April 8, 2024
By Bilal Baseer
ISLAMABAD
Since 2016, students of all faiths from the Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) in Islamabad have been organizing iftar every Ramadan under the Safar-e-Meherbani Dastar khwan programme. The meal-sharing initiative aims to promote inter-faith harmony on campus as well as in the students’ daily lives.
Amrit, a Hindu student, sets out cups on mats laid out in a ground as maghrib approaches.
“It is a tradition for our community to join our Muslim brothers in breaking fast. We arrange iftari for people who cannot afford meals, or for students whose parents are not here. We sit together like we are part of one big family,” he says.
Shabbir Hussein, who launched the program, tells Voicepk.net that he happened to see the university’s security guards without any food to break their fast with.
“They asked me for some money so they can have their iftar. I thought, ‘why not start a dastar khwan where everyone can sit together and eat. We fed eight people at first by pooling together some money, and now it has grown to some 500 people,” he says. “We have quality food prepared on a daily basis, and many people come here to eat.”
The students are not just involved in purchasing edibles and setting down mats. They also prepare some dishes as well as lay out plates for fasting folk.
“There is a different feeling of happiness that we are able to be part of something so blessed,” Noor ul-Ain Haider, an organizer, expresses. “Rather than only take classes in the morning and have our own iftari in the evenings, we are concerned about what we will be preparing for our fellow Muslim brothers for their iftar, how else can be improve things and do better.”
Uzma Kulsoom, who is another volunteer of the Safar-e-Meherbani Dastar khwan program says that whether it is Ramadan or a holy day for any other religion, the initiative is an opportunity to spread a message of love, peace and harmony.
All the people who come here to eat are students and staff who cannot afford things, much less a good iftari, and this dastar khwan is for these people,” she emphasizes.
“We are all sitting together in one place without any hint of discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, or class. The effort exemplifies the core values of QAU,” says Muhammad Zain Asif, a student at the university.
“It feels like home here,” says Yasir Ali, another volunteer student who for the past four years has been serving iftar and breaking his fast at this dastar khwan. “In these four years, I have never felt that I am away from my family as I have one here. Quadians are like a family.”
The organizers say that they plan to continue serving food to needy student and staff even after Ramadan to continue to strengthen inter-faith harmony on campus.