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lgbtqiamuslimpedia · 2 years ago

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A Jihad for Love (2008)

Director - Parvez Sharma

Producer - Sandi Simcha Dubowski

Cinematography - Parvez Sharma, Berke Baş,David W. Leitner

Writer - Javed Haider Zaidi

Cast - Imam Muhsin Hendricks,Arsham Parsi,Maryam,Abdellah,Mazen,Ferda,Qasim,Ahsan,Amir,Mojtaba,Kiymet,Sana,Maha,Pedram Abdi (Payam)

Languages - Arabic,Farsi,Urdu,Bengali, Hindi,English,French,German,English,Turkish,etc

Genre - •LGBTQ •Islam •Documentary

Year of Release - 21 May,2008

Box office - $105,651

Awards - •Best Documentary Award,MIX BRASIL •Best Documentary, Image+Nation Film Festival •Best Documentary,The Tri-Continental Film Festival,India • GLAAD Media Award •Teddy Award,etc

A Jihad for Love (preceded by a short film called In the Name of Allah) is an award-winning international documentary on Homosexuality & Islam.It took total six years to make this groundbreaking documentary.Parvez Sharma took the risk to film this documentary in most dangerous country (like Islamic Republic of Iran,Iraq, Saudi Arabia,Pakistan,Egypt).Homosexuality is a punishable crime in most Muslim World.

The work that Sharma started with this film has become a staple in many books on Islam and at U.S. University libraries.The website Faith in Equality put it at number 9 in a list of LGBT films about faith.IMDb rates the film at 13 on its list of 58 titles under the category of "Best documentaries on religion, spirituality & cults".The film first premiered at the TIFF in 2007, and has been screened to great acclaim at several film festivals around the world.The film went on to win 15 other international awards.

Plot

At starting it shows a glimpse of Islam across the globe.The film first featured Hendrick Muhsin, a South African,Pakistani Gay & Muslim.He is also the first Out Gay Imam of Africa.Filmmaker Parvez got into the deep of Hendicks's personal life struggles,his understanding of Islam & reconciliation of intersecting identities.

Mazen, an Egyptian effeminate muslim was arrested in 2001, in a gay nightclub named Queen Boat.He was beaten,forced to stand trial twice on "debauchery" charges & sentenced to a total of 4 years in prison, where he was raped.He eventually moved to Paris.Mazen also has left his families & friends in Egypt.

Sana is a Black Lesbian refugee, & a victim of FGM.She has a deeper understanding of Islam & told Parvez that Queerness is not against Islam.Sana didn't have any kind of sexual relation with any women.But she had intimate loving relations with women.Like others, she came to France as a refugee.Sana befriend with Maryam & Mazen.

Maryam is Moroccan-born queer womxn who lives in Paris.Her girlfriend Maha lives in Egypt.Both lovers met each other on Bint-al Nas - a meeting site for Arab LBTQ womxn.Maryam still believes that she deserves punishment for her lesbian sexual relationship.Both have survived abusive marriages and can only share their love for each other in private.Maryam & Maha go on a shared journey of search and discovery of female homosexuality.In Al-Azhar, they discover an old bookstore where they find a copy of the Fiqh al-Sunnah(The Laws of the Prophet).In the heart of an ancient mosque in the Citadel,they discover beautiful Islamic calligraphy as they declare their impossible love for each other.

Amir, an Iranian gay shia who has respect for Imam Hosseini.He sacrificed his life for Allah & reconciling his muslim faith.While in Iran, he was persecuted under the charges of illicit sexual conduct,illicit mannerism & received 100 lashes.After being brutally beaten and tortured in the police custody.The judge also threatened Amir that he should be punished by stoning.However he was sentenced to flogging.He told Sharma that Allah helped him to escape this traumatic situation.He fled to Turkey as soon as well.There he met 3 gay refugees - Arsham,Payam,Mojtaba.Mojtaba, another (Persian) gay muslim who ran away from Iran,due to his same sex marriage ceremony in 2005.

Ferda & Kiymet are a happy couple in Turkiye.Kiymet belongs from a conservative family.In her early Kiymet's marriage was fixed with a man.Kiymet's marriage ended up at divorce.Then she found Ferda, her soulmate.Ferda's mom is very supportive & tolerant of sexuality.Ferda is a devout sufi queer muslim, who honors Rumi - a prominent sufi icon for both LGBTQ+ & Straight Muslims.

Ahsan & Qasim are queer platonic friends.Ahsan is a Sunni Muslim & Qasim is a Shia Muslim.Both men, belongs from poor backgrounds do not adopt the western peronae of ‘gay’ and instead rely on vernacular terms.Ahsan & Qasim are part of transvestite,transgender community called Zenana,Kothi in Northern India.Most of these community hide themselves from public.Ahsan,Qasim find a safe space in his community.While Qasim is struggling with his sexuality in heteronormative society.

The filmmaker also documented the diverse tolerance of sexuality in sufi traditions (Pakistan,India & Turkey).

Is it the first film on Islam & Homosexuality?

''A Jihad for Love'' is called world's 1st film on Islam & Homosexuality.A Jihad for Love would be an international feature documentary film rather than world's first film on LGBT muslims.However there are several films that focused on LGBTQ muslim or Queerness in Islam.For Example:

Road to Love (2001)

Act of Faith (2002)

Haremde dört kadin (1965)

Hammam al-Malatily (1973)

Köçek (1975)

Ihtiras Firtinasi (1984)

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

Marcides (1993)

Istanbul Beneath My Wings (1996)

Hamam (1997)

Lola & Billy the Kid (1999)

Production

Bismillah (In the name of Allah) was considered as an early working title for this documentary.Among muslims,the word Bismillah is very auspicious & used before beginning actions,speech,writing.But the tittle was not considered as the final title of this film due to controversy.

A Jihad for Love is produced by Halal Films, in association with the Sundance Documentary Film Fund,Channel 4 (UK),ZDF (Germany),Arte (France-Germany),Logo (US) & SBS Australia.The director & producer Parvez Sharma & co-producer Sandi Dubowski raised more than a million dollars over a 6 years period to make the film.

In an interview with The NY Times,Parvez Sharma said that he "would shoot touristy footage on the first 15 minutes & the last 15 minutes of a tape", with interviews for documentary in between, to avoid having his footage seized at customs.He compiled 400 hours of footage from a dozen countries ranging from Iraq to Pakistan to the UK.The nature of the work placed him at considerable personal risk.He adopted hardcore guerrilla film-making tactics,pretending to be a tourist in one country,a worker for an AIDS charity in another country.Wherever he went,he asked his queer friends to keep copies of footage and destroy the tapes once he had successfully smuggled the masters out of the country.

During his filmmaking Parvez traveled several countries including Pakistan, Iraq, India, Bangladesh, Egypt, USA, UK, Turkey, France, Saudi Arabia, South Africa,[...].

Interviews

In an interview with NY Times magazine,Parvez Sharma said,"Being gay and Muslim myself,I knew that this film had to be about us all coming out— as Muslims. It's about claiming the Islam that has been denied to us." With a target audience of "faithful Muslims," he undertook a variety of outreach tactics, including leafleting mosques,blanketing MySpace,screening in Astoria for 15 key progressive Muslim leaders.In an interview to Der Spiegel, Sharma explained the significance of the title: "I'm not looking at jihad as battle.I'm looking at the greater jihad in Islam, which is the jihad as the struggle with the self.I also thought it was really compelling to take a word that only has one connotation for most -- to take that, reclaim it and put it in the same phrase as love,which is universal.I really think it explains it very well.

Film Screening

A Jihad for Love first premiered in Toronto International Film Festival(TIFF) in September 2007.At its premier,the director was given a security guard for safety reasons.After this film festival A Jihad for Love got huge applaud internationally.A Jihad for Love film premiered as the opening film of Panorama Documente of the Berlin Film Festival in February 2008.

The film was screened in The Rio Film Festival,Brazil on September 2007,Morelia Film Festival,Mexico, on October 2007,The Sheffield DocFest on November 2007,London Gay & Lesbian Film Festival on March 2008,Melbourne International Film Festival on July 2008,Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival on March 2008,etc.A Jihad for Love's first premier in African continent was The Out in Africa Film Festival in Johannesburg and Cape Town,November 2007. On April,2008 A Jihad for Love film was successfully screened at Istanbul International Film Festival.It was the first time that the film allowed to screen in a muslim-majority country.Film also screened in Q! Film Festival of Indonesia.Although singapore banned the film from festival in 2008 due to its sensitive subject.

Popularity

A Jihad for Love film's sale and broadcast on NDTV, South Asia's largest network in 2008 would have a "remarkable" impact on this LGBTQ cause. "NDTV's broadcast has in effect made the film available to over one billion viewers in India,Bangladesh,Pakistan, & large portions of the Middle East and Africa.The various distributors and their Total Rating Points in European television, the Indian/South-Asian sale with its claimed footprint of 15 billion viewers, the theatrical release & the purportedly large numbers of Netflix viewers made the filmmakers and the TRP experts arrive at a number of 8 million total viewers calculated over a period of four years for this documentary.

International Muslim Dialogue Project

Immediately after the film's theatrical launch around the USA,Parvez & Sandi launched the International Muslim Dialogue Project on 2008.The aim of the project was to organize screenings of the film in Muslim Capitals.Sharma called it the "Underground Network Model" of film distribution.He invented this model sending unmarked DVD's of the film with friends & colleagues to Muslim capitals across the world with full permission to sell pirated copies.Some of the boldest were Beirut,Cairo,Karachi,eight cities in Indonesia & Kuala Lumpur

The film was screened privately screened in Iran,Palestine,Bangladesh and Somalia.

#gay muslim #lgbtq muslim #homosexuality in islam #homosexual muslim #muslim gay #lesbianmuslim #lesbian muslim #arab #asian #qtpoc #documentary

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kaaaayyyyzzzzisgay · 6 years ago

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Heart

I met a girl few months ago (internet). Somehow we were closer each day and I was happy. Until she asked me to be her girlfriend. So I calculated every single possibilities that could happen. She was like at the other part of the world. Non muslim girl.

And I made everything clear. I told her what my religion is just incase she didnt get the memo. And remind her the distance we had. She said, she willing to try and she would do anything to try.

So, we kinda together for half a year. She changed me to be a better person. I stopped cut myself. I stop hurting myself. She was always there for me supporting me no matter what. We even discussed on how to meet up. And each day I couldnt wait to see her to meet her to hug her and to hold her hands.

Until one day, she told me she is bisexual. I accepted that. But I was really mad because I was wondering the factors behind the confession. Did she cheat on me? Did she met someone that she like? Did something happen? Was I manipulated so she can do some experimenting?

Thats the beginning to everything. We fell apart. We fight alot. Until one day she told me our relationship was not realistic. The distance, the time, the religion.

She said she couldn't be with someone whom far away without reassurance we will be together. I was hurt. We broke up just like that.

And days went by. Not long after that she called me. We talked for a while and she told me she went for a date with a guy. Told me the guy was nice and great. Sometimes we talked and there were times when I was mourning for the loss. So she told me to stop playing victim and stop asking for a pity from her. That hurt me alot. I was sad, losing someone I started to love with all my heart. So I made a promise to myself. Never again with this girl.

I was...devastated. I am in love with that girl and she broke my heart over and over. Nothing is left for me.

Being a muslim. A lesbian. Chance of meeting my other half is like one percent. Almost none. I just wish one day I will meet someone who can accept me and love me and let me love her.

I dont care where she lives, what she does. Whats her belief. I will love her with all my heart and cherish her. I might be the type of person that really hard to show affection, but Im the type that appreciate people in my life.

The last experience could be unreal. People might say she was right. What we had wasnt real and all. But my feelings was real. And I am willing to be real for her :) but what happened was out of my control.

Catlady forever I guess.

Sorry for the long rant. This loneliness sometime is killing me :)

I am fine for now. But in coming years will I be?

#lesbian #wlw #lesbianmuslim #sapphic #lgbtq #queermuslim #blahhgggg #lesbian muslim

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