A Jihad for Love (2007)

A documentary on gay, lesbian, and transgender Muslims across the Muslim and Western worlds.

Director:

Parvez Sharma

Writer:

Parvez Sharma

Stars:

Muhsin Hendricks, A.K. Hoosen, Mazen

3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Muhsin Hendricks	...	Himself
A.K. Hoosen	...	Himself (as Mufti A.K. Hoosen)
Mazen	...	Himself
Abdellah Taia	...	Himself
Sana	...	Herself
Maryam	...	Herself
Maha	...	Herself
Amir	...	Himself
Arsham Parsi	...	Himself
Payam	...	Himself
Mojtaba	...	Himself
Ferda	...	Herself
Kiymet	...	Herself
Qasim	...	Himself
Syed Kalbe Jawad	...	Himself

Storyline

n a time, when Islam is under tremendous attack-from within and without-'A Jihadfor Love' is a daring documentary-filmed in twelve countries and nine languages. Muslim gay filmmaker Parvez Sharma has gone where the silence is strongest, filming with great risk in nations where government permission to make this film was not an option. A Jihad for Love is the first-ever feature-length documentary to explore the complex global intersections of Islam and homosexuality. With unprecedented access and depth, Sharma brings to light the hidden lives of gay and lesbian Muslims from countries like Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, France, India, and South Africa. The majority of gay and lesbian Muslims must travel a lonely and often dangerous road. In many nations with a Muslim majority, laws based on Quranic interpretations are enforced by authorities to monitor, entrap, imprison, torture and even execute homosexuals. Even for those who migrate to Europe or North America and adopt Western ...

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Plot Keywords:

muslim | gay | lesbian | islam | faith | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Mongrel Media [ca] Official site

Country:

USA UK France Germany Australia

Language:

Arabic Turkish English Persian Urdu Panjabi Hindi French

Release Date:

21 May 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

In the Name of Allah

Filming Locations:

Istanbul, Turkey

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$13,418 (USA) (23 May 2008)

Gross:

$105,033 (USA) (19 September 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Channel Four Films, Halal Films, Katahdin Foundation, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film used covered faces and silhouettes in order to protect the safety of sources whose lives would have been in danger had their identities been revealed.

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Quotes

Muhsin Hendricks: I guess what was never taught to us, when I was growing up, is that Allah is also the Allah of love. We always had to Taqwa Allah. You have to fear God. We never were taught about the love of God.

User Reviews

Wrong

The movie might have hit a mark with the gay community, but is that really what it was aiming at? And should it be aiming at that? I do think that it missed a great opportunity, to "open the eyes" of others (i.e. straight people). Even if you're gay and/or try to like the movie because of it's idea(ls), you can't close your eyes to it's faults ... at least you shouldn't.

While it starts off kind of good (with the person that might easily be the most likable of the bunch), it departs and leaves you bedazzled (in all the wrong ways). While it tries more to shock than to make us sympathize with it's people, it get's more incoherent every minute that it runs. The reason is, that we get rushed through different "gay people/couples", while not learning much from them as people. Yes it is difficult to be gay, even more so in a community that despises homosexuals. But talking about the Koran at five different parts of the movie, while not revealing anything new, you do really wonder, why that time wasn't used for something else. Yes it is a documentary with a meaning, but does that justify giving it a great summary and or vote it higher than it really deserves?

It would've been easy to bash this movie, because it is about a minority, but while I'm not part of the minority, I do not condemn anyone for their likings. I do have the right to criticize the movie/documentary for it's execution though. There is more that could've been done with a (hot) topic like this