Red prayer mats were lined up at an angle in a corner of the Fish Interfaith Center April 11, guiding participants toward the direction of Mecca. Cups of dates sat atop every table as a teaser of the ritual to come. 

Accompanying the visual spectacle was the voice of Shakyh Jibreel Speight — the director of Muslim Life and chaplain to the university — as he read aloud verses of the Quran to Muslim attendants and guests.The occasion was none other than Ramadan Iftar: when Muslims break their fast. 

“The Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to break his fast with dates,” Speight said. “That was the food of society. Another reason is because dates are a natural way of getting that sugar back. Because toward the end of the day, your blood sugar is kind of low, so you feel like you're dragging a little bit.”

Iftar occurs every sunset during Ramadan, this year starting April 2 and ending May 1. During Ramadan, Muslims abstain from food and drinks from sunrise to sunset and then gather with friends and family for Iftar, the meal that breaks their fast. 

The sunset prayer, or Maghrib, is one of five prayers Muslims must do every day, along with three prayers during the day and once more at night. 

For Ramsey Elshiwick, a junior environmental science and policy major and President of Chapman University’s Muslim Student Association (MSA), fasting is not as difficult as many non-Muslims believe. 

“When you’re not having food and water and you're trying to be in this pure form, you're cognizant of trying to be the best person you can be in your daily life,” Elshiwick said. “For me, it just takes me into a different mindset. I feel like I can be more focused. I can see things a little bit differently.”

Muslims like Elshiwick often have to take on the role of educators, especially in areas like Orange County that are predominantly white and Christian. 

“I always get passive aggressive (reactions to fasting),” Elshiwick said. “When I was working, I would get comments like, ‘That can't be healthy. You're denying yourself nutrients like that.’ All these people say (these judgements under) the guise of being concerned for you. But it honestly just sounds super judgy and rude to me and to a lot of Muslims.”

Malak Aly, a senior psychology major and the vice president of Chapman’s Muslim Student Association (MSA), received similar reactions when she told people she was fasting. 

“Some people think that you fast for 30 days straight,” Aly said. “Someone actually told me that. I was like, “No, that's not what you do. You would die.’”

Apart from Ramadan, Aly has encountered misconceptions about Islam in general as well. The most common misconceptions heard were about Muslims being associated with acts of terrorism and ill-treatment of women. Aly cited the Quran to emphasize that “violence towards women and forcing them against their will is not permitted by Islam.”

“The Quran’s basic stance is that Muslim women are first and foremost Muslims — the religious equals of men,” Aly told The Panther. “It refers to women and men as one another’s ‘protectors.’ Most of us do not support any extremist views of terrorism and a lot of the oppression that people say Islam promotes. I think it's highly publicized due to a lot of local customs and traditions that they are not familiar with.”

A custom Aly referred to was the wearing of hijabs, or headscarves, by Muslim women. There is a misconception among those unfamiliar with Islamic customs that women are forced by men to wear a hijab “as a sign of submission.”

“To many of the women in my life that do wear one, they always tell me that they wear it because they feel like it protects them,” Aly said. “It’s who they are, their identity and a constant reminder of their faith and what being Muslim means to them — something empowering.”

Aly and Speight noticed that partaking in Ramadan is more isolating in California than in West Asia. Speight moved from New York to Mecca to study Arabian law, while Aly was born in Egypt and raised in Dubai. Both said that Ramadan was a uniting experience among Muslims in West Asia, but it was harder to find the same community in California. 

“(In California), it is more of an individual thing,” Speight said. “The effort to really have more of a community where you're sharing that experience is a lot more challenging. Hence, things like the MSA are so important to have.”

Aly said she wished Chapman acknowledged Muslims by putting up decorations and hanging up posters in Arabic during Ramadan. She said that more MSA events should be held in the Attallah Piazza rather than tucked away in the Fish Interfaith Center. 

“It feels like we're hiding all the time in that interfaith center,” Aly said. 

Both Speight and Aly also agreed Chapman should create options in its cafeterias to accommodate those participating in Ramadan, including vegetarian options and microwavable meals. 

In addition, Aly said she and other members of MSA encourage non-Muslims to expand their knowledge and empathy for Islamic culture during Ramadan by talking to Muslim friends and hearing their stories or even fasting alongside them in solidarity. Aly emphasized that detaching oneself from everyday privileges can shift perspectives and create a deeper appreciation for what the world offers. 

“Please get to know Muslims, because there's an insane amount of misconceptions,” Elshiwick said. “There's a lot of hurt and pain and trauma going on in the Muslim Arab world that people ignore because of misconceptions in the media and the way we've been portrayed. I don't know if there's a cure to that, but I do think that seeing people as humans and understanding that we all want the same thing at the end of the day is a very important thing.”