Posted on 05/07/2009 8:29:37 PM PDT by Antoninus
As lives of many homosexuals are derided around the world in the garb of religion, ´ A Jihad for Love´, the first-ever gay documentary, is the brave attempt of one such man to showcase that the bias does not lie on the part of God but some people and their sectarian intellects.
Directed by Indian filmmaker Parvez Sharma, the documentary is the first of its kind dialogue on the conflict between Islam and homosexuality. The film portrays real life gay and lesbian Muslims living in Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, India, France and South Africa.
The documentary is a saga of the untellable trauma faced by the victims, not only in terms of denying them the right to love who they want but there is also violence committed against them and their families. Mazen, an Egyptian man, was arrested from a gay club in Cairo. Mazen was beaten and raped in prison and sentenced to four years in jail. He lives in Paris now, like a lot of other gay and lesbian Muslims, who had to flee their homelands and migrate to the more accommodating West. The movie also brings up the pain of the parents as they watch their children being tortured. The mother of an Iranian gay man weeps as she sees the marks of 100 lashes dealt on the back of her son as a state punishment for being homosexual. Not all of them are lucky to find asylum in other countries. Many suffer for their entire lives and the ones who do manage to escape; suffer the pangs of separation from their families.
Yet, what is remarkable about all the characters in the film is that they remain loyal to their religion despite being prosecuted by the so-called keepers of it and are deeply spiritual. As one of the Iranian gay men during their escape to Turkey remarks, "I feel somebody is always with me and helping me," their religiosity, in fact, compels their life forward and they are at no cost willing to renounce their faith.
The movie interestingly is not an attempt to bash Islam but seeks to exonerate the religion of the many myths that surround it and become instruments of intolerance and injustice. The title of the film clarifies that jihad means "struggle" not "holy war" and a jihadi is not a "terrorist". Their struggle is not against Islam but the bigotry of the Muslim orthodoxy and the harsh Islamic laws based on misguided Quranic interpretations that even call for executing homosexuals in some Muslim countries. In Iran, more than 4,000 people have been executed for alleged homosexual acts since the 1979 revolution.
In fact, the winning point of the movie is that it is writ with positive messages. Turkish Kiymet feels nothing wrong if God planted the love for her girlfriend in her. The Bollywood number during one of the cross-dressing scenes in India, "Jab parda nahin khuda se; to bandon se kya parda," (if nothing is hidden from God, then why do they have to hide it from people) coincides with the literal message of the film. The brave characters and director of the film have come out openly in the film except a few faces that have been digitally blurred. Yet most of the gay men and women in the film have exposed themselves to considerable risk by declaring their identities for the sake of the millions of homosexuals who suffer silently in Muslim and non-Muslim countries and in order to claim their religion from those who have manipulated and miscalculated Islam.
During a panel discussion following the screening of the film at the Lumiere theatre in San Francisco, director Parvez Sharma said The Quran has no reference to the effect that denies homosexuality. It is other scriptures like the Hadith that are cited to pronounce homosexuality as a sin. However, the Hadith came two hundred years after Muhammad and its veracity cannot be accomplished. Therefore, it is not the word of God that declares homosexuality as evil, clarified Sharma. However, he admits that the theological debate cannot be won as the semantics and their interpretations thereof are so convoluted. He asks instead to be confronted with real humanity issues and use independent thought and judgment.
The film screening was an initiative of Trikone, a non-profit organization in the Bay Area for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people of South Asian descent.
Produced by Sharma and Sandi DuBowski, the documentary has been screened at the Berlin International Film Festival, San Francisco LGBT Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and in India among other countries and festivals. The documentary is filmed in nine languages.
love the sinner, don’t condone the sin....oh, BTW I do believe Lawrence of Arabia was the one that brought the Middle East out of the closet shall we say.........they are trying to go back in
Wanted: Man seeks man with bass boat and motor. Send picture of boat and motor.
The maker of this film as well as the participants willing to be filmed were actually pretty gutsy to do this, even though the filmmaker is also an apologist for Islam. Countdown to the Fatwa against him...
LOL - my kind of ad
It’s sad they have to twist the very clear words of scripture to try to make their relations seem in harmony with religion.
Very simply - it’s not.
Both the old and new testaments decry faggotry as depraved and abominable. All their wishing and twisting will not change that.
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