day while participating in Ramadan as waking up early before sunrise and eating food, getting ready for class or work, and then heading home at the end of the day to pray and read the Quran.
“There is a big community in the university so there are like-minded people who are going through the same thing, so you kind of build a community when you see other people and say happy Ramadan,” says Ms. Rashid.
Ramadan is a month of generosity and a month of celebration says Hanwen Shehadeh, a community support volunteer for the Muslim Women’s Support Centre of WA.
This period is considered the holiest month in the Muslim calendar and runs from March 11 until April 9. Ramadan is a time for prayer, reflection, and fasting.
“Here in the Western countries, we try to maintain our culture, protect our religion, maintain the spirit of Ramadan so it’s like a month to socialise and connect with other families in the world and try to support each other,” says Mrs Shehadeh.
According to Smart Traveller, around 1.6 billion Muslims participate in Ramadan each year.
‘This article was originally published on the Western Independent. More stories from Curtin University’s journalism students can be found on the Western Independent website.’
