Gay Muslim Film Banned

The highly controversial and high profile documentary A Jihad for Love - the world's first feature-length film about Islam and homosexuality – has been banned by the censors from being shown at 21st Singapore International Film Festival where some 200 films will be screened.

The festival organizer told the Straits Times on Saturday that he was informed of the ban on Thursday over the phone by the Media Development Authority which oversees the censorship board.

A Jihad for Love was filmed over five years and in nine languages by India-born and raised director Parvez Sharma who traveled the world from India to Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and France to interview devout Muslims who are lesbian, gay or transgender to speak about their faith and their sexuality. In the film, a gay South African imam argues that homosexuality is not banned while another imam rebuts his view.

The paper quoted the chairperson of the board of Film Censors Amy Chua as saying that the film was “disallowed in view of the sensitive nature of the subject that features Muslim homosexuals in various countries and their struggle to reconcile religion and their lifestyle.”

About 14 percent of Singapore's 4.4 million population is Muslim.

According to traditional interpretations of the Quran, homosexuality is strictly forbidden and officially carries the death penalty in some Muslim or Muslim dominant countries including Iran, Saudi-Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Mauritania, Sudan and Nigeria.Info

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In a time when Islam is under tremendous attack from within and without, "A Jihad for Love" is a daring documentary filmed in twelve countries and nine languages. Muslim gay filmmaker Parvez Sharma has gone where the silence is loudest, filming with great risk in nations where government permission to make this film was not an option.

"A Jihad for Love" is Mr. Sharma's debut and is the world's first feature documentary to explore the complex global intersections between Islam and homosexuality. Parvez enters the many worlds of Islam by illuminating multiple stories as diverse as Islam itself. The film travels a wide geographic arc presenting us lives from India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and France. Always filming in secret and as a Muslim, Parvez makes the film from within the faith, depicting Islam with the same respect that the film's characters show for it. "A Jihad for Love" is produced by Sandi DuBowski (Director/Producer of the award-winning "Trembling Before G-d") and Parvez Sharma in association with ZDF-Arte, Channel 4, LOGO, SBS-Australia, The Sundance Documentary Fund and The Katahdin Foundation.

In Western media, the concept of 'jihad' is often narrowly equated with holy war. But Jihad also has a deeper meaning, its literal Arabic being 'struggle' or 'to strive in the path of God'. In this film we meet several characters engaged in their personal Jihad's for love. The people in this film have a lot to teach us about love. Their pursuit of love has brought them into conflicts with their countries, families, and even themselves. Such is the quandary of being both homosexual and Muslim, a combination so taboo that very little about it has been documented.

As a result, the majority of gay and lesbian Muslims must travel a twisting, lonely and often dangerous road. The majority of Muslims believe that homosexuality is forbidden by the Qur'an and many scholars quote Hadith (sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him) to directly condemn homosexuality. Islam, already the second largest religion in the world is also the fastest growing. 50 nations have a Muslim majority. In a few of those nations laws interpreted from alleged Qur'anic prohibitions of male homosexuality (lesbianism is allegedly absent from the Qur'an) are enforced by religious, tribal or military authorities to monitor, entrap, imprison, torture and even execute homosexuals. Even for those who migrate to Europe or North America and adopt Western personae of "gay" or "queer," the relative freedoms of new homelands are mitigated by persistent racial profiling and intensified state surveillance after the attacks of 9/11 and train bombings in Madrid and London.

As a result, many gay and lesbian Muslims end up renouncing their religion completely. But the real-life characters of A "Jihad for Love" aren't willing to abandon a faith they cherish and that sustains them. Instead, they struggle to reconcile their ardent belief with the innate reality of their being. The international chorus of gay and lesbian Muslims brought together by "A Jihad for Love" doesn't seek to vilify or reject Islam, but rather negotiate a new relationship to it. In doing so, the film's extraordinary characters attempt to point the way for all Muslims to move beyond the hostile, war-torn present, toward a more hopeful future. As one can imagine, it was a difficult decision for the subjects to participate in the film due to the violence they could face. It took the filmmaker six years to finish this film and he like those who have stepped forward to tell their stories feel that they are Islam's most unlikely storytellers. All of them feel that this film is too important for over a billion Muslims-and all the non-Muslims in the world-for them to say no. They are willing to take the risk in their quest to lay equal claim to their profoundly held faith.

A Jihad for Love's characters each have vastly different personal takes on Islam, some observing a rigorously orthodox regimen, others leading highly secular lifestyles while remaining spiritually devout. As the camera attentively captures their stories, the film's gay and lesbian characters emerge in all their human complexity, giving the viewer an honest rendering of their lives while complicating our assumptions about a monolithic Muslim community. Crucially, this film speaks with a Muslim voice, unlike other documentaries about sexual politics in Islam made by Western directors. In the hope of opening a dialogue that has been mostly non-existent in Islam's recent history, and defining jihad as a "struggle" rather than a "war," the film presents the struggle for love.

Plot Keywords: Muslim, Trial, Gay Islam, Gay, Turkey, Gay Interest, Homophobia, India, Lgbt, South Africa, Gay Rights, Iran, Lesbian, Islam, Homosexuality, Paris France, Prison Rape, Religion, Pakistan, Imam, Religious Fundamentalism, Egypt, Imprisonment.Info

More:A Jihad for Love

Feb 4th, 2009

by Kaitlin.

Jihad for Love (Halal Flims, 2007)

The documentary film A Jihad for Love follows the lives of gay and lesbian Muslims living in places around the world, including Egypt, Iran, India, Turkey, Canada, and France. The film follows these individuals in underground subcultures for homosexual communities in Muslim countries and as immigrants to the West where their lifestyles are more acceptable in public. The main storyline of the film centers on a homosexual Imam from South Africa, Muhsin Hendricks, who was once partnered with a woman in an arranged marriage, is now divorced and is still close with his three children. He says at one point that the marriage was out of guilt for having feelings towards men and pressure to conform with religious norms in the Muslim community in Capetown.

Whereas other documentaries have followed the lives of gay and lesbian Muslims, A Jihad for Love stands out in the fact that it shows the faces of many of the people featured in the film and it adds depth to their dramatic and sometimes tragic stories. Also, the film stands apart from others in that it goes straight to the text and, in many cases, shows gay, lesbian, and straight Muslims debating the Quranic references to homosexuality, including Imam Muhsin Hendricks from Capetown, debating the issue with a heterosexual Imam with traditional views and beliefs.

In the end, the film’s strength is that it puts an actual face to the diversity in the worldwide Muslim community, a view of Islam we do not always see because it is hidden in secret, or taking place at underground parties, or even violently oppressed from public expression. Another strong point worth noting because it is much more subtle is that the film tackles the issue of homosexuality from a Muslim angle, making the issue largely one of interpretation of religious texts. Rather than labeling the sexual act as right or wrong, or natural or unnatural, it depicts gay and lesbian Muslims going straight to Islamic texts to interpret the verses from the Quran for themselves, taking away very different answers.

All of this additional depth also adds complexity to the intersection of homosexuality with issues of law and humans rights, issues that are difficult to frame and talk about even in a secular political setting. Because of this, and despite the strong points of the film, it could be said the documentary’s shortcoming is that since it does tackle homosexuality and Islam from such a wide angle (it is filmed in 12 countries and in nine languages) that the stories seem somewhat disconnected and the message of the film can get lost. One older women, however, reiterates the message best at a workshop for Muslim social workers led by Imam Muhsin Hendricks himself, and I will repeat it here so it will not be lost for readers. She says,

We are not dependent on the Imams and the clergy, each Muslim man and woman, they have been commanded to go and learn for themselves, they have been commanded to challenge the status quo. Islam commands us to learn from the cradle to the grave.

It seems that the issue of whether homosexuality is forbidden or permissible, healthy or harmful, in Islam will inform the way we learn from each other in future debates about religion and human rights. It is part of the larger dialogue about the transformation of negative images and stereotypes about Islam into a more accommodating and diverse perspective on the religion. For this reason, if for none other, A Jihad for Love is worth viewing for yourself.

If you do see the film, or have already seen it, we at Inside Islam would like to hear what you think. What are your thoughts on homosexuality in Islam and about A Jihad for Love? Are there any other related films or documentaries you would recommend? Send us your reaction via email or leave a response in the comments section below.Info