Fredericton’s largest Iftar brings together community and cause

Attendees gathered at tables inside the Hanwell Community Centre ahead of sunset during Islamic Relief Canada’s Grand Community Iftar. (Credit: Zahra Rahmani) 

On March 7, the Islamic Relief Canada’s New Brunswick team hosted the largest community Iftar the Fredericton area has seen at the Hanwell Community Centre.

Iftar is the meal Muslims eat at sunset to break their daily fast during Ramadan, often shared with family, friends and the wider community.

“When the time came to break the fast, the whole room just paused for a moment,” said

Ali Ahmed Iraqui, a student at the University of New Brunswick who attended the event.

“Everyone was waiting together and you could feel how special it was to share that moment with so many people.”

The Grand Community Iftar brought together students, families and community members during Ramadan, the holy month in which Muslims fast from dawn until sunset and gather at sunset to break their fast together.

For many attendees, the evening was about more than sharing a meal. It was also about strengthening community ties and supporting humanitarian relief efforts overseas.

“The reasoning behind it ... would be to unify the community, to bring as many people together,” said Ibrahim El-Baik, Islamic Relief Canada’s New Brunswick team lead. “It’s not only to bring together Muslims, but it would be to bring together people who are curious about Ramadan, people that are curious about Palestine.”

Islamic Relief Canada organizes similar community iftars in cities around the world, but the Fredericton gathering marked one of the first events of this scale organized by the local New Brunswick team.

El-Baik said the turnout from the Fredericton community exceeded expectations. Approximately 180 people attended the event.

The evening also served as a fundraiser for humanitarian relief in Palestine. (Credit: Zahra Rahmani) 

“We hit $8,495.55,” said El-Baik. “Truly, perfect and surpassed our expectations as a team.”

Behind the scenes, volunteers helped organize the event, prepare food, welcome guests and assist with fundraising efforts.

“Volunteers specifically played a role in setting up, helping us promote leading up to the event,” said El-Baik. “A lot of people kind of focus on the day of the event, but our volunteers in the community in general don’t get enough credit in helping us set up towards the event.”

Among those volunteers was Fatima Al-Muttairi, a third-year mechanical engineering student specializing in biomedical engineering at UNB.

“[The] majority of my friends were there and I wanted to contribute during the month of Ramadan,” Al-Muttairi said. “It was my first Islamic Relief event I actually participated in.”

She spent much of the evening helping setup food and assisting with the event’s logistics.

“There were some people walking around with the debit machine,” she said. “There were some people helping you with the food prep … and even after the event, we also have a lot of people cleaning up."

Nabil Islam delivers a speech at the community iftar. (Credit: Zahra Rahmani) 

For Nabil Islam, the regional coordinator for Islamic Relief Canada in Atlantic Canada, events like the Fredericton iftar serve a larger humanitarian purpose.

“Any money raised goes towards helping men, women and children who are suffering quite significantly in Palestine,” he said.

Islam said the funds raised during the event will contribute to emergency relief efforts on site, like food, clothes and medicine.

For organizers, the evening ended with a sense of accomplishment and community.

“At the end, at the cleanup phase, our group members said, it kind of felt like a family towards the end,” said El-Baik. “It was a grand success, honestly.”

For Iraqui, the moment when hundreds of people paused together to break their fast captured the spirit of the evening.

“It showed how people can come together … and support something bigger than themselves,” he said.