Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
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Filmmaker Looks at Muslims in America Observing Ramadan
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?r=279&ctl=13D1D64:A6F02AD83191E160E9E436FD4AE1A7959574F7DCC14957C0 Naeem Randhawa says
he thought documentary film might be way of showing how traditions
fundamental to his faith are similar to traditions in other religions
Later this month, Muslims around the world will begin a month-long
fast to observe Ramadan. During this time, they fast all day long and
then eat in the evening. A Muslim-American filmmaker has chosen this
as his subject in a new film about how five American Muslim families
practice their faith and how non-Muslims relate to their traditions.

The director of the feature-length documentary "American Ramadan" is
Naeem Randhawa, who was born in Pakistan, raised in Canada and, for
the past eight years, has made Dallas, Texas his home.

As a thoroughly American Muslim, he was distressed by the distorted
image of Islam many Americans have, partly because of conflict in the
Middle East and terrorism, but also because of negative images in
movies and television shows. He wanted to find a way to bridge the gap
between people of his faith and other Americans, most of whom, he
says, hold the same basic family values as Muslims.

Randhawa says he thought a documentary film might be a way of showing
how traditions that are fundamental to his faith are similar to
traditions in other religions. Speaking to VOA, he says the fasting
Muslims do during Ramadan seemed an ideal subject.

"I was trying to find a platform that would seek to build bridges and
look for commonalities between Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus ...
Really, just about every religion has some form of fasting," he said.
"So, this seemed to me like a great platform to bring different people
come to the table and have a dialogue about what is common to all of
us."

Randhawa says he also wanted to show that Muslims in the United States
are not all the same. For this reason, he says, he deliberately looked
for a variety of subjects to use in the film.

"We purposely went out and chose five different families. We wanted to
make sure they were all very diverse," he said. "We have a student who
is trying to balance her student life with work, with her home life,
with school life. We have an inter-racial couple in California. We
have a divorced dad who is coping with taking care of his kids by
himself and sharing time with his ex-wife. We have another lady whose
husband was incarcerated."

Randhawa says the film also includes interviews with scholars and
religious leaders from various faiths who comment on the benefits and
blessings of fasting.

"I have a rabbi who talks about fasting for Yom Kippur. I have a
Christian doctor who talks about fasting for Lent and I have an iman
who talks about fasting for Ramadan," said Randhawa. "It is
interesting that they all talk about the same purpose of fasting. We
all fast to be closer to God. That is their words. What is interesting
is that all three of them say the same thing, they just say it in a
different context."

Randhawa says reaction to screenings in Dallas and elsewhere has been
very positive, from both Muslims and non-Muslims. He says he was
especially pleased by a conversation he had with one non-Muslim woman
whose image of Islam was almost entirely based on misconceptions
before she saw the film.

"She had thought the call to prayer was some kind of jihadi type call
to war. So she was very surprised to see it in its context, in a
mosque," he said. "Things like that really encourage us and we are
really happy to see that Americans are watching this and understanding
that Muslims are not different than Jews and Christians in their
family values and the way they live their life in America."

The film, "American Ramadan," has been shown at some film festivals
and in special screenings here in North America, but Naeem Randhawa is
finding interest in the film from as far away as Europe and the Middle
East. With the success of this endeavor, he says he is ready to take
on other topics and continue making films that are aimed at bringing
people of divergent faiths and traditions together in understanding.