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24 March 2008
American Ramadan
The speakers are various unidentified Muslims viewing the “Islamic Science Rediscovered” exhibition at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey.
The video was produced in 2008 by Whetstone Productions.
(begin transcript)
Speaker 1: “To have Eid event in Liberty Science Center, this will be a center point where people from different areas around New Jersey and New York can come.”
Speaker 2: “It’s always great to get the majority in one place and enjoy the celebration together. The more the merrier.”
Speaker 3: “I was just blown away when I came here and saw the tremendous contributions and the influence al-Islam gave to the entire world.”
Speaker 4: “We are both doctors -- we would have never thought what Muslims had done -- all the medical discoveries, the surgeries.”
Men looking at display:
Speaker 5: “This is the new one.”
Speaker 6: “It’s more sophisticated than what we used to make.”
Speaker 5: “Yes.”
Speaker 2: “I just learned that coffee beans were discovered by a Muslim goat-herder in Africa. He found out that after the goats had eaten the coffee beans, they became all jumpy and excited, and later these coffee beans were used to keep up Muslims during late nights of prayer.”
Speaker 7: “To see an exhibit about the positive contributions of Muslims and Arabs to Western civilization has just been very, very gratifying.”
Men looking at sculpted face:
Speaker 3: “Ah, it’s an optical illusion.”
Off-screen man: “Yes, yes.”
Speaker 1: “It is a hollow face.”
Speaker 1: “The celebration of Eid in this country has changed tremendously.”
Speaker 8: “Last year when I prayed, the mosque was full, but there were no people waiting outside. This year, when I went to pray in Ramadan, there were tons of people waiting outside to go in, and so they had to put carpets in the street for people to pray.”
Speaker 3: “The Eid celebration has almost become a fabric within the American culture, much like Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s, Thanksgiving. The best part of being Muslim in America?”
Speaker 2: “The great thing about being Muslim in America…”
Speaker 1: “The best part of being Muslim in America is you can express your religion without fear.”
Speaker 2: “There’s freedom of religion, freedom of speech. I can wear and say what I want.”
Speaker 3: “I can practice my Islam the way it should be practiced. My American freedoms are Islamic freedoms.”
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
