Permanent link for Convergence | By Zahabia Ahmed-Usmani, Youth Program Manager on March 18, 2025

Ramadan 2025 began with a request.

A friend of mine, who is an elementary Spanish teacher at my daughter’s charter school, asked me for tips on how to support elementary school students who were fasting in observance of the holy month. Ironically, that very day, the Kaufman staff was asked by the University to help guide professors and staff on how to support students observing Ramadan. Upon completing the assignment for my daughter’s school, I realized the Baha’i fast was also starting at the same time as Ramadan and that Lent would start mid-month. With Ramadan falling in this season, we happen to see this overlap, so I expanded my guidance to draw connections to interfaith considerations for all the traditions with special observances during this time, as well.

Having taken care of that business, I sat there for a moment thinking, this was my third child going to this school, now on the verge of completing middle school. I know of at least ten other Muslim students who had attended the same elementary school, and no one had ever asked about accommodating fasting practices so that a child did not need to sit in the lunch room while their friends ate lunch.

So, why now?

Next, my dear non-Muslim friend told me about her freshman son who was fasting the whole month in solidarity with two of his really good Mulsim friends. All of my children have had friends who have fasted with them for all or part of the month. As an interfaith practitioner, I have struggled to understand this type of “fasting with”, wondering if this is cultural appropriation or misguided solidarity because the practice of fasting as a Muslim is rooted in our core beliefs and practices. Each Ramadan season that passes, I see more and more non-Muslims posting about fasting during the month of Ramadan. I have heard Christians say that they fast during Ramadan because they don’t have a “submissive practice to God,” so the Ramadan fast seems to inspire that in them. Take, for example, my friend, a pastor and community leader who is working to stamp out gender-based violence. She was inspired to use prayer beads to offer Christian prayers five times a day with her worldwide community from South Africa to West Michigan during the season of Lent.

Where is this convergence of practices coming from? How do we ultimately find the divine and draw closer to what is holy? Who is to say that my prescription for that is the only correct formula?

As my friend’s son runs track, fasts in a household of non-fasters, and takes that first sip or bite of food at sundown, who am I to say that his experience is not sacred? Especially considering how much he inspires me by eliminating all music during Ramadan as well - something a lot of Muslims cannot even say.

As my social media feed fills up with divisiveness, polarization, and fear, I choose to feel inspired by these moments of convergence.

Earlier today, students from Jenison High School visited the Kaufman Institute offices to learn about interfaith engagement and how to enter sacred sites with humility and understanding before they embarked on visits to Temple Emanuel and Masjid Al Tawheed. These students engaged in a variety of interactive activities, including defining religion, and mapping their own religious, spiritual, or secular identities, and values. Leaving behind their comfort zone, the students challenged themselves to express ideas that they were exploring in a brave space they co-created with their peers at GVSU and co-led by an Interfaith Leadership Scholar who happened to be a student in the group!

Whether it’s self-discipline, spiritual discipline, or simply engaging with a respectful understanding of our neighbors' practices, this embodied work can help us build familiarity with each other’s traditions. As Naw-Ruz (Baha’i New Year) approaches, as well as the last ten days of Ramadan, the most sacred of the month, I am inspired by these youth who enable me to reimagine my tomorrow. They show us glimmers of Kaufman’s mission fulfilled: belonging and equity for persons of all religious, secular, and spiritual identities, with human connection, interfaith understanding, and collective transformation happening through these moments of convergence. 

Posted on Permanent link for Convergence | By Zahabia Ahmed-Usmani, Youth Program Manager on March 18, 2025.