This year, the Islamic holy month of Ramadan began on April 2nd in the UAE. During this month, all Muslims who are able to are obliged to fast from dawn to dusk. An integral part of Islamic culture, Ramadan is a month of piety, charity and blessings.

The two meals that mark the beginning and end of a day’s fast are suhoor and iftar. Suhoor is consumed a few hours before daybreak whereupon eating and drinking are prohibited, while iftar breaks the fast in the evening. At NYU Abu Dhabi, suhoor is provided at the East Dining Hall, colloquially known as D2, from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. Iftar is served from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. with a selection of Middle Eastern and South Asian dishes.

At the beginning of Ramadan, there were several angry posts on Room of Requirement about non-Muslims going to D2 during suhoor hours, thus preventing those who were fasting from getting their meals in time.

“As far as I understood from D2 staff, it happens every year but only at the beginning of Ramadan,” said Omar Kallas, Class of 2023 and President of the Muslim Students Association. He noted that as time passes, the severity of the issue wanes as people start getting suhoor at different times.

Lindy Luo, Class of 2024, is fasting this Ramadan despite not being religious. Wanting to be respectful of fasting Muslims, she avoided going to D2 during suhoor hours at the beginning. However, she felt that guidelines on how to be respectful were unclear and difficult to follow. For instance, people were able to eat freely in dining halls while she was asked to put away her water bottle in the library even though she hadn’t been drinking from it at the time.

“Fasting is a voluntary act and we are used to seeing people eating, be it the sick, children, the elderly, women menstruating, or even [when] fasting in foreign countries,” explained Haneen Alsaqqaf, Class of 2024 and a Muslim student who is fasting this Ramadan.

She also expressed incredulity at curtains installed at Marketplace and Daymart to prevent fasters from seeing food: “Adding the curtain gives the image of a weak observing person who will crumble at the sight of food. It’s ridiculous.”

According to Aarushi Prasad, Class of 2025 and chair of the Dining Committee, the Abu Dhabi Agricultural and Food Safety Authority has stopped requiring curtains outside university dining outlets. The curtains at Marketplace and Daymart are currently tied up, but they haven’t been removed completely. Prasad mentioned that the curtains in D2, which had been there in previous years, have been removed completely this year. “Other than that, we have a good menu in D2, we have people being respectful and not eating or drinking in public,” she added.

Another issue that was brought up around the time of Ramadan was cameras in the female prayer rooms in A1 and C2. While cameras are present in all prayer rooms, these cameras are of particular concern as they point towards where students pray from behind.

“The prayer itself involves prostrating. It is a little revealing and it is very, very uncomfortable. The more I think about it, the more mad I get that [the cameras] are still placed there,” expressed Maryam Manzoor Amanullah, Class of 2024 and former MSA events coordinator. “It is not okay, it is an invasion of privacy.”

She said that the MSA has contacted the Office of Student Life and Spiritual Life and Intercultural Education, who in turn said they would get in touch with the Office of Public Safety, though the cameras still remain at the time of publication.

Being the main body of fellowship, liaison and advocacy for Muslim students at NYUAD, the MSA has worked with different Student Interest Groups and administrative departments to create programming during Ramadan.

One such event was Ahlan Ramadan, which was an orientation event aimed at introducing aspects of faith and cultural diversity of the holy month to all students on campus. Set up as a fair, it included a stand that allowed non-Muslims to try on the hijab and another that explained what Ramadan is, among other things.

Kallas, president of the association, revealed that they are working to organize a day where non-Muslims can participate in fasting with suhoor and iftar organized by the MSA. Details of the event will be announced shortly.