Ramadan in St Andrews: Creating community in shared spaces

Ramadan in St Andrews unfolds in shared spaces: a makeshift prayer hall in the Chaplaincy and disposable plastic sheets that line the floors at iftar. These sheets, known as dastarkhan in Persian or Sufra in Arabic, reflect a long-standing Islamic tradition of sitting on the floor together to eat — a practice believed to carry greater barakah, or blessings, by virtue of the fact that it equalises everyone and reduces physical distance. 

With no mosque, there isn't a dedicated space to facilitate the nightly prayers that are a staple of the holy month or the communal meals, iftar, at sunset. Still, the St Andrews community comes together for a month that emphasises spiritual reflection, compassion, forgiveness, generosity, and community. In a ‘bubble’ like St Andrews, these values take on a particular intensity.

But for those who have never heard of Ramadan, or have only been introduced to it by big signs advertising dates and festive foods in many a UK supermarket — what actually is it? Put simply, Ramadan is a month-long period in which Muslims fast from dawn until sunset, abstaining from food and water during this window. Yet to reduce Ramadan to the physical aspect of fasting alone is to miss the point completely. 

Ahmed Imana, a third-year medical student from Canada, described Ramadan in St Andrews as more personal and community-based than anything he experienced growing up. “Back home, Ramadan was very family-focused,” he explained. “Canada is huge, and it’s hard to organise things so everyone can come together. Here, St Andrews is small, and that actually makes everyone closer.”

The reason he keeps coming back, though, he said with a laugh, is because “the food is genuinely really good. You can tell people have put time and effort into it. There’s always a proper main course and dessert as well. They even ask the community what they want and get people involved in cooking if they’re interested.” 

Aside from the food, it’s the people. “After a full day of fasting, everyone’s hungry, everyone’s tired, and when you’re sitting there talking to people, that shared experience creates a connection,” Imana explained. “You’re all going through the same struggle, and that brings you closer on a more personal level.” 

Here, Imana described feeling “more of a family sense in some ways.” Back home, “[my parents] are at work, my sister has her own routine,” he explained. “So I don’t really see how they experience Ramadan day-to-day.” In St Andrews, a lot of his friends also fast. “They’re in medicine, too, and they might be going to the gym. I see how they cope and I can relate to them very directly,” he said.

Sufyan El-Mansuri, a fourth-year computer science student, told me how he’s preparing for Ramadan this year as president of the St Andrews Muslim Students Association (STAMSA). Ramadan in St Andrews exists only because students build it themselves, El-Mansuri said. 

“Other universities rely on nearby mosques so most students go there, or in big cities like Manchester or Birmingham, students are often not too far away from home so they’ve got that option, too,” he explained. “St Andrews is quite [geographically] isolated, which means everything has to be planned, organised, and maintained by the students themselves.”

Three nights a week, around seventy people attend iftar in person, with many more collecting takeaway meals. On Mondays and Thursdays, the main meal is provided free of charge by Maisha and Jahangir, respectively, and dessert is taken care of by the committee and volunteers. 

Saturday is the student-led star of the show, with cooking starting early in the morning or sometimes even the night before. There’s a different theme each week, everything from Italian and Mexican to Caribbean and East Asian cuisine. The beauty of having such a diverse community means that there are always enthusiastic people who want to share and showcase their culture and heritage, bringing to life recipes and culinary traditions that have been passed down by their family.

There’s a lot that goes into it: big food shops, preparation, cooking, serving, and cleaning before the same spaces are seamlessly transformed for night prayers, all coordinated by a committee of around fifteen students and volunteers. 

“People assume it’s amateur because we’re students,” El-Mansuri said. “But if you bring together passionate people who care about their community, you can create something meaningful.” Ramadan, he explained, is as much about giving as it is about fasting. 

Importantly, the society doesn’t just serve Muslim students. In fact, a large handful of attendees come for the community and food. Staff members and local residents also regularly attend Friday prayers and have the option of collecting food to take home during Ramadan.

Local businesses play a crucial role in sustaining this effort. Restaurants across town provide meals, offer discounts, or sponsor iftars, generosity that students must re-secure each year. Across the River Tay, in Dundee, German Donner Kebab also offers a discounted iftar to STAMSA. 

This has become “a STAMSA tradition at this point, and people really look forward to it. However, nothing is guaranteed,” El-Mansuri explained. “Students go out, pitch, ask again and again. The fact that local businesses keep supporting us says a lot about the town.”

Mohammed Mohiuddin, owner of Maisha, graduated from St Andrews in 2008 — the same year he opened the restaurant. As a student, he attended iftars in the Student Union with limited facilities and very little food. This made him think, “if I have any ability, I should contribute.” Sometimes that meant bringing home-cooked meals and sharing them with his fellow students or inviting them to his home for iftar. Today, Mohiuddin continues with that same spirit of generosity on a larger scale, cooking for around 90 to 100 people every Thursday during Ramadan. 

The level of commitment is demanding, particularly when balanced alongside full-time degrees. “There is sacrifice, I won’t lie,” said El-Mansuri, “but the reward is greater than the sacrifice.” 

“There is no other community in St Andrews that gathers every single day like this, for 30 days consecutively,” he explained. “People who felt lonely suddenly feel like they belong. Students who never came before start coming every night. Ramadan creates memories people carry for life.”

When the month ends, routines begin to return. Lecture halls fill, deadlines loom, and the long nights start getting shorter. But something lingers. The sense that, in this small coastal town, community can be built, meal by meal, prayer by prayer, by students who refuse to let distance from home diminish what Ramadan means.

Photos courtesy of STAMSA