(Fort Worth Report) — In the early morning hours of March 7, the sky above the Dar El-Quran mosque was pitch black. Most of North Texas was asleep.

But in a grassy field behind the building, a few dozen students from the University of Texas at Arlington gathered under the gleam of floodlights. Young men in the group sat together on the ground, singing a floating melody in Arabic — a nasheed, or Muslim worship hymn.

It was not long past midnight, and the students were just over halfway through their vigil.

They were pulling an all-nighter, not to cram for a college exam but to observe Ramadan, Islam’s holiest month. The practice of praying between the obligatory sunset and sunrise prayers is referred to as Qiyam al-Layl — Arabic for “standing in the night.”

“I feel very connected to Allah when I’m with a community of people who are focused on ibadah, or worship,” nursing student Zahara Mohamedou said.

The qiyam was her first. Although she enjoys the community of a mosque, she lives too far from one to go often, she said.

Coming together to pray and reflect was the purpose of the event organized by UTA’s Muslim Student Association and Students for Justice in Palestine as they gathered from sunset to sunrise to pray, eat, socialize, discuss their faith and stand in solidarity with Palestinians. 

The qiyam is one of four organized by the MSA this Ramadan. Nighttime gatherings, some of them all-nighters like this one, are held by Muslims around the world, most commonly during Ramadan.

This Friday night began around 6:30 p.m. at the Swift Center on campus. A few dozen students gathered for a meal to break their fasts and prayed the final of the five obligatory daily prayers, the isha. 

After, they moved outside for taraweeh — voluntary additional prayers during Ramadan. The students planned to remain on campus grounds outside until sunrise after the center closed for the night. But with rain in the forecast, they relocated to Dar El-Quran a few blocks away where they could head inside in the event of a storm.

The UTA students camped out in the Arlington mosque’s grassy backyard with an assortment of tarps and prayer rugs oriented toward the qibla — the direction in which Muslims pray facing toward the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site, in Mecca.

When not praying, the students passed the time by sipping matcha lattes, kicking a soccer ball and simply chatting, capturing moments with their cellphones and a digital camera. They also paused to discuss and reflect on Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam. 

Al-Aqsa is sacred to Muslims and Jews. Muslims believe it was the site from which the prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. It is also the holiest site in Judaism that is believed to be where Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Isaac.

The site has been a significant point of contention in Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Only Muslims can pray there, while Israeli forces control access.

Most recently, Israel closed the mosque on Feb. 28, citing security reasons stemming from the ongoing Iran conflict, sparking backlash.

The UTA students grouped up around midnight to watch a video about restrictions at the mosque. One student on the SJP executive board paused it periodically to translate the narration from Arabic. After the video, students shared reflections.

Amari Richardson, an architecture senior and a leader in both the MSA and SJP, became a Muslim eight years ago. He told the Report he attended the qiyam to fulfill a religious duty and to be in solidarity with Palestinians.

“We stand up and speak out for the oppressed as part of our faith, so it kind of all just goes hand-in-hand,” he said.

The students plan lectures as part of qiyam activities. This time, they were joined by Imam Muhammad Abdullah, popular speaker and religious leader known on social media as “imam of the people.” 

It was about 2 a.m. when Abdullah spoke to them about ribat, the idea of standing guard and being ready.

For the students, the concept of ribat can apply to being ready to advocate for Palestinians at protests and the polls, he told them. But it is also personal, he emphasized, as in readiness for the next prayer.

“Ribat starts in here,” Abdullah said to the group, tapping his chest over his heart.

The students’ relationship with their faith commingles with their relationship with a country that often sees Islam as a foreign religion, Abdullah said. Many of the UTA students in attendance are first-generation Americans, he noted.

“How does that Muslim identity coincide with the American identity? They’re forging that for themselves,” he said. “They’re going to shape what it means to be a Muslim American.”

At the conclusion of Abdullah’s lecture, the start of another day of fasting was not far away. Soon enough, the students were making arrangements for suhoor, the predawn Ramadan meal. 

One group set out for a nearby Whataburger. Another planned a trip to Dutch Bros. Others ate falafel sandwiches they made in Dar El-Quran’s backyard. 

Just before 6 a.m., they headed inside the mosque for the morning fajr prayer. A new day had begun.

McKinnon Rice is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report, where this article first appeared.