Ijtihad: Feminism and Reform (Part 2)

Part 2
Meet nine Muslims with progressive values: Tehmina Kazi, Taj Hargey, Shelina Jamohamed, Shahnaz Taplin Chinoy, Ani Zonneveld, Reza Aslan, Abdullahi Ahmad An Na'im, Asra Nomani, Mona Eltahawy

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This educational DVD is accompanied by a Teacher's Guide. Please visit our website to download: www.mpvusa.org

Ijtihad -- which means critical thinking in Arabic -- is a
collection of nine voices ‐ three from the UK and six from
the US ‐ a mixture of academics and activists. The topics
cover reform and revival based on considerations of justice
and human rights. Subordinate to that fundamental concept
are: identity (Who is a "real Muslim?" Who gets to decide?);
pluralism and tolerance; women's rights, shari'a as a code of
conduct for good behaviour; justice and fair treatment under
law; and capital punishment. Under women's rights is a frank
discussion about sex, an examination of veiling and the right to
gender equality. Under the rubric of tolerance and pluralism is
a discussion of LGBT culture and how one Los Angeles based
organization, Muslims for Progressive Values, welcomes gays
at their mosque. A discussion of separation of church and state
reinforces the idea that faith means nothing when it is
coerced.

The British voices are Tehmina Kazi from British Muslims for
Secular Democracy; Taj Hargey from the Muslim Educational
Center of Oxford; and Shelina Janohammed, journalist and
marketing professional. The American voices are Shahnaz
Taplin Chinoy, founder and Director of Invest in Muslim
Women; Ani Zonneveld, co‐founder and Director of Muslims
for Progressive Values; Reza Aslan, writer, public intellectual
and historian of religion; Abdullahi Ahmed An‐Na'im,
professor of law and human rights expert; Asra Nomani,
journalist and activist; and Egyptian commentator and
journalist, Mona Eltahawy who took American citizenship in
2010. The introduction includes commentary from
Georgetown University scholar, John L. Esposito and Egyptian‐
Danish physician, Akmal Safwat from Democratic Muslims of
Denmark.

Writer & Producer: Nancy Graham Holm. Narrator: Bidisha. Dedicated to Malala Yousufzai