Worshippers and non-worshippers alike gathered in Downey House for an all-campus Iftar on Friday, Nov. 21. The Iftar is the Islamic celebration and feast marking the end of the month-long Ramadan fast.
With a keynote speech from visiting speaker Professor Ibrahim Abu-Rabi, Sufi music and a Turkish repast, the evening was a testament to the breadth of Islamic culture and worship. The conclusion of this year’s Ramadan was also notable as the first under the direction of the new Muslim Chaplain Abdullah Antelpi.
The six large tables spread across the floor seated a mixture of worshippers and non-worshippers alike. The evening’s proceedings were introduced by Joel Bhuiyan ’06, a chief member of the Muslims Students Association (MSA).
Bhuiyan discussed how the fast of Ramadan does not carry an absolute mandate, remaining optional for those who have fallen ill or are traveling. Placing the evening’s fast-breaking feast in a global context, Bhuiyan spoke of how some 1,200 children die of starvation every day and that hunger continues to be one of the greatest problems facing the developing world.
Taking the stage after a hearty round of applause, Wesleyan Chaplain Abdullah Antelpi spoke briefly, taking a moment to introduce himself to the Wesleyan community.
“I hope to meet all of you guys, everybody here on campus, and meet with you and share with you a lot of things about Islam,” Antelpi said.
As Antelpi noted, the day’s festivities also fell on one of the holiest days in Islamic tradition, when the first verse of the sacred text of Qur’an was revealed to the prophet Muhammed centuries prior. Antelpi then asked for a moment of silence in memoriam for those who had died in the recent Istanbul bombings in his Turkish homeland.
The evening’s speaker, Abu-Rabi, who teaches at Hartford Seminary and is co-editor of “The Muslim World,” opened he speech with a discussion of the need for greater inter-faith studies in religious academia.
“One of the fundamental problems that we have in the study of history…is that we don’t have enough comparative studies,” Abu-Rabi began. “We know that Islam, Judaism, and Christianity have interacted in a major way throughout history.”
He credited the dearth of inter-faith studies with the warping of conceptions of many modern religions.
“We know, for example, that nowadays [through] the Palestine-Israel conflict, the whole [of] Jewish-Muslim relations are reduced to one hundred years of negative history between Muslim and Jews,” he noted.
In charting religious dispersion across the world, Abu-Rabi described how Christianity was introduced to Southeast Asia by Saint Thomas in 52 A.D., although it never gained many followers. By comparison, Abu-Rabi explained, Islam reached Southeast Asia some 650 years after Christianity but has instead gone on to reach millions of worshippers throughout the region.
Abu-Rabi also voiced the hope that such comparative studies would help close a rift he perceived within Muslim culture in America.
“Within the Muslim community in North America, there must be inter-Muslim dialogue because very often…immigrant Muslims rarely talk to indigenous Muslims,” he said.
As illustrative of the trend, Abu-Rabi described how the Hartford Seminary divides its mosques by different geographical populations of Muslims. Before such a unified dialogue is initiated, he does not see how Islam can effectively address the Christian world as a cohesive community.
In post-9/11 America, Abu-Rabi said he believes that Muslims have been placed under siege by U.S. officials and targeted en masse as potential agents of terrorism. However, even in the midst of such divisive national mood, Abu-Rabi also discerned a silver lining.
“There has been a major effort in the Muslim community to prove that it is loyal to American society and Americans, and I think that many Muslims have gone out of their way to do that,” he said. “But I think 9/11 has had a positive impact as well on the Muslim community because it has forced us to dialogue in a meaningful way with all sorts of Americans.”
Abu-Rabi made stressed that Islamic extremists that constitute groups like Al Qaeda and the Afghani Taliban are a miniscule majority within the scope of the Muslim world.
“We must not allow extremists in Islam to hijack Islam on their behalf,” he said.
In his conclusion, Abu-Rabi encouraged people to explore Muslim culture and help further their part of the inter-faith exchange. He noted that the Abrahamic religions,including Christianity and Judaism, share a great deal and that only by raising questions can an understanding be reached between them. Finally, he expressed his delight that Wesleyan had hired a Muslim Chaplain, and urged the Administration to also seek the services of a professor of Islamic studies in the future as well.
Later, a guest vocalist led the room in an Islamic call to prayer while an overhead projector displayed a translation for all to follow along. After a blessing and the recitation of a bible passage by Catholic Chaplain Louis Manzo, worshippers gathered to conduct the daily sunset prayers in union with Muslims around the world. Sufi musician Talha Akbulut then played a brief piece on a flute-like reed instrument before bringing the evening’s official proceedings to a close.
Finally, breaking their fast with dates and glasses of water, worshippers and non-worshippers lined up to indulge in a feast of Turkish food from a local eatery. Some of the many items included Guvec and Turlu, both vegetable casserole-like dishes, as well as a rice pilaf, kebabs, salad and a sea of Baklava pastries. A video of several male Turkish Sufi dancers played on the projection screen as the assemblage dined. Many also took time to inspect the slew of posters that adorned the walls of Downey House, each explaining a different aspect of Islamic culture.
Leave a Reply