For people living in a Muslim culture, heterosexual marriage is expected. However, Parvez Sharma’s documentary “A Jihad For Love,” screened on campus Monday, shows another side to the Muslim norm.
About 100 Boston University students and Massachusetts residents gathered at the Photonics Center for a screening of Sharma’s documentary.
“A Jihad For Love,” which has been released in over 30 countries and received five international awards, is a feature documentary film by Sharma, an openly gay Muslim.
The screening was a collaboration between the American Islamic Congress and BU’s chapter of Project Nur, which strives to build an inter-ethnic and multi-faith student community that promotes human rights and civil rights, according to the organization’s Facebook page.
“I think that there’s a vast embracing of different cultures on campus,” said College of Arts and Science freshman and Project Nur President Asma Bhindarwala. “With Project Nur, I feel that it addresses a more controversial topic, but in a way that people can accept and learn from.”
The documentary, which took six years to film, follows several gay and lesbian couples from countries around the world such as South Africa, Egypt, Paris, India, Turkey and Iran, who struggled with their homosexuality because it conflicted with their Muslim beliefs.
Emmy-winning reporter Jared Bowen moderated the event. He introduced the film as one that explored the complex intersections between Islam and homosexuality around the world.
In the film, Muslim community members say they believe homosexuals must be killed off because homosexuality is condemned in Muslim religion, and is thus considered an extremely sinful act.
“In this movie, one of the biggest struggles for me was including women and trying to show what is “invisible’,” Sharma said. “For people living in Muslim culture, heterosexual marriage is something that is expected.”
The only thing Sharma would change about his documentary would be how Iran was depicted, he said.
“If I were to make this film in 2010, I would have portrayed Iran different and not as black and white as I did,” he said.
Sharma said there weren’t any strongly negative reactions to the movie.
“It’s not an angry film, ” he said. “Muslims have seen this film worldwide and they don’t necessarily get angry because I am not attacking their religion with this film. But, I don’t think that an easy theological reconciliation is possible in our lifetime.”
A panel discussion with Sharma, Yusef Nasrullah and Aida Khan followed the screening.
The three panelists talked about their personal experiences with homosexuality within the Muslim community and answered audience members’ questions.
Khan, an openly gay Pakistani woman, discussed living in a Muslim community with her partner and their 2-year-old child.
“I feel that my greatest success with this movie is that people can actually engage and sit through the film and follow it and not get lost in too many discussions about the Quran,” Sharma said.
Bhindarwala said she was happy with the event’s turnout.
“It went really smoothly, and being such a controversial topic, seeing so much support was a good sign,” she said. “This event provided perspective for college students that would otherwise have not been available.”
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