Three student organizations host an Eid Celebration on Campus VIDEO: Toney, runs 2:16

 CASSI TONEY Nov. 14, 2012

NORMAN – Three student organizations joined for the first time to host an Eid Celebration for 300 students at the Jim Thorpe Multicultural Center on Oct. 30.

The Arab Student Association, Muslim Student Association and the Saudi Student Association planned an event with food, preaching, praying, live music and a poetry reading to celebrate a Muslim holiday.

“In the past, each organization celebrated the Eid on their own,” said Hamad Al Yousif, the Saudi Student Association president. “This is the first time the three organizations joined together to celebrate the Eid in order to make it a bigger and better event.”

Al Yousif, a petroleum engineering sophomore, said the organizations were expecting 250 guests but the event had 300 people.

“We sold out 250 tickets during the first week of publicity in the union,” Al Yousif said. “More people bought tickets at the door, so we had to buy more food, but we’re very happy with the turnout.”

The Eid al-Adha is a Muslim holiday commemorating the prophet Abraham and the end of the annual Hajj to Mecca, said Bayan Abdallat, freshman representative of the Muslim Student Association.

“There is usually a lot of food, family gatherings and socializing,” said Abdallat. “Family is a really important part of the holiday.”

Mariam Edwar, Arab Student Association president, said they ordered Indian food from the Himalayas Restaurant to remind guests that not all Muslims are Arabs.

“We wanted to choose food that was not from the Middle East to show that Muslim culture can be found all over the world,” Edwar said. “We had naan bread, Indian rice and meat dishes and American-style desserts.”

Before dinner, there was a time for prayer and preaching, Edwar said. Abdallat said there is a special prayer for this holiday.

The women and men prayed in different rooms, while the non-Muslims watched a presentation about the Eid.

“It was really cool to have non-Muslims and Muslims celebrate the event together,” Edwar said.

Al Yousif said the audience included students from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, Syria and the U.S.

Al Yousif said each organization was in charge of organizing different aspects of the event including programming, food and publicity. He said the event only took about two weeks to plan.