This year, the month of Ramadan falls during prom season, causing conflict for some Muslim students.
Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar, in which Muslims around the world fast from sunrise to sundown.
“Prom falling on a day during Ramadan has been difficult to work around knowing I’ll be fasting,” junior Amna Kazan said. “It made me want to consider not fasting to avoid the drain of energy and have the full prom experience.”
Junior Sara Safsaf said the SGA has faced challenges when planning for prom because of its proximity to Eid, the last day of Ramadan.
“During Ramadan we typically spend a lot of time visiting and spending time with family,” Safsaf said. “Finding time to go out and go shopping for dresses and shoes has been a bit more of a hassle then I thought it would be because of how busy I’ve been with my family during Ramadan.”
Every year, prom is planned by the SGA’s junior class. Junior SGA member Oriana Piazza said Ramadan was considered in the initial planning of prom.
“We brought up that prom would be in the midst of Ramadan, but with the date the hotel was able to give us we had to make the decision between prom being during Ramadan or in the heart of IB testing,” Piazza said.
Junior SGA member Jalil Ahmed-Litz, who is Muslim, gave more insight into why the decision to make prom during Ramadan was made.
“It is not easy or possible to choose a ‘perfect’ date because in addition to Ramadan, there are also conflicts with many events on the Marshall calendar, other religious holidays, and testing which is primarily in May,” Ahmed Litz said.
2022-05-05