Two-liter bottles of Sprite and Coke are stacked under the desk and bags of food are piled in the corner of a small, windowless office in the Kay Spiritual Life Center. But Marwan Bagdadi is not preparing for a disaster or winter hibernation. As incumbent president of the Muslim Student Association, Bagdadi is largely responsible for the group's Ramadan events, including the provision of food for breaking the fast.
"The MSA here is doing a good job. They offer free break-fast at 5 o'clock when the sun sets," Bagdadi said. "We come here and break our fast and pray and then we serve the food and then after that, from 8:15 to 10:00 we pray the last prayer, and we call it 'taraweeh.' We usually follow the prophet during Ramadan and he used to pray that, but it's voluntary, you don't have to."
Bagdadi explained that Muslims may choose to pray more because "everything you do is doubled" during Ramadan.
"Let's say in a regular month you pray 10 times. This month it's double, more than 10, like 20 or 40," said Bagdadi. "So giving charity, being nice to people, practicing being very patient, even to your enemy - that's another purpose of this month. To practice the patience with everybody, even not to talk badly of anybody or back-bite anybody, I know it's not that easy, but this is the month that we should practice, and if they can do it this month they can do it the whole year."
Ramadan, which started Oct. 27 this year, is a holy month of fasting and piety for Muslims. It is believed that during this month the Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammad.
"Ramadan is very important to each Muslim. Ramadan for every Muslim is the month you're supposed to fast. It's obligatory. It's one of the [five] pillars [of Islam]. If you don't fast, if you ignore it, you're not Muslim, that's how important it is," Bagdadi said.
Bagdadi was raised as a Muslim in Mecca (Mekkah), Saudi Arabia, the Islamic holy city, where he lived with his parents and two sisters. When one of his sisters moved to the United States in 1981, it gave
