Saudi Atheer Al Hefzi on Being a Muslim Student in the U.S. [ENGLISH Subtitles]
598 views · Published 10 March 2014 · 2:13 · Indexed 31 October 2026
Channel: ShareAmerica · 2014 · Education
This video was produced by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs in February 2014. The speaker is Atheer Al Hefzi, a Saudi student studying in America. Al Hefzi is speaking in Arabic, and the text in the video is in Arabic. 00:00:00.625,00:00:05.792 [TEXT: Atheer Al Hefzi: Saudi Student in the U.S.] 00:00:05.792,00:00:14.042 Atheer Al Hefzi: Regarding equality, I am like any American and any other person here in the class or outside it, 00:00:14.042,00:00:19.000 because American society has begun to accept the idea of the hijab. 00:00:19.000,00:00:24.042 They may not have known about the hijab or where it comes from. But now everyone has become enlightened. 00:00:24.042,00:00:28.625 They know where the idea of the hijab comes from, and they respect that. 00:00:28.625,00:00:33.583 The beautiful thing about America is that everyone respects other people's religions and the way that people show their religion, 00:00:33.583,00:00:36.417 whether with the hijab or something else. 00:00:36.417,00:00:42.000 Each person respects the other person solely for his humanity and the fact that he is a human being. 00:00:42.000,00:00:52.000 Here at Virginia Commonwealth University, there is a very large Muslim association. 00:00:52.000,00:00:56.000 There are more than 400 members from all countries of the world, 00:00:56.000,00:01:07.542 including American, Pakistani, Arab, non-Arab, Italian and British students. The association's activities are strong. 00:01:07.542,00:01:18.000 They provide material and moral support for the poor and other small-scale activities at the university. 00:01:18.000,00:01:25.000 Other nice activities that the association undertakes include instruction in different languages. 00:01:25.000,00:01:30.875 This instruction is provided for free by volunteers. 00:01:30.875,00:01:38.125 Short language lessons lasting an hour are given two or three times a week, 00:01:38.125,00:01:46.417 in agreement with the university, in Turkish, Arabic and, occasionally, Urdu. 00:01:46.417,00:01:55.583 From an Islamic standpoint, it is nice to see an Arab person translating the Quran 00:01:55.583,00:02:00.667 into another language for a foreigner, regardless of his language. 00:02:00.667,00:02:07.000 Lessons in reading the Quran and understanding certain terms are also given in Arabic. 00:02:07.000,00:02:08.625 [TEXT: To learn more about studying in the U.S., visit Riyadh.usembassy.gov/educationusa.html] 00:02:08.625,00:02:10.000 [TEXT: Follow us on Facebook: Facebook.com/USEmbassyRiyadh] 00:02:10.000,00:02:12.000 [TEXT: Produced by the U.S. Department of State]
