BBC 6 minute English-Eid Mubarak
Transcript of the podcast
NB: This is not a word-for-word transcript
Rob: Hello I’m Rob. Welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m joined today by Neil. Hello Neil
Neil: Hi there Rob. And I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing our Muslim listeners Eid Mubarak
Rob: Yes, indeed, Eid Mubarak! The end of Ramadan is approaching and they will be celebrating ‘Eid-ul-Fitr’, the Festival of the Breaking of Fast
Neil: ‘Fast’ is the word for a period of time when you don’t eat. And when you eat after a fast you break your fast
Rob: Today we are going to talk about Ramadan. But first a question for you, Neil
Neil: OK. What is it
Rob: Well, many people around the world are celebrating Ramadan at the moment. But how many people follow Islam? Is it about
a) 1.2 billion
b) 1.5 billion
c) 1.8 billion people
Neil: Right. This is going to be a complete guess. I’ll go for the middle option, b) 1.5 billion
Rob: OK, interesting guess. And do you know which country has the biggest Muslim population? Do you want to risk a guess
Neil: I think I know this. I’m going to say Indonesia
Rob: OK, well, all will be revealed at the end of the programme. First, let’s understand what this celebration is all about
Neil: Muslims believe in a God called Allah. Eid is an occasion when they thank Allah for helping them to have bettered themselves by giving up food
Rob: It is. I asked Muna, our colleague from the Arabic Service at the BBC World Service, to explain the main purpose of Ramadan. Listen out for the word which means the ability to control yourself
Muna, BBC World Service’s Arabic Section
Ramadan is the holy month when we fast. We begin the day with one meal after dawn. We finish our fast with another meal with the sunset. After this whole month comes Eid to reward ourselves for this worship. And it’s a kind of discipline, to discipline ourselves and to let us feel how people in need feel when they don’t have enough food. And every Muslim should give an amount of money to the people in need after this fasting
Neil: Muna uses the word ‘discipline’. When you fast you resist the temptation of eating
Rob: And she also talks about reward. After a month of fasting and worship, which means showing a strong admiration and respect for God – Allah in this case – the followers of Islam reward themselves with the festival called Eid
Neil: She says people fast in order to understand the way others in need live
Rob: People in need – poor people – don’t have enough food to eat and might feel hungry for most of the time and this period of fasting helps Muslims to experience that
Neil: And then every Muslim is required to donate – that’s give money or gifts – to the poor. And what does Muna do during Eid
Rob: Well, Muna, who is a Palestinian living in London, tells us. Listen out for what she does in the mosque, or the Islamic temple
Muna, the BBC World Service’s Arabic Section
We go to the mosque after the sunset and we pray together. Then we have coffee and sweets together. We visit each other. We spend the whole night talking and celebrating and… in Saudi Arabia for example they can go to festivals, go to coffee shops… yes, (there are) different ways of celebrating Ramadan and Eid
Neil: Pray – it’s when you speak to God privately or in a religious ceremony, when you want to express love for God or ask for something or just say ‘thank you for helping me’. Ramadan and Eid also seem to be very social occasions
Rob: Muna will go to the mosque and after she prays with other Muslims, they eat together and talk a lot
Neil: So, there’s a personal challenge of fasting, when you have to have discipline. And also the social aspect of making donations to the poor and sharing a meal with friends and fellow Muslims
Rob: And there’s another Eid coming up, Neil. It’s called ‘Eid-ul-Adha’. It’s going to be celebrated in October. Let’s listen to what Muna has to say. What happens before that other Eid is celebrated
Muna, the BBC World Service’s Arabic Section
The other Eid comes after (the) pilgrimage to the holy places in Saudi Arabia and in this Eid also the other worship we do is to slaughter sheep or cow or camel and give this meat to people in need
Neil: Ah, a pilgrimage – it means a visit to a special place to show respect. In this case, it is a visit to holy places in Saudi Arabia. It’s after the ‘Hajj”, the journey to Mecca
Rob: And again there’s a concern about the poor. Muna said the meat of an animal is offered to those who haven’t got enough to eat
Neil: And now I’m very keen to know how many Muslims there are in the world, Rob. Was I right at the beginning of the programme
Rob: Well, the options were
a) 1.2 billion
b) 1.5 billion
c) 1.8 billion people
Neil: And I said b) 1.5 billion
Rob: You did, didn’t you? And you were right. According to a 2010 study by the Pew Research Center in the US, Islam is followed by 1.57 billion people, making up over 23% of the world population. The largest Muslim population in a country is in Indonesia, a secular nation home to 12.7% of the world’s Muslims. Well done! You got both questions right, Neil
Neil: Fantastic
Rob: Unfortunately, we’re running out of time but before we go, could you please remind us of some of the English words we’ve heard today
Neil: We heard
fast breaking a fast reward worship discipline in need to donate mosque pray pilgrimage
Rob: Thank you, Neil. Well that’s it for this programme. Please join us soon again for 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English
Both: Bye and Eid Mubarak