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PHOTOCOPY
PRESERVATION
�Eid AI-Fitr Celebration
Remarks by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
The White House
january 21,1999
. Eid Mubarak! And welcome to the White House. This is the third time I have had the
pleasure and honor of hosting this Eid celebration, and I'm pleased to see so many families and
children from around our country who have joined us here t~day.
We have also been joined by a number of distinguished and honorable visitors. There are
just a few that I'd iike to acknowledge: Ambassador Ronald Newman, the Deputy Assistant
Secretmy of the Middle East; Hassan Netnazee, U.S ..Ambassador Designate to Argentina; and
Robert Seiple, nominated as Ambassador At-Large for International Religious Freedom [at the
State Department].
.
.
It is indeed an honor for us to welcome you back. I know 'that over the past two days you
have been congregating at each other's homes, at mosques, and at community centers celebrating
the month of abstinence and fasting and prayer and rejoicing together. So it is a special treat for
me to have you here and to know that this is an extraordinmy time of gathering and recollection
and rejoicing.
I want to thank everyone who has worked on blinging this event together. We have had a
wonderful turnout in the past. We had more people this time, so we are actually occupying two
rooms here in the Old Executive Office B}lilding. Shruifa Alkhateeb of the North American
Council for Muslim Women has been largely responsible for working with the White House
staff in blinging us here. As many of you may know, Shm"ifa was the chair of the Muslim
Caucus in Beijing in 1995. And she is also a great fliend to me and to Il).y staff for many, many
occasions when we call upon her for advice and counsel. . And I ampleased that once again she
could be so helpful, both on hbr own behalf and on behalf of the Council in helping us out here.
.
,
I know we m"e also looking forward to hearing from a young manwho will share his
perspective and experiences as a young American Muslim. And Ol}1ar will have more to say·
about that in a minute. I also want to welcome Profe~sor Sayyid Hossein Nasr, who will speak
to us as well. Now there are many people who have made today happen, but special thanks m"e
due to Maureen Shea, Mona Mohib and H~ma Abedin for putting together this event.
I must say that I have seen very personally the impact of Ramadan because of having
Huma on my staff, and have had many occasions to talk with her about the paliicular meaning of
Ramadan. But! also feel so grateful that I am able to travel both on my own and with my
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�husband on behalf of the United States to many parts of the world and speak with many different
Muslims and leam more about Islam.
It was just a few short weeks ago, as many of you know, that the President and I traveled
to Gaz~. I was very pleased be part of that historic visit, the first by an American president to
the Palestinian Authority. .
'
to
We happenedto be there only a few days before Ramadan began, and there was a lot of
anticipation and excitement in preparation. I had the opportunity to visit one of the refugee
camps -- the Beach Camp -- and I was able to see firsthand many of the di'fficulties that the
Palestinian people are encountering in everyday life.
But I also -- through my conversations, particularly with the women there -- I saw
something else as well. I saw women wqrking very hard to build theii' own lives, to statt
businesses, to leam about their legal rights, to look for better ways to educate their children, and
.
to participate fully in the life ofthe~r communities.
With Suma Arafat (phonetic), I also visited a facility that she has started for children
with various kinds of disabilities. And again I could see firsthand work that was taking place to
give evety child an opportunity to live up to the fullest of his or her God-given potential.
Although the people that I savy know that they have quite a road to walk together to build a vety
strong future for themselves, I did feel-- and I believe that we could see in their faces -- the
courage and determination to do just that. And there is something vety special about the time
that Ramadan provides to contemplate and meditate and pray and think about what we could all
do better on oui' own behalf, on behalf of our families and our communities to build that better
future.
From Turkey to Bosnia to Uzbekistan to Africa, I've met with families, women and
children, and talked about livesand futures. And I know how important it is that we do more
here in the United States to highlight the contributions. of Muslim Americans to our great efforts
here in this countlY to prepare ourselves for a future that is truly the best that we could offer to
our children and our grandchildren.
.
I was struck when I visited outside, of Jerusalem a village that was statted by Arab
Muslims, Jews and Chlistians. A village some of you have heard of, maybe even visited -- Neve
Shalom -- founded by people who wanted to do the hardest work there is. Not making speeches
about tolerance and diversity, but working and living together, understanding and discovering
what unites us as human beings across all of what I would argue are often arbitraty lines that
divide us.
I watched as three young children -- in a kindergarten class of that village -- carne
forward together to celebrate their individual religious traditions. One lighted a menorah, one a
Christmas tree; one a Ramadan lantem. None felt that they had to make any, at'gument or case
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�for following their own religious traditi~:ms and beliefs. But each felt respected and validated for
what they believed and what their families taught them. I used to feel so strongly as a young
girl, and now I feel even more strongly that religion should not serve as a weapon of war and·
division but as a bridge to peace. That children should learn to respect their own traditions, but
also understand the traditions of others.
Today, we celebrate Eid with special foods and exchanging of gifts, and by honoring the
remarkable coritributions of Islam that have enabled millions and millions of Muslims around
the world to endure and thrive through t~e ages and enrich us all..
We alsdhonor the universal valu.es that are embodied in Islam --love of family and
community; mutual respect; the power of education; and the deepest yeaming of all: to live in
peace. Values that can bring people of every faith and culture together, strengthen us as people,
and ,I would argue, strengthen the United States as a nation.
I have been told that a common Muslim prayer tells us: "No stlUggle is easy unless you
make it easy for us. And only you, my Lord, c~ make a hardship easy to overcome. ,. With
God's help, and with the kind of determipation, courage, and hope 'that is lived out in the lives of
all of you and millions of others around our country and throughout the world, I believe that we
can do more together to help build a more peaceful, prosperous, and hopeful future in which all
of God's children can live in,Peace and fulfill their God-given promise.
.
May peace be with you, and may God grant you health and prosperity now and in the
years ahead.
Celiainly one of the great reasons· for any religious tradition is to bling up our children in
the way that we would want th.em to follow, tog~ve them both roots and wings, to enable them
to understand where they came from but to equip them to know and see where they are going.
We have with us a young man, a sef,lior at Woodson High School, Omal' Farou (phonetic), who
will be able tp talk with us about a young perSon's experience ofRamadan. And I invite him
now to the podium. Come and join us please, Omar.
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•
�
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Lissa Muscatine - Press Office
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First Lady's Office
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Lissa Muscatine
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1993 - 1997
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<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36239" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/id/7431941" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
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2011-0415-S
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<p>Lissa Muscatine first served in the Clinton Administration as a speechwriter. Within the First Lady’s Office, she served as Communications Director to the First Lady.</p>
<p>Lissa Muscatine’s records consist of materials from First Lady Hillary Clinton’s Press Office, highlighting topics such as health care, women’s rights, the Millennium Council, Hillary Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign, and deal extensively with press interviews given by the First Lady; her domestic and foreign travel; and speeches and remarks, on a wide variety of topics, given by her before and during her time as First Lady. The records include interview transcripts, press releases, speeches and speech transcripts.</p>
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Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
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1,324 folders in 27 boxes
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FLOTUS Statements and Speeches 12/1/98 - 4/30/99 [Binder]: [Eid/Ramadan Event - White House 1/21/1999]
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Box 23
<a href="http://clintonlibrary.gov/assets/Documents/Finding-Aids/Systematic/2011-0415-S-Muscatine.pdf" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/id/7431941" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
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First Lady's Office
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Lissa Muscatine
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2011-0415-S
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Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
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2011-0415-S-flotus-statements-speeches 12-1-98-4-30-99-binder-eid-ramadan-event-white-house-1-21-1999
7431941