Documentary "The Light In Her Eyes": The spiritual roots of a revolution

Last updated on: December 5, 2011 at 6:46 am by Guest Contributor

Documentary "The Light In Her Eyes": The spiritual roots of a revolution 2011-12-05T06:46:04-04:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Women taking charge

Women have been the heart and backbone of Islam from its beginnings. From the courage of Khadija, Prophet Muhammad’s first wife and first convert, to the scholarship and fiery independence of his later wife Aisha; from the political genius of Muslim queens such as Egypt’s Shajarat al-Dur and India’s Nur Jahan to the spiritual wisdom of female saints such as Rabia of Basra, Islam has been shaped and guided by the feminine hand since its earliest days. And today, as the Arab world goes through a long-overdue confrontation between dictatorship and democracy, women have been at its forefront.

Many Muslim women who are serving as political leaders at this pivotal time are receiving a great deal of attention in the news. Tunisian blogger Lina Ben Mhenni first brought worldwide attention to the injustices in her country leading to a popular uprising that soon spread throughout the Arab world. In Egypt, 26-year-old Asmaa Mahfouz is credited with using Facebook to inspire her fellow citizens to rise up against the regime of Hosni Mubarak. And among the winners of the 2011 Nobel Prize was Tawakel Karman, a Yemeni journalist whose arrest by the government sparked a wave of protest that finally led to the resignation of Yemen’s president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

These young women, and many others whose names are perhaps known only to their families and loved ones, have been catalysts for change in their countries. But the question arises as to why now? Part of it is demographics, with 60 percent of the population of the Arab world under age 30, and more than half being female. Part of it is growing access to information and social media. These factors have been discussed heavily in the press.

But what has received less attention is the role that spiritual awakening is playing in Muslim women standing tall against oppression. Back in June, I wrote about how Muslim women are taking a lead role in Islamic scholarship to empower themselves and strip their faith of misogynist accretions promoted by men over the centuries. That rediscovery of the feminist elements of Islam has been pivotal in helping Muslim women worldwide reclaim their innate dignity and power, and has helped them to fight back against the staid and outdated traditions that have held back many Muslim countries in the past century.

I recently came across a remarkable documentary that focuses on exactly how that is happening, how Muslim women are taking charge of their religious upbringing, even in the face of oppression. The independent feature documentary, The Light In Her Eyes, had its world premiere Nov. 19 at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam. A world rarely seen by outsiders, it is the first feature film to be made inside the women’s side of a mosque in Syria. The film reveals why modern women are choosing to practice Islam in a rapidly changing society.

Directed and produced by Julia Meltzer and Laura Nix, “The Light In Her Eyes” is a story about Muslim leader Houda al-Habash, and one summer at her Quran school for girls in Damascus. Al-Habash and her students are bravely challenging cultural traditions, while staying true to their dedication to Islam. In a surprising shift for many viewers, Al-Habash teaches them that pursuing their ambition is a way of worshipping God. “The Light In Her Eyes” provides an inside look into the Islamic revival from the women’s perspective, shedding light on the impact it could have on Syria if the current regime is displaced.

The undercurrents of the contemporary Syrian uprising can be seen in the women’s insistence to be educated and to think for themselves. The filmmakers were granted unprecedented access to the world of conservative Muslim women in Syria, shooting over three and a half years as the political climate grew more repressive. They completed principal photography in November 2010, four months before the beginning of the Syrian uprising. Audiences are able to pierce the veil of Muslim women’s inner lives and spiritual longings, and see the role that faith plays in their sense of identity and their hopes for the future.

The idea of a Quran school run by women, for women, might seem surprising to many. But Houda al-Habash is simply following in the tradition of Muslim women who have served as religious scholars and teachers back to the days of Prophet Muhammad himself. In my novel, Mother of the Believers, I discuss how the Prophet’s wife Aisha was a scholar who was fluent in the Quran, as well as a jurist, who served as one of the principle sources of Islamic law and teachings. As the woman who was closest to Prophet Muhammad (he died in her arms), Aisha was in a unique position to relate intimate conversations she had with her husband, from marital sexual practices to how to cleanse oneself properly for ritual ablutions. She recounted more than 10,000 hadith, or oral traditions, relating to every aspect of her life with the Prophet, and Aisha’s accounts serve as a bedrock for Islamic jurisprudence even today. And she was no wilting wallflower. Aisha was a confident, strong-willed woman who openly challenged men, even arguing spiritual matters with the Prophet himself without trepidation. And she became a political leader after his death, playing a critical role in the disputes over the Caliphate, and eventually taking arms to fight for her beliefs when she led an army in Iraq during the first Islamic civil war. I have no doubt that Aisha would look at Houda al-Habash and her Quran school with esteem, a continuation of her own legacy as a feminist leader of Islam.

The phrase “feminist leader of Islam” may strike some as an oxymoron. And this wonderful documentary will be surprising for many who assume that as freedom comes to the Middle East, Muslim women will seek to model their lives according the secular feminism of the West. As the Muslim women and girls interviewed in the documentary reveal, feminist empowerment will likely be presented in Islamic terms, and a knee-jerk hostility toward the religious aspects of the Arab Spring will only create a new divide of understanding between East and West. The only way such misunderstandings can be prevented is if we learn to see the world through the eyes of others. Despite the rage of anti-Muslim bigots, Islam is not going to go away, and the changes in the Middle East will only bring it even further onto the world stage. The question will be what kind of Islam takes the spotlight when the dust settles on revolution and transformation. Will it be an Islam that pushes its people backward or forward?

Watching this documentary, it is clear that this question will in large part be answered by Muslim women themselves. As the Muslim women featured in “The Light In Her Eyes” say: “A woman is a school. You teach her, you teach a generation.”

Kamran Pasha is a Hollywood filmmaker and the author of Shadow of the Swords, a novel on Crusades (Simon & Schuster; June 2010). For more information please visit: http://www.kamranpasha.com]. To contact the filmmakers of “The Light In Her Eyes,” please email [email protected]. This piece was originally published at the [url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kamran-pasha/syrian-quran-school-for-women_b_1119535.html]Huffington Post.

Commentary

Previous Post

November 29, 2011

Change in Pakistan: Coping with the so-called jihad

Next Post

December 11, 2011 Reflections: The Islamic tradition of courtesy

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2012 Elections 30 Dayd 30 Writers (2017) 30 Days 30 Writers 30 Days 30 Writers (2015) 30 Days 30 Writers (2016) 30 Days 30 Writers (2018) 30 Days 30 Writers 2017 Ali Asadullah Ali Eteraz Alper Bilgili Arthur Richards Asides Asma Uddin Black History Month Briefings Charles Turner Commentary Cyrus McGoldrick Eman H Aly Fatimah Popal Hajj Hajj and Dhul Hijjah Hesham Hassaballa Hisham Hellyer Ibrahim Abusharif Inas Younis Irfan Yusuf Jalal Baig Junaid Afeef Laila Alawa Laila Alwala Mas'ood Cajee Muqtedar Khan Nakia Jackson Newsmakers Parvez Ahmed Podcasts Rabia Chaudry Rafia Zakaria Ramadan Reviews Safiyyah Ally Saud Inam Shahed Amanullah Svend White The Opinionated Oncologist Visions Wajahat Ali Zahed Amanullah Zahir Janmohamed Zainab Khan

Select a Month November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does James say someone who doubts is like?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind A sheep without a shepherd A house built on sand A leaf falling from a tree