From Ottoman Tradition to Global Practice: The Revival and Diffusion of Interfaith’s Iftar Dinners

Ramadan iftar (breaking fast) dinners hold a significant social, spiritual, and interfaith dimension. They serve as a unifying practice that brings together family, friends, and the wider community. The 9/11 tragedy prompted Muslim minorities, particularly in Western countries, to reach out to non-Muslims in efforts to challenge misconceptions about Islam and Muslims. Over more than twenty years, iftar dinners have become platforms for intercultural and interfaith dialogue. Historically, interfaith iftar dinners were common in multifaith Muslim regions, especially within the Ottoman Empire. However, this tradition was discontinued after M. Kemal Atatürk established the Republic of Türkiye, with his ardent attraction ambitious tack for the Jacobin secularism, an enforced militant policy of laïcité. In this case, what was folded in 1923 in Istanbul was regenerated in 1994 in Istanbul. This study first explores how interfaith dinners were reintroduced in Türkiye and gradually globalised by analysing approximately 2000 websites manually in English, Turkish, Arabic, and Persian related to interfaith dinners, identified through searches on Yahoo and Google. Second, it presents findings from 15 interviews that examine how interfaith iftar dinners were initially started in Türkiye in 1994, in Australia in 2001, in Chicago in 2001, and in Boston in 2002. Third, it considers the perspectives of both supporters and opponents of interfaith iftar dinners. This article argues that interfaith iftar dinners across various traditions promote social cohesion, using Robert D. Putnam’s social capital theory.