Soon students were lining up around the room to fill plates of food. They stood in a queue that snaked around the room. It took a few minutes to finally fill up a plate.
“There’s so many Muslim students. The prayer rooms are packed most of the day.” Lalleyah Camara, FCLC ’27
Two long tables held trays upon trays of food: rice in myriad shades; grilled and baked meats, submerged in sauces — each with flavor that surpassed its vibrance; breads; vegetables; drinks — a true feast.
The tables in McMahon 109 were decorated with bright white table cloths, dark green ribbons, balloons and small lanterns. Little wooden signs were scattered around the room. They said “Eid Mubarak” — a classic celebratory phrase used during the holiday, the kind of thing friends and well wishers tell each other during the festival.
133 students and guests attended the event, according to the event manager at the door. There were so many that every seat was filled in McMahon 109. During the meal, the crowd overflowed out into the McMahon rock garden and the McMahon lawn.
The high turnout was expected. Fordham’s Muslim community has been coming together in recent months, ever since the hiring of Rahman.
MSA Vice President Lalleyah Camara, Fordham College at Lincoln Center ’27, said that she has seen this change first hand.
From when she began her Fordham career compared to now, she said, “there’s so many Muslim students. The prayer rooms are packed most of the day. There’s discussions, like how do we get people to leave once they finish praying?”
“It’s a good problem to have, though,” Camara said jovially. “It’s a safe space for Muslim students here,” she added.
She said this year’s Ramadan also helped unite the community. “A lot of the time we had to break our fast on campus together,” Camara said. Those kinds of events had spawned the Eid al-Fitr celebration, even though it was not on the day of the first crescent moon sighting. “We did our Ramadan together, we might as well do our Eid together as well,” she explained.
One student waited patiently in line for food. He was dressed in a long, dark blue thawb. His name was Anas Islam, Gabelli School of Business at Rose Hill ’28.
Islam explained that as a first-year student at Fordham, being at a school with a vibrant Muslim community was somewhat new for him.
“It definitely encourages you to be more proactive in your faith,” Islam said.
“It’s very exciting to see students from different backgrounds come together to celebrate this beautiful moment.” Imam Ammar Abdul Rahman, Director of Muslim Life
Sitting down to eat with a couple of non-Muslim students, Islam told them about his trip and his faith in general. He gently corrected one student who was eating with his left hand and implored him to make sure to finish all his food.
Islam is part of the first class of students to begin their Fordham education with an imam as the director of Muslim Life. He said that Eid al-Fitr is not simply a day to think back, but to look forward. As Islam put it, the holiday is “not only the reflection of all that you’ve done during Ramadan — all the fasting, reading the Quran, everything like that — but I think it also represents the start of something brand new.”
“So, I think there’s a lot of change to be had. A lot of developments,” Islam said.
After dinner, the crowd slowly made their way over to the McMahon lawn. Boxes of baklava lined tables. The sun had just set. The dusk was sinking into a rich blue. A breeze wafted over the lawn, stirring up scents of dew.
Rahman and a few students began setting up prayer mats. The concrete was wet, so they used plastic picnic blankets to keep them dry.
“This is the mat that we use in the prayer rooms during Jummah,” Rahman explained once he was done leading the prayer. “We try to keep it as clean as possible, because this is what we use to supplicate to our Lord. It’s a sacred thing that we cherish and respect.”
The imam was sitting cross-legged, smiling bright in the darkening night. He said the celebration had felt rewarding.
“You know, it’s energizing. It’s very exciting to see students from different backgrounds come together to celebrate this beautiful moment,” he said. “To see each other looking amazing, looking beautiful in their flashy clothes, I think this has been a great celebration and great experience.”
He talked about his dreams for the future — how he wants to unite the Muslim community at Fordham, and make it an essential part of practicing Islam at this school.
“A lot of students said, ‘We weren’t aware this was going on, we weren’t aware there’s iftar on campus. We weren’t aware there’s Eid on campus,’” Rahman explained. “And now we’re expanding the communication. We’re extending to students through their professors, through Campus Ministry newsletters.”
Most of all, Rahman said, he wants the community to grow beyond the years spent learning at Fordham, and into the real world. And “hopefully,” he surmised, “when they graduate, they could still feel like Fordham is a place that they can always come back to.”
As the celebration wound down, some continued praying. Others took pictures together. They chatted, ate baklava and marked the dawn of a new month together.
