Mosque in Morgantown, a documentary about Asra Nomani’s quest to eradicate gender segregation in the mosque, airs tonight on PBS at 10 pm EST.
I watched the film this weekend. Twice. I took three pages of notes, but still had a difficult time writing a review. This could be because my head has been in another place this weekend with the aftermath of Iranian elections.
But the reason could also be that the documentary just didn’t work. It begins with Asra Nomani, sharing her personal stories. Then the film is about the Morgantown mosque. Then the film is about Asra. Then the film is about Asra and the mosque. Then the film is about Asra’s book tour and “trouble-making” at mosques around the country. Then the film is about the Morgantown mosque again. Then the film is about banning Asra from the mosque. You can see a trailer here:
[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HODQYUOHrTM]
This jumping around irritated me: though I understand the value of illustrating how Asra’s personal life influenced her behaviors concerning the mosque, I think that the jumping around created a lack of cohesiveness. If you asked me what the purpose of the documentary was, this is what I’d tell you: it was about Asra Nomani…sort of…and the mosque in her hometown…sort of.
Almost as soon as she introduces herself, Nomani brings up the fact that she has had a child outside of marriage, and is thus a “criminal in the eyes of Islam”. Her “child outside of marriage” story bothered me because that it’s one of the first things a viewer knows about her–why was that necessary? It felt as if she was using it as a badge to prove that she’s a “black sheep” Muslim, which takes us into the next scene: her victimization.
Nomani describes going up to the newly-built local mosque and trying to enter through the front door for prayer. She was turned away because the front door is for men and the side door is for women.
What the documentary does not tell us is whether other women were turned away, whether other women were irritated about the segregation, what happened to Morgantown’s old mosque (the one she went to as a child), and whether men and women had separate entrances there. Is the entrance segregation a new phenomenon? Or is it as old as the beginning of Islam, which is how most media outlets described it?
The documentary, and even Nomani herself, cast the beginnings of this crusade as a personal vendetta: she feels she has been humiliated at the mosque and so, ten days later, she marches through the mosque’s front door and prays next to male worshippers, seemingly pissing everyone off. She talks about having a child outside of marriage, 9/11, and how “militant Muslims who prayed five times a day” killed her friend and colleague, Daniel Pearl.
All of those things somehow add up to Nomani wanting women to pray alongside men. The documentary follows her on her book tour, watching her talk to Muslims and go to mosques elsewhere in the U.S. and Canada, on a quest to make everyone pray the way she wants them to. Notice I didn’t say “quest for equity in the mosques” or “quest for gender equality in Islam.” Nomani is very much a feminist, but the picture we get from the documentary paints Nomani more as a televised guerilla activist who lives out a personal spat with her local mosque on a national platform.
During her trip to Los Angeles, Asra sits in a McDonald’s parking lot after upsetting the “most progressive mosque in the country” and eats ice cream. This scene constructs Nomani as a victim that we should feel sorry for: the Big, Bad Muslims don’t like her (most likely because she stormed into their mosque, flouted their rules, and told community elders they were wrong about the religion they’d studied longer than she’d been alive) and so she’s forced to eat ice cream alone at McDonald’s.
But it’s hard to feel sorry for Nomani because she builds herself up to be a victim when she usually isn’t. This is apparent during her meeting with the Morgantown mosque board, where she argues even with the community moderates, and walks out of the meeting after calling board members “naïve” and the meeting “a waste of time” because they didn’t agree with her way of doing things.
I hate to admit that I didn’t like this documentary, because I wanted to like it. Though I hated how she did it, I personally very much agree with the idea of equity in the mosque. Edina Lekovic made a great appearance in the film during Nomani’s ruckus in Los Angeles and voiced my thoughts exactly, stating that Nomani’s shenanigans detracted away from what was really important: women gaining full and equal access to the mosque and positions of power therein. Instead of working with mosques, Nomani worked against them and expected them to comply.
I hated the documentary because it highlighted all the things I hated about how Asra Nomani did this entire “campaign”. Long-lasting change does not happen unilaterally or without dialogue, and there is no dialogue when no one else’s viewpoint counts except Nomani’s.
Readers, what are your thoughts on the documentary? Consider this an open thread, but don’t forget comment moderation rules!
TweetTags: Asra Nomani, gender equity, Mosque in Morgantown, women's rights
Wow, for a late-comer like me, this thread looks rather interesting, if not intimidating.
I would like to make a suggestion against the grain of one common assumption — the assumption being that Asra Nomani will fail, if she hasn’t already. I’m not so sure if that’s really the case. The very fact that we’re having this spirited discussion is itself proof that, for better or for worse, she has had some impact on American Muslim discourse. And I say this as someone who is not exactly a fan. Some commenters above have insisted that change happens only from within. While I agree, I also think that in reality, you can’t always tell whence or how change comes to a system: it can, and usually is, both internal and external. So-called “fringe” figures often set the stage for the “mainstream.” The socio-political climate in which Dr. Mattson was elected president of ISNA was at least partly shaped by the (in/famous) event of Dr. Wadud’s leading a congregation.
I haven’t seen the film yet, but as some have already mentioned above, I think a comparison with the other documentary, “Me and the Mosque,” would be worthwhile. I really liked the latter, and also once a great discussion with the director Zarqa Nawaz (of Little-Mosque-on-the-Prairie fame). Based on Fatemeh’s review above, it seems to me that Huckabee’s film is more about Asra Nomani (and her battle), whereas Nawaz’s film is more about the issue itself, even though it actually is autobiographic (Nawaz begins in her hometown and travels around to various mosques). Both are legitimate approaches to film-making. I do highly recommend “Me and the Mosque” to those who haven’t seen it. It’s really well-made, and shows a great sense of humor despite the serious subject.
BTW, speaking of “personal vendettas,” I was just wondering: what then to make of that classic Second Wave slogan — should the personal not be so political after all?
I am upset that PBS has helped promote this individual and feed into the stereotypes that many have about Islam and muslims !
Asra Nomani got my attention when she addressed the issue of unequal pray hall facilities for men and woman. This is an issue of cultural behavior for many Muslim immigrants who are used to following cultural practices concerning prayer halls instead of learning and following what the Islamic Faith teaches about equal access. It is long over due for this issue to be addressed.
As a Son and Father of Women, I am diasapointed in the Muslim communitie’s abysmal record in providing clean, and resonable facilities for women in or masjids and Islamic centers. There are some exceptional masjids that do have equal facilities for men and women such as the Omar ibn al-Khatab masjid in Los Angeles and others . Unfortunately they are the exception today, not the rule. May ALLAH help we Muslims to wake up and provide descent , areas in our masjids for our wives, mothers, daughters and sisters to pray in.
BUT I lost all respect for Asra when she grandized and started throwing the baby out with the bath water by trying to throw out both the true aspects of Islam along with the misguided cultural practices. It appearred she was more interested in promoting her personal martyrdom (and her book) than she was in making a positive , long term improvement
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[...] Fatemeh’s post on Asra Nomani’s documentary that aired on PBS Monday evening as well Alicia’s post on the Sisters in Islam opposition and the [...]
I simply cannot take Asra seriously.
Look, while I think women should have equal access to a mosque, I have absolutely no desire to be standing side by side with men, bending over in Rukuh so my rear is in plain view of the men behind me! I’d rather be in the back.
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I just want to say thanks to Umm Zaid.
And as for Asra Nomani feeling embattled – I can understand where that comes from. People make disgusting comments about her and her child. I remember getting an earful myself when doing some interviews a few years ago.
She’s always going to be one of those women who will sense the whispering going on behind her back. I honestly don’t see this holier-than-thou attitude changing in our lifetime.
Great discussion here. I am fine with the fact that some of you don’t care for my documentary; you all are invited to share your perspective in the FORUM at our official Web site as well. I also thought you might be interested to see this deleted scene from the film, which shows a side of Asra Nomani that a lot of people don’t get to see. The night before she causes a scene at the Islamic Center of Southern California, Asra visits the home of UCLA law professor and Islamic scholar Khaled Abou El Fadl, whom she considers her intellectual and spiritual mentor:
Well, apparently the video didn’t post. You can see it here: http://www.themosqueinmorgantown.com/film/video/. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
I would like to know everyones opinion on the guy who shouted out…”If she was in a muslim country she would be hanged” when asra was leaving the mosque
The problem, dear moderator,with your editing of our posts when we reference Asra and her choices or behavior is that Asra herself has projected Asra, her life and her details upon us in this media driven event.
The issue here is exactly ASRA.
Asra has already exposed herself and used her personal history and life experiences as both an excuse and a symbol of her martydom to attack the principles and values we believe in. To exclude Asra’s personality or personal choices from this debate is to ignore the very substance of the documentary. You can not have it both ways.
Most of us would have been happy and preferred the documentary to have excluded Asra entirely so that the issue could have been about the problem with unequal facilities instead of what Asra made it to be. ALL ABOUT ASRA.
MODERATOR:
Please STOP cutting out portions of our feedback. Your selective editing gives the appearance of being biased.
I’ve made no personal attacks on Asra. All I have done was to point out things she has said (on record) that I highly disagree with!
So again. STOP with the unfair censorship. As a media website, freedom of opinions and speech as well as citings supporting them should to be allowed.
Brittany, thanks for the link.
Edina was right on the mark when she pointed out that Nomani’s crusade to get women seated alongside men, or preaching at the pulpit, distracts from the real issues being faced by Muslim communities.
And if Nomani thinks that the definition of Tawhid is spiritual equality between men and women, then she’s certainly not going get any board seat of any respectable Muslim organization. While it is a fact that men and women are spiritually equal in the eyes of their Creator, that definition of Tawhid that she gave was completely erroneous, thus underlining my concerns about her lack of credentials.
Tawhid is a basic, cornerstone principle of Islam. If you can’t even get your head wrapped around such a simple concept, then you’re not going to be taken seriously by Muslims.
Brittany: I appreciated your documentary, it was Ms.Nomani that I didn’t appreciate. I am confident that I speak for many Muslim women in this.
I felt that while Ms. Nomani had an agenda that was not centered around improving her community but rather focused on creating a buzz around her upcoming book and her career, your film made no attempt to glamorize or turn her into some kind of champion for “moderate Islam”. I think you did a great job editing the piece, with one exception and that was the vignette where she was reading her own notes from previous khutbas. These “quotes” were her paraphrasing, and her interpretation of statements taken out of the original context that we the viewers (majority non-Muslims) had no access to. This was wrong on her part, but I’d also like to say it was not fair to the Islamic community in that town or in America for that matter), to include it. It boiled down to very serious indictments on the khateeb, and was total here-say.
The anger you are reading here is directed at opportunists like Nomani who seek notoriety at the cost of other people’s dignity and pride.
I have asked the posters here to please see the film’s website and read more, however, they be more interested in debating each other…
@ lulu and Tall-Mohammad: Nowhere does this site say “free speech zone.” We have very strict commenting rules to ensure that threads don’t devolve into cattiness, holier-than-thou diatribes, and political/religious tangents that have nothing to do with anything, etc.
While I dislike the fact that Asra used herself as a part of the movie (like TM said, making it “ALL ABOUT ASRA”), that doesn’t make it acceptable for us to make judgments on her personal life. We can disagree with the fact that she used herself, but saying things like, “She’s just [insert nastiness here] because she had a failed marriage” or “She’s just a single mother, what does she know?” are not acceptable. This is intended to discount her voice based on stuff that doesn’t matter to the situation. Plus, personal attacks are used in lieu of actual arguments.
@ Andy: It was wrong of him to 1) believe in such a thing 2) to shout it out the way he did. Unfortunately, some people do not know how to control their tongues when anger hits them.
The only problem with your argument is that Ms. Nomani uses these status, i.e., unwed mother, single mother, etc. as a battle cry for some kind of “moderate Islam”. She really opens herself up to criticism when she puts her personal life up for display. If she was a simple reporter and stayed out of the story instead of making herself the story, your argument would be valid.
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@ MuslimGirl: While I don’t agree with Nomani’s use of herself as the story, it’s her right to do so. We can critique her use of herself as the story, but we cannot critique her personal life, using Islamic principles or not. I am not budging on this. It’s not acceptable to say “she should have done this, according to Islam, and that’s why I don’t think her documentary is good.”
I still don’t think you understand the point.
Nomani inserts herself inside the inner workings of mosques around the country, commenting on what Islam says, etc., but does not understand why within a religious community her lifestyle choices are not embraced as they are in secular society. Not only does she not accept that her choices of living are unacceptable within a religious framework, she insists that everyone should “moderate” to fit her needs. She puts her little innocent boy into the mix also, and then cries foul when she gets attacked personally.
She is the queen of personal attacks, how is it you think she should be immune when she feels everyone else is fair game?
The costs to achieve celebrity can be high, especially if you go about it in the manner of Ms. Nomani.
And by the way, it’s not *her* documentary; it is Brittany Huckabee’s film. Nomani just made sure she had the starring role in the fitna.
Fatemeh,
The question then is, what are your thoughts if Nomani says “XYZ actions of mine are within the Islamic spectrum of thought” but all the while doesn’t substantiate her claim?
@ maverick007: “what are your thoughts if Nomani says “XYZ actions of mine are within the Islamic spectrum of thought” but all the while doesn’t substantiate her claim?” Then I think she has poor debating or argumentative skills. I don’t think it automatically makes her a bad person or an idiot.
@ MuslimGirl: “She is the queen of personal attacks, how is it you think she should be immune when she feels everyone else is fair game?” Are you saying that it’s okay because she does it? Are you saying that it’s acceptable to go to her level and act the way she does just because she does it? No.
The point about her “lifestyle choices” amounts to a personal attack. And just because she puts her and her “lifestyle choices” into the mix doesn’t mean that it’s acceptable on her part, or acceptable on our part to attack them, whether we believe they are acceptable or not. Personal attacks are not okay. Is it okay when Muslims are attacked for living religious lives within secular society, accused of not being acceptable within a secular framework? No. And it’s not okay the other way around, either.
Seriously, all these attacks on Nomani’s personal life are sickening. Good on you Fatemeh for standing up for principles. I back you up.
As Fatemeh has said, Nomani can use her personal life as she wants – it is after all HER life. However, for us to sit here and make judgements on her character as a means of critiquing her work is low and disgusting.
To be honest, it demonstrates poor debating skills. If one cannot make an argument based on her politics or methods, and needs to stoop to the level of attacking her personal life, then that’s a sorry state of affairs.
“Is it okay when Muslims are attacked for living religious lives within secular society, accused of not being acceptable within a secular framework? No. And it’s not okay the other way around, either.”
Ditto!!
Yeah, I’m saying it is okay because she does it and she puts her personal life up as an example of her work. Just as one can’t be a star of a reality television show and then demand the media not discuss last week’s episode which was all about your personal life, she can’t gripe about people making public judgements of her personal life! Give me a break.
If she puts it all out there, as part of her “cause/crusade” then she should expect criticism for her choices and what many would consider her mistakes.
If she were simply a journalist, reporting on a story, I’d say, you’re right, her personal life has nothing to do with her reporting. But in this case, she has made her personal life the report. When you say, well, we won’t backstab her or speak ill of her personally, you’re assuming we’re saying this in private behind her back. I dare say, Ms. Nomani is reading everything written about her on a minute by minute basis.
Some people feel any attention is better than no attention.
@ Sobia: Re: “… However, for us to sit here and make judgements on her character as a means of critiquing her work is low and disgusting …”
Personally I don’t recall myself attacking Asra Nomani on her personal life, but to to echo MuslimGirl’s comments – if Asra Nomani stubbornly insists on including personal details of her life that are completely irrelevant to the topic at hand, then it means she wants attention on that particular item, for good or for bad.
While I agree that personall attacks should be kept out of any debate, please stop feigning shock and disgust at some of these comments. Its not like the owners of such comments y were bringing up unsolicited or generally-unknown details of Asra’s personal life.
[...] personal view of the film can be pretty much summed up by this excellent review from Fatemah of Muslimah Media Watch: Mosque in Morgantown, a documentary about Asra Nomani’s quest to eradicate gender segregation in [...]
I don’t agree with a lot of what MuslimGirl has written, but I think she makes a good point in her last post. It’s not like one of us spied on Ms. Nomani undercover and started gossiping about what an immoral life she lead. Rather, Ms. Nomani made the choice to disclose aspects of her personal life, and, not only that, but she decided to use her life in her work to promote her agenda. As MuslimGirl said, she made her life story her report. Don’t we have a right, then, to critique her for her lifestyle choices as part of our overall critique of her journalism? I’m not saying that I personally have a desire to criticize her for having a child out of wedlock or anything of that sort — I don’t, and I actually have quite a bit of respect for Ms. Nomani — but I don’t think there’s anything fundamentally wrong with criticizing her for such things.
@Muffy: Sure you can criticize her. But not on this website. I ain’t playin’, y’all.
Well said!
Are these PBS docs available online? I don’t have PBS.
Hey hi to everyone, Aminah Carroll, Lulu, Safiyah, Fatemah and all etc. I really haven’t posted at quite this length on anything in a while. I am quite busy, but I did see most of this documentary and I saw a link to the review here from … Twitter? or somewhere, and I said, “Let me read what she thought of this,” and wow, the words just started coming. Lulu, big hugs chola, I’m going to email you. but I’ve heard some really awesome news about you. ;)
But what I was thinking was, there is a lot of discussion here about Asra Q. Nomani. Some of it is unfair and based upon the knee jerk dislike for her that we inculcate in our hearts because of her mannerisms or the way she had a babeh without being married (and talks about it seemingly all the time)…. but can you miss how hurt and lost she looks when listening to Khaled Abul Fadl, or when trying to pray? That is sincerity there, and that is the type of sincere yet liberal, flaky, outrageous, whatever Muslim that you — the community — risks losing as a result of the way you perceive them. I am telling you, and I have had this discussion with some of the leaders (for whatever that is worth) that we are on the verge of a mass exodus, meltdown, etc (their words). It is as though we are on a boat headed towards a waterfall, and rather than trying to rescue all aboard, we are bickering about the food stores or who is going to clean the head. Not just the Asra types or the gay Muslims, but the Christine Arjas, the Sameer Parkers, mothers and fathers of Muslim children, people who are otherwise looking for their place and don’t see it here. For all its faults, ‘Taqwacores’ by M.M. Knight brings this longing into sharp focus.
But you’re getting off topic, it’s not about if she had a baby out of wedlock or if she puts herself in front of the camera, not really. I think the film was about her, but for a reason – it’s called the Mosque in Morgantown, not “Ladies in the masjid” or something. Yes, she is also featured in Zarqa Nawaz’s documentary, but that film takes a broader view. And there is no law saying “Well you have spoken about it in this film, now you cannot speak about it again.”
I mean, I just think that is how she is. But you know, sometimes it takes someone like that, who is always putting his or herself out there, inserting themselves into places, being in front of the camera, pulling outrageous stunts, to get an important issue NOTICED. Sort of like the rock in your shoe. You don’t have to like her, because in the end, it’s not about her. Even Morgantown, in the end, is not about her.
Whatever she did, for that brief period of time – and it was brief, these things are like 4, 5 yrs old now — she DID finally get CAIR and ISNA to at least ADDRESS the issue, albeit very WEAKLY. It did, at least for a little bit, gain the attention of Muslim “leadership” as well as the non Muslims. Nothing has changed, in my view, but now it is out there. I mean, at the end of the day, it is on each individual how they choose to deal with this. Do you check out of the masjid like I and many others have done? Do you take the initiative and pay out of your own pocket to put in clean carpets or a fan or a heater in the women’s area, or put in speakers? Some people do that too.
I do think there is an underlying misogyny imported from wherever that goes into this. Is it Islamic? I don’t think so, given the clear hadith about women being allowed to go to the masjid. But I will tell you here, all you who read this, I have never felt so hated as a woman in Islam the day that I was locked IN to the masjid and the only way I could get out was to walk through this sort of maintenance hallway to the men’s area where I was stared at and screamed at. (Why? Because the man had locked me in — without checking to see if I was there — and then left, he could not hear me pounding on the door and calling for him to open it). This is beyond “we will have dignity with separate yet equal prayer spaces,” and this is something that (a) will never be solved by those types of spaces and (b) largely prevents them from existing in the first place — even here… in America. I cannot make excuses for Muslim men anymore.
Oh , like wow. Another blog post.
It’s both amusing and disconcerting to see that what I said about Nomani feeling embattled has been thoroughly confirmed by this thread.
Nomani correctly preempted her critics by laying it all out there, by refusing to let others take control of the conversation by dragging her personal life into the light first – but because she’s not appropriately ashamed or red-faced, she is to be chastised some more.
I think these reactions stem out of fear – “if it’s OK for Nomani to be a single mom, then… then… everyone might want to be a single mom!” My question to that would be – so what? Plenty of people who aren’t great at marriage make great parents. I’d rather they remain single, instead of forcing themselves into some loveless union for the sake of satisfying the gossip machine.
And if there is one thing I know about religion, it’s that nobody really lives by religious rules (however arbitrarily those rules might be interpreted or enforced). Everyone bends or breaks a few, pretty consistently or else interprets them in a thoroughly different manner. Yet in conversation, people always rush to single out the woman who has, in their opinion, committed sexual impropriety. They can excuse other types of bendage and breakage, but not this. I suppose the subject is just that titillating.
“but because she’s not appropriately ashamed or red-faced, she is to be chastised some more”
I agree with your sentiments. Although I don’t agree with Nomani’s tactics nor her approach but I absolutely am disgusted by the vitriol against her personal life, and then justification of it, on this thread.
Natalia,
if someone runs into a movie theatre and yells fire while blocking the exit, should they be surprised if they get run over as every one runs out of the theatre.
What Asra has done is tantamount to both yelling file in a crowded theatre and crying wolf at the same time.
No one would be concerned with her private life if she was not wearing it as a badge of honor on her sleeve.
Many of us would much prefer the issue to be about the issue itself, instead of about someone’s personal life
Salaamu aleikum sisters, and what a vibrant discussion! and i think the moderation is helpful and fair, and thanks to Sister Fatemah for the forum.
Well, to me there is a lot of the cross-generation interfacing going on; and also i think there may be a New York City and the rest of the world thing going on, and also there appears to be an operational definition lacking for “who speaks for the Islamic community” and what constitutes islamic study and knowledge thing going on.
So there are a lot of views which are all instructive in various ways and some blocks that are stumbling stones to our understanding each other. Still, as always, the voices of my sisters across cyberspace and years of experience and perspective touch my heart very deeply, and as i write this, bring me to tears.
i am so very grateful to be muslimah.
and i am from that first recent generation that responded to the Stepford wives criteria for Amercian women in the fifties…and am one of those whose friends were loud and vocal in fighting for Civil Rights and Human Rights, and as their voices softened, many never stopped fighting, “struggling”, “striving” and achieving, and yes enjoying the fruits, both sweet and bitttersweet. So one of the things that appeals to me most in Islam is the lovely tone of debate and discussion and the respect for knowledge…and for the “other” and that soft tone is a struggle and a challenge for me…as I am also an “in your face New Yorker”, for although i grew up in an Eastern seaboard small town, and returned as an elder to a Southern mountain small town, I spent my formative young and middle aged adulthood in New York. During that entire time, big and bold, brash and “feisty”, forward thinking and acting was all not only rewarded, but a social currency without which you were very unlikely to even get on a train leaving the station, let alone drive your own bus.
As i write this i smile, because after leaving that city of 8 million people in which i like Asra was successful, i found that my skills and ability for leadership, change and social agency for good were cast in a style which was changing as the generation changed .So my motives, which were sincere were often questioned, and i was cast in smaller places, and among younger people, as “attention -seeking’ and of course the next rung down is “flaky”…yet it was not my abilities, knowledge CONTENT, or insight which had changed, nor my capacity nor my sincerity, but simply that i had migrated to geographical areas and lived into another generation, which resented my leadership STYLE.
i confess i am not a person who sees the need for personal change at this point in my life as being overwhelmingly urgent, and i actually like and respect myself, yet Life is dynamic. If you snooze, you often lose.
so i have had to wake up and continue that life journey of development and personal jihad that confronts all of us unless we stagnate.
In my era, personal experience and its authenticity was held up to a sham of lies and abuse of power, and for many years, until many of the most needed, powerbroking, able and resource -heavy(ie rich and comfy) members of my generation sold out, and became far worse than most generations before us, had a very positive impact on human dignity and capacity-building, and good outcomes for even people who have been most left behind, in entrenched and harmful systems, and are most at risk, so very often women and children, and poverty stricken young men.
So i use my personal experience here as currency to trade for understanding and respect. I honestly believe with all my heart that that is the hallmark of a courageous individual, one who will not accept being just a number or non-entity, and i do believe that is what Asra also does, to avoid being a hypocrite, and personally i can not speak for Ara, but i think she is sincere and not a money grubber, there are many ways to make money by selling out your conviction and many easier ways to make money like marrying it, when you are an attractive , passionate, intelligent young woman.
Now as for me i have always enjoyed attention and been very grateful to Allah when it was given to me and to my words and life and tried to be as honest as i can possibly be, and as accountable, to use that social currency for good. So i choose honesty over glibness, even when it makes me look bad.That’s from the Qur’an my friends.That is why I believe that Asra does not hide her child, for she would then be accused of hypocracy and secrecy.And neither of us had to go into reform work, we could ahve stayed in journalism or the stage or business or whatever else we were good at–speaking from the pain of having recent losses of an extreme nature because of my advocacy work, i can say that enjoying attention and the capacity to be a change agent is one of the few perks you get. You also pay a terrible price.The movie Chariots of Fire, one of my favorites, has such a great scene in which the conservative Presbyterian sister of the greatest runner in the world, as it turns out, is worried her beloved brother is losing his spiritual worth and faith to his fame, and he replies “when i run for the glory of God, i can feel God’s delight in me” (paraphrased)–that is one reason i fear we judge each other too harshly instead of agreeing to disagree, when we must, and find areas of agreement, when we can.
In any case i’d like to close this little reflection with this injunction, which is an accepted hadith” even if you know only three verses of one surah, teach it”.
with Love to you and gratitude for this participatory exploration of our love for islam and each other, Aminah
You know, my #67 above posting came out of sequence for some reason; the replies below it are not responses to it, they were alrady posted if you check the times. so i will take the time now to add an addenda that concerned me and it fits with my comments above even though it is out of sync.
knowledge in Islam is such a great term and concept, for it transcends the abuse of scholarship by clergy who have been known to spend years debating how many angels ccan fit on the ehad of a pin!
knowledge, now that is incumbent on every muslim, but if we live and breathe we learn if we have minds and hearts which are open, we learn the most trascendent kinds of knowledge.
If Asra knows that the devaluation of women leads to bride burnings, genital mutilation, female human trafficking for alves for sex and toil, women confined to their homes by coercion, women prohibited from entering teh mozque through the front door, women beaten, women used as disposable commodities to be upgraded for a trophy wife every few years like a car, women violated by being married as children or sold for families to survive…well if she sees that that devaluative pattern is a continuum not a staccato of events–doesn’t she ahve an obligation in islam to stand up? when you say that her acts violate of Islam, i have to ask, what of the man who was betrothed to her and slept with her and concieved their child jointly? what has he forfeited? is he and the millions of men who have ruined women who were not as resilient and strong as Asra also banned from islam? or is there something about Love and lust and human vulnerablity that engage us in a lifeslong struggle to be good and rise up even when we fail? and what of teh honesty in a relationship that may ahev eben sanctioned by a temporary marriage or by love or by love on one side and lust on the other?
there are so many ways in whic we humans abuse our power, surely we can unite to support each other in combating teh ones we know most about and in strengthening ourselves and each other instead of attacking…
for me personally a high point of the film was the so-called liberal mosque in california where the men objected to praying with Asra. but then they simply cordoned off a space. and Asra said “wasn’t that easy?” to accomodate chiice, the choice the prophet and Islam and the Holy qur’an give us” ie to choose to accomodate the needs and wants of our brithers and sisters.
if you do not wish to pary side by side with men, then seek a room where only women are present. or, cordon off an area on the side, or if you wish only to pray with men, make a side room for the men who wish that and let those (a surprising number) who don’t care or who wish for islamic egalite to be observed in teh main prayer room at teh mosque to do so.
or perhaps let see the variety in approaches extend to traditional, conservative and reform mosques or their equivelent just as these views are accomodated in teh christian adn Jewish religions.
i do not see that anything that Asra does is anti-Islamic, to me it is Islamic. we need to take on the hurt that is caused in our religion by the misogyny which is a degradtion to generations of children, and we need not wait for Islam is under siege by those who will estroy our faith’s moderation, inclusiveness, and TRUE history if we let them.
for example there was NEVER an early time , even in our beloved Prophet Muhammad’s (SAWS) life span, when all women covered in hijab, though modesty was enjoined and followed in dress.and to my humanly limited but nonetheless somewhat valuable knowledge as far as it goes, and if you know more i am greateful for the correction when it is accurate, knowledge, nor did Khadija cover.
there is so much freedom, creativity, common sense, and magnanimity, in Islam.
i see it asd the antithesis to small mindedness, judgementalism, conformity and stifling coerciveness.
Hi You all, if you just checking in to see if more responses have been added, look North because they are appearing in numerical sequence (65, 66, 67, 68 etc,) but out of order of response from the bottom, for some reason!
as a muslim filmmaker of conscious, i want to say i support asra’s film and feel like saying to the writer of this post, that film is not an essay writing exercise nor spewing out theories on race and representation nor about getting all “perspectives” in a particular film project. it is quite pathetic that these academic-like exercises don’t at all serve the “media” work that you are doing.
nomani’s film is a ‘point-of-view” about someone’s personal struggle with an issue that obviously means a lot to them (and me). i connect with premise of the film well. if ‘theatrics’ is a problem with people, then i can list a whole slew of people who use theatrics for positive change -
as a filmmaker i read this this to be a pathetic media critique and when read stuff like this, i turn my head the other way. it is like the academics drumming up what just was ALL WRONG about a project. this is not the way to critique a project. there’s no recognition that her work in fact is very important or that the way current state of mosques holds, we cannot have enough films about women’s access in the mosques. ( i know TONS of muslim women who dont go to the mosque b/c of issues nomani points out – yes she has used her personal story to highlight – it is a form of storytelling,not the only form of course).
i say this because i have taken significant number of courses on film theory, representation, male gaze, muslim women “depiction”, all of which at certain point, as an artist, tend to create a remarkable degree of barriers and ’self-consciousness’ that is fatal and deadly for an artist. but film is fundamentally storytelling, not a media critique or analysis. it has a plot, conflict, drama, some context, and some enlightenment. it is not a substitute for writing an essay.
in short, i hated your media critique as it serves no purpose for the artist, but to build your own intellectual ego about how many wrong things you can find in a project – perhaps next time trying taking less notes and look at the overall context and picture, especially when it concerns sensitive issues that can drum up further hatred for muslim women who do want to make radical changes in their communities – and have every right to do so.
or BETTER YET, make your OWN movie and see how far you get with it.
Salaam MuslimGirl,
As another white convert, I’m baffled by your decision to label some converts as flaky, and other sincere. People don’t convert to a religion because they want to try it for a period of time. There is something that is missing from their lives, and they see it in Islam, or Buddhism, or Judaism, or anything else. What happens after their conversion is not for you to judge, and if they leave Islam, it is certainly not for you to judge their initial intentions for becoming Muslims. I have almost left Islam on several occasions because the things I have witnessed, and the disrespect I have encountered at the hands of my “brothers” has blown my mind and crushed my spirit. Nonetheless, I have managed to keep my faith and learn more about my deen.
Like Umm Zaid, I no longer go to a mosque, because the ones around here seem toxic in one way or another. Segregation, disrespect, and completely un-Islamic behavior are par for the course. Those of us who choose to stay at home are not whining, and may Allah forgive you for making such a judgement. We are making a conscious decision to protect our iman from the anger and frustration we feel at the mosque. What good is it for us to go in and singlehandedly try to change established communities that are fully ingrained in their ethno-centric, exclusive, conservative mindsets. It is not our responsibility to change them, but to inform them. I have done my part, and I have no desire to put myself through hell just to sit in a mosque every week where I am not welcome.
Knowledge does not require credentials, and credentials do not always imply knowledge.
“No one would be concerned with her private life if she was not wearing it as a badge of honor on her sleeve.”
Seriously? Nobody would bring up the premarital sex, or the child out of wedlock in an attempt to discredit her? I understand your distaste for her just putting it all out there, but to say that nobody would care about it otherwise, just seems absurd to me. People concern themselves with far less than that.
Salaams,
I wanted to comment on the recent documentary The Mosque in Morgantown which follows Asra Nomani in her activism to establish women’s equal position in the masjid. I have also read her book Standing Alone in Mecca. I was much impressed by her book as it was well written and thoroughly researched on the topic of women’s rights in Islam. In fact, reading her book further validated my decision to revert, as I reverted for reasons related to respect for women and women’s equal status to men as explicated in the Qu’ran, among several other reasons. With the portrayal of women merely as sex objects in Western media (music, music videos, tv and film) and having endured much sexual harassment merely walking on the street (while decently dressed) I have found solace in true Islamic teachings on women and women’s rights. However, I do not support Asra Nomani’s confrontational manner to “change” women’s prayer position in the masjid. As I also reverted for reasons related to modesty and simplicity as the appropriate way of life, which is also profoundly explicated in the Qu’ran. And I found Asra Nomani’s confrontational acts at times to be quite immodest and even sensationalist. The mere fact that she is being pampered by a make-up artist for a Glamour magazine article and photo shoot on the day of the gender-mixed prayer led by Dr. Amina Wadud in NYC (as shown in the documentary, but this descriptive part of the day is conveniently ommited in her book) provokes me to question her intentions. Yes, what occurred that day was historical and she had every right to invite the media, but c’mon a Glamour magazine article! Yet, I do understand that her activism on women’s prayer position in the masjid may be more representative of a struggle on women’s status in the ummah. But, I do not know if the approach of tackling women’s position inside the masjid will garner the overall results of realizing women’s equal status and Allah-given rights within the ummah that she and her supporters may be seeking. And I certainly, agree with Fatemeh’s review on the Muslimah Media Watch blog: http://muslimahmediaw... that Asra Nomani’s activism style serves more to detract than attract in her cause.
Additionally, as a recent revert, the conflict regarding women’s prayer position in the masjid, can further serve to distract and deter a revert, possibly compelling them to lose their imam/faith in Islam. It is challenging enough to explain my decision to rervert to non-Muslim friends and family, face potential hiring/employment discrimination for hijab, and integrate my new identity with my American background. But my imam is strong and growing stronger by the day, as I view the issue of women’s prayer position, secondary to the act of offering salat and exemplifying and living Islam in my everyday actions and demeanor (including how I resolve or address conflicts and problems). I do not have a problem praying in the back of the main prayer hall behind the men. I do not want to bend down in prayer in front of a man anyway. And while I do not feel it to be my responsiblity for controlling men’s sexual urges and desires in any way, I do want to support my brothers’ spirituality and their focus and concentration on salat in the masjid – by allowing just that and offering prayer in a position that cannot distract them in salat. Let’s be real, sexual thoughts and attraction are natural occurances with gender inter-mixing of any kind. And unlike Christianity and Judiasm, women’s sexuality is celebrated in Islam (as a woman is permitted to divorce her husband for lack of sexual satisifaction). However, the masjid is not the place for entangling or invoking the multiple issues that may arise through gender inter-mixing, even while the Qur’an advises and guides both men and women to exert self-control and act modestly. I want to do what I can to support both the focus and attention on the ACT of prayer by both my brothers and sisters, because certainly, some of them are likely to encounter a roadside billboard of a nearly-naked woman advertising/ “selling her body and selling sex to sell a product” on the way to or from the masjid! So while the billboard shall remain outside of the masjid, I shall continue to pray behind and not in front of my brothers.
All change begins with the self. I do not forge my connection with Allah through my location in offering salat in the masjid or through my view accessibility of the imam or for that matter any other human being. Rather my connection with Allah is forged through the ACT of offering prayer. Where I offer prayer is secondary to my love and worship of Allah. And indeed, I often feel most connected to Allah when offering prayer outside in the forest, rather than within the man-made walls of a mosque. Because in the forest my senses are most awake to the beauty of life Allah has afforded us – from the delightful chirping of birds, to the fresh smell of cedar and wildflowers, to the array of luscious, vibrant green plants which provide us all with life-sustaining substance, to the air that lightly touches my cheeks, to the touch of cool, refreshing water flowing through the streams.
I implore that as a diverse Ummah we focus on what connects us rather than what divides us, which is our love for Allah, our reverence and respect for the last Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and our belief in final judgement.
“Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” – Albert Einstein
P.S. This comment was originally posted on another progressive muslim forum, but I am including it here as well
This is Christine Arja from the documentary. I read this comment and couldn’t but help replying. First off, many muslims know that many muslim women cover or wear “hijab” at muslim functions or in the mosque, but do not “cover” in their daily lives. That was the case for me and many friends featured in the film. I didn’t choose to cover. I guess part of the point of the documentary is at least exploring different views on Islam. I’m a lawyer, I have some skirt suits and when I sit down, some of them hit above the knee. Does that make me a non-muslim? Frankly its funny because I remember that day hurrying to get ready for the interview in between taking care of children and other professional things I had to do, I probably didn’t have any clean clothes from the drycleaners and chose that skirt suit last minute. I think I remember having the thought that, “Oh, some immature muslim is gonna take issue with me wearing a skirt just because,” even though we all have professional muslim female friends or family members and no one would call them out like that. Some of these comments are so ridiculous, they are the things that cause me to not want to associate with writers like the one I am commenting to, that no muslims she knows think wearing a “short” skirt like the type sold for professional business suits is “appropriate.” Note to self: Skirt suits sold at Macy’s not for Muslim Women – gee. I don’t want to associate with people like that and raise my children around people who are more concerned about the hemline on a skirt that to the rest of non-muslim world would be deemed conservative. What a joke. Secondly, while my husband and I have reconciled, I guess in hindsight, I should not have even given any update on my life and where I stand, but like many couples who have been married over 10 years, we go through changes in life. I don’t need to “out” anyone, but at least 4 other couples featured in the film have either divorced or been separated since the filming, does that make them less sincere. People are so judgmental. The documentary itself and the process I went through in Morgantown was so difficult that it lead to some real discovery for me personally. Many of the people involved in the film, I knew outside of the film, went to law school with one of them and knew them initially in a social capacity where we were not challenged to take sides. I still hold to many of the principles of Islamic teaching and the idea of one God; however, I don’t wear a badge proclaiming myself a muslim anymore because I realized I’m continually having to respond to comments, criticisms and questions when I just want to raise my children, live my life and grow spiritually without labels. My spiritual journey is one that started from my earliest childhood days when my parents had different faiths and continues to this day. Further, I only got on the board of the executive committee with Asra’s help. I met Asra when I was taking the bar exam after law school and after having my second child. I had wanted to get more active in the community and was working on some things when she moved back to WV. One thing I learned in law school, to ask what is the story behind the case. The mosque let me on the board because I was the lesser of two evils between me and Asra and it was a way to hurt her. I learned some hard lessons through all these events and it all took a toll on me personally and spiritually. I also realized that as an American Muslim I would constantly have people like the writer above think that because I was American, I perhaps wasn’t sincere unless I was the most devout. I’ve had conversations with other American converts who feel a lot of pressure to be very devout whereas Muslim-borns had be from all different paths and even quite liberal and non-practicing but no one judges their sincerity.
Thank you.
Really, I don’t need a second crack at this but where from watching either the 60 minute or 90 minute version of the documentary do you know enough about any of the characters to take the type of personal attacks you are taking? Oh, all the hadith I could recite about your comments and how deplorable. I’ll work backwards and say that you ended your last comment suggesting that one should be willing to do something rather than complain. I tried to make change, was on the mosque board and many other things but yet no one told me that I would end up taking national and international criticism for my efforts. I’m not a muslim scholar. I was a busy mother, wife, lawyer raising two little girls and trying to find a place for my family in the muslim community. At the time of the documentary, I’d been a muslim for 7 years I think at that time. That’s seven years of my early adult life as a mother, professional and wife. I had already endured so much fallout from my own family, friends and others upon my conversion that you talk about this documentary like it was my entire muslim life. The documentary also ended filming well over two years ago, a time when my family decided to move to another state. Believe me running the “gamut” was not the slice of my life featured in this documentary. Being on the Board of the mosque entailed sometimes thrice weekly meetings where I drove 45 minutes each way, paid for a babysitter because my husband was on call and had to work, where I had to get up early for work in the morning and I often stayed up late. I don’t have to defend myself but I agree with a previous writer that people like yourself and ones I encountered in Morgantown and elsewhere made me feel like this is not a religious community, like, do I actually voluntarily subject myself to this type of criticism and experience when I’m looking to grow spritually and expose my children to religion? Going to social events was supposed to be fun not torture and trying to make positive change for people like myself involves a little more than whining. I have not “ditched Islam” because I don’t refer to myself as a Muslim, although that can be easily interpreted that way. If you are a muslim, and I’m a muslim and if there’s only one banner to stand under, I’m just wearing a different name tag. Peace.
Hello,
I havent seen the documentary. But surfing through the comments I feel Asra is just trying to delete the word ’segregation’ which exists so strongly in the Muslim community. Its not a battle of genders but a battle to secure the other gender’s basic rights. I am sure you would agree that everyone has the ‘right to live’ and ‘live well enough’. Atleast she has started revolution, and one needs to credit her for that after all ‘actions speak louder than words’.
I am a Hindu and trying to learn about your religion. On one side you have ‘Hajar’ who raised her son ‘Ishamel’ all alone in Mecca and other side it says that female must have a male member with her in Hajj like her husband, uncle or brother. Now isn’t that contradictory.
We are all children of Allah, so lets live peacefully and help eachother in making this world a beautiful place, just like Allah wanted it to be.
Regards,
Rajshree
I read a whole bunch of articles written by her. She is a nutter quite clearly. I read one article where she keeps talking about how women’s rights its called “Bullies in the Pulpit” and basically talks about how women are “repressed” in Islam because they are not allowed to pray in front of/next to men. The most disturbing part is where she writes about how the mosque started to distribute pamplets on women in Islam with a section advising men to beat their wives, and then rather than focusing on something that truely is anti-Islamic, continues… for my part I was concerned about the second class status of women forced to pray in the over head balcony. I was so angry so basically according to her version of Islam. It is sexist that women be modest ie dnt pray in front of men but I guess not all crazy that they should beat their wives.
All of this is from a women who claims that Islam prevented her from marrying a non -Muslim man but she actually slept with a whole bunch of men anyway (which she freely admits) so why are you so insistent on the fact that Islam prevented you from marrying a non-muslim? She also has a son out of wedlock too, the father remains unmentioned whether she knows who he is, is another issue but lets face it I as a women would not want her to the the female face of Islam. It is insulting, she manipulates and lies about the way women are treated I have lived in Egypt for more than 7 years now and for the most part women are highly respected. Islam gave women rights long before America even existed and whilst most of the Europeans were still living in caves. Like any religion we have our issues because their will always be those who seek to manipulate the religion to serve their goals Asra is one of them. Islam is a religion of peace, love tolerance and forgiveness not one of hatred and intolerance. Asra disgusts me and I ashamed by the fact she continues to call her self a muslim
[...] 2009 by cycads First published at Feminist Review. Another excellent review can be read at Muslimah Media Watch by my colleague, Fatemeh [...]