By Fairuz Humam
Islamic New Year was celebrated for the first time in Penn State Harrisburg in the International Lunch hour event on October 15th, 2015. The event was hosted by the International Student Support Service and Global Ambassadors.
The lunch hour gathered approximately 50 people consisted of students, faculty and staff in the Gallery Lounge Olmsted W 107. The event was opened by Wan Azdan, a student in Communication Arts and Science from Malaysia as the master of ceremony (MC). He greeted the audience with an Arabic Islamic greeting “Assalamualaikum” which means “Peace be Unto You”.
Islamic New Year celebration was a remarkable event to acknowledge the religious and cultural diversity in Penn State Harrisburg. The event was open to everyone to learn and commemorate the marking of a new Calendar for the Islamic society around the world.
Dewey, one of the Physical Plant and Maintenance Operation Staff expressed that he had a great time for his first International lunch hour. “I was invited by Adithya Divakar, one of the Global Ambassador-red) here and I greatly enjoy the event. I learned a lot”.
The event was a good chance for Muslims students to present their countries and culture. Ali Aiyub, a first year graduate student in Electrical Engineering program from Pakistan recited Qur’an, the holy book of Muslims. He presented “Ar-Rahman” which is one of the famous verses in the Qur’an. Ar Rahman means the Merciful. Muslims usually read it from the holy book, but Ali had a good memory to chant it without looking at the text.
Fairuziana Humam, a graduate student in Community Psychology and Social Change from Indonesia presented the origin of Islamic New Year. She also introduced the meaning of halal food to the audience.
Students from Middle Eastern countries also had the chance to share other information about their culture. Mohammad Al Meraikhi presented a video about the country history and culture of United Arab Emirates (UAE). Saudi Arabia as one of the major Islamic country was represented by Bassam Alshammari who talked about the socio demographic and major Islamic culture there, such as Eid Al Adha and Eid Al Fitr.
The audience took a small break and lined up for Lebanese favor lunch. The food ingredients were special because this time the beef served was halal. Halal means permissible. The meat was processed based on the Islamic law, which allowed the Muslims students to eat the served beef.
After enjoying lunch, Wan Azdan entertained the audience with a religious song titled Insha Allah by Maher Zein. Faqirullah Khan, the president of a club to be- “Muslim Student Association in Penn State Harrisburg” also had the chance to introduce the club to the audience.
In the ending part, the female audience was challenged to wear hijab or the Islamic female headscarf in the session “Dress like a Muslim”. One of the student expressed her nice impression after putting on the hijab. The event was both a good moment to learn about the Islamic countries and culture through informational presentation, practical display, song, and of course, food.
The Islamic New Year History
This year is the 1437 of the Hijri Calendar. The Calendar is based on lunar year consisting of 354 days each year. The calendar started when the sun sets in the last day of Dhulhijjah or the last month in the Hijri Calendar. October 14th welcomed the first day of Muharram as the first month in the Islamic calendar.
Islamic New Year was marked since 622. The calendar was declared in the era of Umar bin Khattab, one of the Islamic leader after Prophet Muhammad past away, whom is also one of his closest companion. “Hijri” is an Arabic word which literally means migration. Umar decided to mark the calendar based on the date Prophet Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Madinah. The migration was the turning point for the Muslim community to be able organizing life based on the Islamic principles. Today there are about 1.5 billion Muslims across the world who use this calendar for religious purpose.
Muslims do not usually celebrate the Islamic New Year. But as other New Years, Muslims use this moment to reflect on their life and make future resolutions. Next year, the calendar will shift 11 days behind the day it was previously celebrated.