Faith and Food

By: Stephanie Turaj
Posted In: Campus News

English professor Dr. Sally Gomaa discussed living as a Muslim at the Mercy Center for Spiritual Life on Sept. 30, 2009.

Gomaa was born in Egypt and raised as a Sunni Muslim. She came to the United States in 1995 for her education. She said that because Egypt was a secular society in her youth, religion was not strictly enforced in her household. While she did have to memorize parts of the Quran in school, her mother did not wear a veil, and she did not pray on a daily basis. She came into religion around the age of 18.

“I had a dear friend that was close to me and religious in a way I’ve never seen before, kind, loving, and nonjudgmental,” Gomaa said. “There was a mosque near me, and I started to go with her. It was very special to me. The lights were soft, and the Iman read the Quran. The Quran is very musical.”

She said that nowadays people do not want to be religious, because of the stigma of close-mindedness and oppressiveness attached to religion. For her, this time spent with her friend presented a new view of religion.

Gomaa discussed the Five Pillars of Muslim faith: praying five times a day, paying two tithes, or taxes, per year, fasting, a pilgrimage to Mecca and proclaiming faith to the one God.

Gomaa said that while fasting is very difficult, it provides a sort of spiritual cleansing. For the yearly fast, Ramada, one fasts for 12 hours, sunrise to sunset. One is supposed to not only fast from food, but from everything unkind.

“It is a way to examine the meaning of your life, take away physical gratification of food and rethink ‘what am I going to do today,'” Gomaa said. “You’re calming down enough to open space in your heart and soul.”

Most of the evening was open to questions from students. Questions included basic concepts of the faith and discussion about Muslim stereotypes.

One student asked if Gomaa had contact with other religions before coming to the United States. Gomaa said that while she had not known many people of other faiths, the Muslim faith has a very historical basis.

She said that the revelation that came to Mohammed in the sixth century was preceded by Christianity, and the prophets Moses and Jesus are included in Muslim faith. While the ideas of a monotheistic religion were not necessarily new, the divinity of Mohammed being the prophet and the medium through which God spoke was unique.

“I don’t see myself in conflict with other religions,” Gomaa said. “I see myself in harmony.”