Reactions in Brief
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We really hope you’ll share your reaction to the film in a thoughtful, poetic or powerfully argued 500-1000 word essay. But if you’d rather leave a brief comment, here’s your space!
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14 COMMENTS
The Mosque in Morgantown is a production of Version One Productions, Inc., in association with WGBH. It is a presentation of the Center for Asian American Media with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding was provided by the LEF Moving Image Fund. PBS broadcast is presented by WETA-TV, Washington, DC. © 2009 Version One Productions, Inc.
Muslim “Movement”
I had the opportunity to view most of “The Mosque in Morgantown” last night on Seattle’s PBS station KCTS. Unfortunately was unable to see through to the end of this “edited” version. Seems an excellent companion piece to Zarqa Nawaz’ “Me and the Mosque”, denoting a similar experience up here in Canada during roughly the same period.
My own take on the current Islamic ferment is that, although certainly influenced by the experience of Muslim’s in North America, it reflects a natural religious evolution which clearly both Christians and Jews have undergone over the last century and a half or so. Sometimes I suspect that the “delay” faced by Islam may simply be its relatively later, a few centuries after Christianity, appearance on the world scene. (I don’t know if similar occurrences have happened in the other large mainly non-monotheistic faiths, nor am I that conversant with such “happenings” in monotheistic groups like Sikhism.)
I would refer to this fractionizing as similar to what a former professor of mine, Nels F. S. Ferré once described in a word picture which might now be considered a dated parable: “The Castle of Classical Christianity” (http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=516&C=512). I think this metaphor or model is certainly adaptable to what is happening in contemporary Judaism and probably can be applied to Islam as well.
Dr. Ferré was a long time theologian teaching at the Andover Newton Theological School, an institution probably known to Brittany, now a Boston resident. (I also share some CO living experience with her as a one time pastor of the inter-ethnic Good Shepherd Baptist Church of Denver–http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3711860014).
Burnaby, BC CANADA
I would like to thank the film maker for helping me get a glimpse into the American Muslim community. No doubt the Mosque in Morgantown does not represent all Mosques in America, nor does Asra, or any of the other characters, represent all Muslims, but the film has shed light on subjects previously unknown to me. Most of the characters were multi-dimensional persons, sometimes likable, sometimes not so much, but no different than the people in my life, in my church, my neighborhood. That was the real value of the film to me. It doesn’t affect me how or where Muslim women pray, that’s their business, not mine. It is interesting to me to know they are subject to similar decisions as I am. I have always respected my family and their faith, but still I left the Catholic church for many years, lived with Buddhists and studied other religions. Now have returned to the Church, with my own understanding and conclusions as to God’s role in my life. I still embrace all who love God, regardless of the name they call Him, and I am happy to understand more of my Muslim brothers and sisters’ path to find Him as well. Excellent film!
Tallahassee
Working to gain peace and to speak for whats right
I am a woman who believes that all women have a right to live there faith
in a way which speaks to their heart and connects them to there God. I feel
that Asra is doing this and through this documentary people of similar
beliefs can join to share this journey for what we ideally would be able to
live in a world where we all would respect each other. Women and men will be
able to value each other in the truest sense and trust that God will know
each persons heart. To live in compassion and with respect and through there
example we are all made better. I know that if i open myself to another person
with compassion and learn to listen then we can connect and find a meeting
place where find what makes us the same and helps us celebrate and learn from
our differences. I don’t have 500 words but maybe the rest isn’t to be spoken.
Blessing to all
Chris
Ontario, Canada
I agree with much of Asra had to say in this documentary, but I think she set her ’cause’ back many years – she’s harmed her cause more than she’s helped it.
One thing many journalists often fantasize about is being silenced – the thought of becoming heroic through some authority having silenced you because you tell the ‘truth’. You can see it in much of her approach when addressing people associated with the mosque – it’s uncomfortable and it’s cringeworthy to anyone that doesn’t want a fractured community.
There’s a reason Asra didn’t seem to get the support from the local muslim community – and most of them aren’t that conservative either.
I would accuse Asra of failing to show any real tact, but let’s face it – she’s a shock-jock journalist that wrote articles that embarassed and put to shame the local muslim community.
Anyone that seriously believes publically humiliating and defaming the muslim community (rather than just the leaders) and then hope to garner public and widespread support for a ’cause’ (however rightious it is) has rocks in their heads.
Shock-jocks like Asra don’t serve the community well, because they attempt to throw the baby out with the bathwater – to publically defame and humiliate their brothers, sisters, mothers, aunts, uncles, friends.
She does a disservice to muslim liberals when she attempts to alienate the vast majority of muslims rather than engage the more reasonable types in a way that involves both listening AND talking.
The way she treats the liberal/moderates in the film is appaling. She comes across as rude, opportunistic, snide, smug, condescending, completely dismissive of other points of view.
Hazem Bata puts it best when he explains in the documentary – ‘we could have made 10 years progress in 10 months had she worked alongside other moderates like myself’ or something to that effect. Whether Asra believes this or not, she should have at least tried it.
The way she treats the younger guy, Ihtishaam Qazi in the documentary and in the meeting in particular – was disgraceful. Here is this young, open-minded guy, totally comitted to listeining to her point of view whilst trying to bring the community forward in a united manner…and he’s just casually dismissed as irrelevent and useless when he doesn’t walk lock-step with Asra’s point of view.
Asra should have seen Ihtishaam’s viewpoint for what it was – ‘not perfect’ but progress nonetheless. Instead she throws the baby out with the bathwater, yet again. I felt terrible for him.
When you take all of this into account, it looks as though she’s chosen to pursue a personal vendetta because of the regrettable death of her friend Daniel Pearl – and instead dragged her community through the mud through her articles and campaign.
Her work is tainted because of this – people have every reason to question her motives and sincerity.
I think that this film makes some good points, like the inability of some members of the muslim community to include women into activities and important decisions regarding the functioning of the mosque.
However, during this film I felt as though Asra had a personal vendetta against members of the muslim community and did not seem to want to hear the voice of the more liberal members that she keeps talking about, the ones that she says need to be the ones to make the changes. At one point during her “trial” a few members tried to speak with her and rather then listen to them she talked over them and just left. She talks about disunity but how is she creating any unity is the ways in which she deciding to go about her crusade.
I question her reasons, what exactly is she trying to prove by praying side by side next to men, what is wrong with praying behind men. This is not a sign of inequality or that women are lesser then men, in fact I think it is assuming the worst of men more then anything. I am by no means a conservative muslim, I am in fact quite liberal but because of the physical nature of the prayer I would not want to have men praying behind me.
I feel as though many of the important messages and problems that surround muslim communities are overshadowed by Asra’s own intolerance and inability to compromise and listen to anyone who does not wish to do things her way.
I have moved to the Morgantown Muslim Community after this entire Asra Nomani controversy started and therefore, I watched the movie with a lot of interest. Also, I spent a lot of time reading about this controversy as well. After getting all the facts, I came to the conclusion that Asra Nomani was not interested to work with the community to resolve the issues. She wanted a confrontation so that she can get the national media attention to promote her book (Standing Alone in Mecca). Since all of this happened after 9/11, it was a perfect time for her to criticize Islam, especially born as a Muslim and get all the media glory. After 9/11 anyone who criticized Islam became a hero overnight and made a lot of money. How else one can attract media attention to a small town like Morgantown? That was her ONLY goal.
It is quite interesting to note that she was raised in the Morgantown Muslim Community, went to high school, college and finally school of journalism (almost a span of over 30 years) and she had no interest in Morgantown Muslim Community during that time. All of a sudden after 9/11 she became an activist for the Muslim women in Morgantown. The most interesting point to note is that she does not have any supporters in this community, not from the conservative nor the liberal. The only support she maintained was that of her immediate family, whose interests were merely those of her own. In the end, it is all about how she used the Morgantown Muslim Community for her goal of making money.
Morgantown, WV
It’s important to note that Islam does not discriminate against women. I don’t know about the Catholic or Jewish faiths’ doctrines, but the teachings of Islam do not subjugate women, men subjugate women. In fact, the Prophet Muhammad knew that despite the words given in the Quran men would mistreat women in society and he gave firm directions to his “Ummah” (Islamic world community) to treat women with the utmost respect as their equals in the eyes of God.
Sadly, as with all societies throughout history, Muslim men have sought to keep women behind closed doors as if they were chattel. This is changing, as the world’s Muslims are remembering their great heritage of scholarship. and as Muslim women are attaining higher learning.
The problem with Asra Nomani is that she seeks to exaggerate every situation for the benefit of her journalism career, not out of love for the people she calls her community. There are plenty of mosques in America where men and women are asked to enter through separate doors, however, the women of those communities will and are asserting themselves without calling the media to come in and publicly humiliate them, or dupe them into photo op demonstrations. She may sell a lot of books that way, but she wasn’t influencing change in that community. In fact, her stunts only served to make the Muslim community/leadership draw the wagons against anything other than the status quo.
Read Hadia Mubarak’s piece in the Feminism and Islam section to see what sincere Muslim women are doing to assert their Islam-given rights within the American Muslim society. Do not see Asra Nomani’s “crusade” as a great moment in American Muslim history. It’s just a publicity stunt to promote her own self serving agenda.
The film itself is well made and I applaud the producer for at least illustrating some of the motivation behind Nomani’s campaign for “reform”.
I sympathize with Asra Nomani because I have been an activist in my own religion (the Catholic Church) to bring about the ordination of women to the priesthood. However, after 10 years of activism in regard to this issue, including participating in many public demonstrations in front of cathedrals in various parts of the USA, we in the Catholic church have seen very little progress on that issue (of having women priests). So I for one cannot point the finger at Islam exclusively as being oppressive to women.
I just returned from Israel about a month ago. I traveled there with a Catholic Bible study group to visit the places where Jesus lived, taught, worked miracles, and ultimately was crucified. Unfortunately, from what I observed, religion still retains its iron grip over the lives of Jewish women (just as it seemed to do in Jesus’ time). While we were visiting there, Hasidic rabbis were debating whether women should be allowed to travel on the same public buses with men — or should there be separate buses for men and women? The debate centered around whether sitting near a woman would be an “erotic” experience for any man . . . I kid you not! And this is in the 21st century!
My question is: how is it that men are always making the decisions about how women lead their lives? Why is it that women are not making the rules about how men should live / behave? For instance, instead of saying that women have to remain “covered” because “men have lust in their hearts”, why isn’t there a law saying that a man who looks at a woman lustfully should have his eye plucked out? I think that would cure learing gazes and lewd conduct pretty quickly, don’t you think?!!
This has really made me wonder whether most religions are irredeemably chauvanistic and hostile towards women . . . and if that is the case, why should any woman be a practiciing member of a faith that seeks only to control her, hurt her and marginalize her.
Thinking about my own Catholic faith, I question how we can discriminate against women by denying them the priesthood.
Ohio
To Asra Nomani
I saw your documentary (the mosque in morgantown) and i really commend & thank you for you deep thinking in your search to find the true Islam !?
Also i feel your pain when your bright interpretation of the true Islam simply rejected by the (Radical Muslims)???
I am not sure if you have heard about a great (Sudanese) Muslim reformer named Mahmoud Mohamed Taha who was hanged in Sudan in 1985 (accused of apostasy)? You can find more about him & his thinking in this site: alfikar.org. You can just click on (English) to view the forum in English. i believe you will benefit from his ideas.
Thanks again & keep up the good work and never give up.
Mohamed Abdelrahman
Hello there Mrs. Nomani , and assalam u alaikum. I just wanted to throw my two cents out there for you to consider. There should be no compulsion in religion and everything is explained in detail by Allah not just in the Koran, but also in the deeds of the most wonderful Prophet Muhammad. Maybe Islam is not your thing and you should consider another religion, because in Islam you cannot make opinions about what you think we can and cant do. Everything in life is mentioned. And unfortunately women in Islam are kept separate from the men because we tend to lust after women, that is the nature of man.
Now I just watched your film, and I am highly disappointed at what you have done with a huge opportunity to earn some favor before meeting the Creator of you and me. You are driving a wedge between God’s people. You still have a chance to make this a good thing and actually bring people together. May Allah turn your deeds into fruit,
Nate Dawg
I commend Asra Nomani wholeheartedly for her brave effort to confront the sexism and Saudi-infused radical ideology that infects most US Mosque environments. In my opinion ISNA and its many related organizations are responsible for bringing Islam to America in its most unyielding and ungraceful form.
My mosque in Ohio suffered from a similar problem and the moderates, as Ms. Nomani so actually described, rarely have the courage to stand up for the just and compassionate Islam that many of us know and practice. What is described in this film is accurate. The fundamentalists most prone to radical ideology have taken over the mosques of North America (with the help of ISNA and NAIT) and that is why it is valid for US mosques to be under scrutiny. ISNA, MSA, CAIR, MPAC etc have ruined the beauty that can be Islam by their Saudi distortions of a great religion. The so-called “progressive” mosque in Southern California is, as we see, anything but progressive. I am glad that the hypocrites were not able to intimidate Ms. Nomani.
The true and beautiful Islam thrives in the hearts of the many Muslims in the US who take to the Qur’an for inspiration rather than the tired Wahhabi/Salafi propaganda reeling from US mosques minbars.
Kingwood, WV
As a practicing Roman Catholic far be it for me to be critical of activism on behalf of equality for women in a religious tradition. Activism is essential to change. Compromised moderate change comes when entrenched established views are challenged head on. In a real political democracy the “middle way” can work. In a hierarchical male dominated religious tradition, the “middle way” means status quo. Therefore what Asra did in Morgantown has helped to bring about needed change in the Islamic Center of Morgantown. The current leaders are to be commended for their positive response to Asra’s activism. Their reluctance to acknowledge her role is troubling.
What is at issue is whether we will continue to view our religions (the monotheistic traditions are the most serious offenders here … Judaism, Christianity and Islam) as rigid prescriptive literal mandates, or as myths seeking connection with the ineffable, rooted in a specific time and place that need to be experienced in today’s world and interpreted in that context. The literalists, the fundamentalists will end up killing us all … literally. The total secularists who are not at all interested in the life of the spirit kill us all as well…just more slowly…soul by soul under the lure of materialism.
Morgantown, WV
Unfortunately, both views – the American view (called Western view in general) and the so-called extremist Islamic view – are based on reactions and varying degrees of hatred and violence represented by two different ways of living. It is easy for the average citizen of the prosperous West to mix up religion with the other point of view whilst it is equally easy for a human being given to a much simpler way of life and wearing the cloak of religious consciousness to accuse the West of all the troubles faced by humanity. Life in the West and in America has flourished under man-made prosperity acquired through mastery over material resources of our planet as well as geometrical increase in military power to rule other nations. A life in the West considered as normal and representing morality, may not be that normal after all.
Pakistan