Fast Benefits Charity, Awareness for Islam

The Cal Muslim Student Association held its annual Fast-A-Thon yesterday to raise money for charity and promote greater awareness about Ramadan and Islam.

Several local businesses donated money to sponsor students of all faiths and backgrounds who abstained from food and water from sunrise to sunset in an effort in raise money for humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders.

Senior Parisa Azizad, the vice president of the association, said she hopes the event helped to spread understanding about Islam and about fasting.

“There’s a lot of misinformation going around about Islam. This is a great way to get people to understand an important part of the religion,” she said.

The Fast-A-Thon participants were non-Muslims, because Muslims are already fasting for Ramadan, Azizad said.

“People from all different backgrounds come experience the same thing, for the same cause. It’s a unifying event,” she said.

Azizad also said she hopes the event succeeded in raising awareness about hunger and poverty around the world.

“We have to understand the reality of our world, that people face hunger like this every day in lands that are impoverished,” she said. “Now that they understand hunger by feeling it themselves, maybe they will do something about it.”

The event ended when the participants and members of the association broke fast together at a dinner featuring Pakistani cuisine.

The meal was followed by a presentation about Doctors Without Borders and a talk given by Azizad about Islam, Ramadan and fasting.

Organizers said this year’s turnout was larger than last year’s, which was approximately 250 people.

Eleven local businesses donated on behalf of the event, most of which donated per person fasting, while a few donated fixed sums.

Hasan Ramadan, the manager of Sunrise Deli, one of the businesses that donated, said he thought the event was important because of its potential to have a positive impact on the way Islam is viewed.

“It sounds like a good event that can open people’s eyes and make them more knowledgeable about the holy month of Ramadan and the religion of Islam,” he said.

Freshman Elizabeth Boydston, who participated in the fast, said she had a positive experience.

“You put yourself in their shoes, you see where they’re coming from,” she said. “You get into the Muslim culture more. It’s really interesting.”

The Fast-A-Thon is a national event that started at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville five years ago.

Approximately 230 universities across the country, including many of the other UC campuses, took part this year.

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