Muslim gay filmmaker, Parvez Sharma, spent five and a half years interviewing throngs of people in twelve different countries and nine different languages. His end product—A Jihad for Love—is a pioneer’s masterpiece—the first documentary to delve into the topic of Islam and homosexuality. The film has won numerous awards including Best Film at the Tri-Continental Film Festival in India and Best Documentary at Turin LGBT Film Festival.
The film explores the lives of gay and lesbian Muslims in several different countries, portraying jihad not as a holy war but as a struggle to reconcile one’s faith with one’s sexuality. The film doesn’t feature experts or religious scholars, but rather individual women and men who are trying to find their place in a faith which many feels condemns homosexuality vehemently.
Among the film’s subjects are four gay Iranian men who have fled to Turkey to seek refugee status, a gay imam from South Africa, and a lesbian couple from Turkey. Sharma’s representation of the lives of those filmed is as poignant as it is moving. Rather than attack Islam, as many would have done, he delves into what it means to be Muslim in each of his subjects’ lives. In a question and answer session with Sharma following a recent screening of the film in Washington DC, he stated that—above all else—these people were “coming out as Muslim” in the film.
During the Q&A, many applauded his work, including a woman from Turkey who gave accolades for Sharma’s true representation of Islam. He responded, “This is an Islam positive film.” Another young man asked him why he chose to make this film in particular. To which he answered simply, “I’m gay and I’m Muslim. I made it because I wanted to.”
The film is currently touring the United States. Click here to find a screening near you. It is definitely a film worth seeing.
