The Mosque in Morgantown - on PBS June 15th
“The Mosque in Morgantown” is a new award-winning documentary about the amazing life of a West Virginia Muslim, Asra Nomani,as she challenges the rules against women worshipping with men in her local mosque. The film is beautifully photographed, using a technique I don’t believe that I have seen before. Each image seems to be infused with an inner light, something like what Italian paintings once used. The members of the mosque showed that they was amazingly open-minded, letting the filmmaker film inside the mosque, even during worship services. I found the film to be intriguing, especially given that the chief conflict in our world is between the “Enlightened” Western world and fundamentalist Muslims who have caused everyone, especially their own people, so much pain in recent years.
This film is distributed by Washington, DC based WETA as part of its “America at a Crossroads”series. Version One Productions is the production company. The director is Brittany Huckabee.
Ms. Nomani was born in Bombay, India, but grew up in Morgantown where her father was a professor at WVU. She was one of about 400 Muslims in Morgantown that attended the only mosque in the city. After going off to college and working for the Wall Street Journal, becoming friends with Daniel Pearl who was beheaded in Pakistan (she is a character in the recent film starring Angelina Jolie called “A Mighty Heart”), she came home to Morgantown. She was also an unwed mother. In Morgantown, she discovered that her mosque did not permit men and women to worship together. (The women had a balcony overlooking the men as shown in this film.) Her personal knowledge of how destructive Muslim intolerance can be lead her to becoming almost the Martin Luther of Islam. ( In one scene of the film, she posts her questions about the mosque on its front door like Martin Luther once did.)
Nomani wrote a well reviewed book, “Standing Alone In Mecca ” that is about her struggle to find a place for a contemporary woman in her Muslim faith. She was writing the book during the years that this film covers, showing her handing out the first published copies of her book to her mother and others.
I have to admit that after seeing this film I felt that perhaps there is no place for anyone with contemporary attitudes in the Muslim faith. One key scenes shows that even in one of the most progressive congregations in America, in California, she is not allowed to attend a service with men. Everything that I have read or seen in films seems to show that women are tightly controlled in the Muslim world. Indeed, the fundamentalist attitude toward women seems to be the most powerful force in the current version of fundamentalist Islam, including that practiced by the people of Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism.
What about the Jewish and Christian worlds? Of course, women can practice their faith with men, but from what I know, there are still Jewish and Christian faiths that also restrict where women can be during religious services. And of course, we know that women are not allowed to be priests in the Catholic faith still.
This film explores the post-9/11 world of Muslims in America as well as any film I have seen. Hopefully people in West Virginia and the rest of the U.S. will see this excellent film, read Nomani’s book, and explore their own views on how conservative elements seem to control all religions.
Recently I watched the film “Mass Appeal”(1984) starring Jack Lemon as a parish Catholic priest. The film is about the tension between Lemon and a seminarian who challenges the conservative leader of his seminary. During the opening of the film, two seminarians are accused of being homosexual and are expelled. Likewise, the star of the film finally is expelled after he too cannot take the strict controls placed on him. I guess films are NOT made about the 99 % of people who follow the rules of their religion, whatever they may be. However, I know from recent polls published in the newspapers that a large per centage of my fellow Catholics simply do not agree with the strict views supported by the clergy.
“The Mosque in Morgantown” will be broadcast on June 15th at 10 PM on PBS. I do not know at this time if WVPBS will be broadcasting it at all, or when. I will correct this column when I know the accurate information.
Concerning the images of West Virginia - the film opens with the now famous “Welcome to West Virginia” signs posted on the many bridges that lead in to West Virginia. At least one parade of marching ladies are shown. The film includes many nice long shots showing the Morgantown community nestled in to its many hills. ( Morgantown is presently the town with the lowest unemployment in the country according to recent newspaper stories.) It was nice to see the open house at the mosque that i ncluded the one-time TV doctor who was also head of the medical school at WVU. Hoppy Kerceval, a well-known West Virginia radio personality, is in the beginning of the film. Unfortunately, they didn’t show her at the state library conference in Shepherdstown where she gave the keynote address with her family present. Several in-state book discussion groups based at local public libraries have used “Standing Along in Mecca. “
One other note - WV-born filmmaker Morgan Spurlock did an episode of his excellent “30 Days” series for the FX Channel about a Charleston friend of his moving to Michigan and spending a month as a Muslim. That was one of the best episodes of the three seasons so far of the series. One of the few good things that has happened because of 9/11 is that Americans have had to learn a lot more about their fellow Muslim Americans. I am proud that my church, Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral, has a tapestry hanging in its commons room that includes Islam as one of the three faiths based on Abraham.(See bottom of history page here.)
