Due to a lack of time, we were not able to adress all of the questions. Please join us our next live dialogue on Monday June 10 with Dr. Murad Hoffman.
Answer
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Name
beya
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Profession
Question
Salaam Alaikum Anisa,
thanx for coming and talking about your work!
working on how muslims live their Islam, and how Islam is perceived by the new generations seems to me so important and captivating! I , myself, am a muslim, and here in spain we are about to make a conference on second generation arab/muslims,...about their interests ,worries, identity perception...here, these subjects are new..
the american muslims subject has always attracted my attention, ,I read very good books written by Yvonne Haddad, but i don't know your work, can you tell me more about your project??thank you.
Answer
Dear Beya
wa alikum asslam
I lived in Seville for one of the most exciting years of my collage career. It was in Spain I really got in touch with the glorious heritage of Islam and that has never left me. Unlike Yvonne Haddad, my work is in TV production not in books. My career has varied from covering news at CBS to reporting on the arts for PBS. I am one of the few American journalist with extensive background in Islam which has allowed me to report on Islam and Muslims more fairly then some of my colleagues. It is very important that you are beginning conferences in Spain. It helps build community and can bring media attention to important issues. I started covering similar conferences in the US.
The PBS Frontline special "Muslims" is certainly the largest project I have done so far. We had a team of producers and we sent crews to: Malaysia, Iran, Nigeria, Turkey, Egypt, and USA. It was very challenging to distill the many issues confronting Muslims around the world into a two hour film, but judging from much of the feedback we got, this was a good first step in making Americans aware of the diversity of muslim people and cultures around the world.
Name
Arif
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Profession
Question
What did you think of the review of the documentary in the New York Times?
Answer
They say all publicity is good publicity. I think the reviewer, July Salamon, fairly reflected her reactions to the film and it was very important to us to get a review in the New York Times. It is a very prestigious newspaper and widely read and our filmed aired during sweeps week where new programs are introduced and everyone is hoping for great ratings. So, to have our program singled out was good even if the review wasn’t entirely flattering. Everyone has had individual and very personal reactions and they have seen very different things in this film. It was interesting to read all of the formal reviews as well as the emails and oral reactions from people around the country.
Name
malikah
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Profession
Question
Dear Anisa:
asslamu alikum
I would like to thank you for having the concern to produce much needed programs about muslims, but i wanted to share my comments and get some feed back from you.
Although the program seemed well intended, I found that it shares a characteristic of many other documentaries about Islam and Muslims i.e. it juxtopposes various conflicting/opposite seens(views) which leave the novice about Islam totally confused about who muslims are and what Islam is about. Yes, there are differences amongst muslims about different issues, but how can they be represented in a way where non-muslims can recognize that there are diffrences, but not come away totaly perplexed which undermines the purpose of the program.
Answer
Dear Malikah:
asslamu alikum
Your point is very well taken. However, many non-Muslims viewers did not come away totally confused and there was a wide range of reactions. What you are looking for requires many more hours of documentaries then the two we were able to produce. The goal of our film was to show the vast diversity of Muslim peoples and cultures around the world- to break down the idea of a monolithic Muslim character. It is much easier for people to rely on stereotypes then embrace the variety that is real and that variety may confuse some people. We wanted to get people to think, be curios, do more reading, and perhaps even go to our website www.pbs.org/frontline/muslims and www.theislamproject.org . We know that this film is just a beginning and we are implementing community engagement programs and educational outreach as a follow up to the film.
Name
Rubina
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Profession
Question
Assalaamu Alaikum.
In producing this documentary, did you find anything among the Muslims interviewed across the world that struck you in particular? What, if anything, was most remarkable or memorable about them, that you found in all different groups?
Answer
Two thing struck me that were common every where I went. One was hospitality and welcome. The other was peoples eagerness to know what it was like for Muslims elsewhere. For example, people in Malaysia wanted to know about people in Iran and everyone wanted to know what it was like to be Muslim in the US.
Name
Ali
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Profession
Artist
Question
What is your advise to any Muslim who wants to be a producer?
Answer
Go for it. It is essential for Americans of all backgrounds to be apart of our media and in this point in time Muslims are underrepresented in the field of journalism.
To be producer, you need to be open minded, well rounded, curious, a good listener, and excellent with logistics. Getting a degree in journalism, as I did, is a valuable asset.
Name
Layla
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Profession
Question
It is obvious that the majority of TV stations are closing the door to Muslim producers. How can we break this 'Media blocus' and how can Muslims Filmmakers be recognized?
Answer
I have never had the doors closed on me and I was never aware of many other Muslim journalists and filmmakers in the US. In order to get recognized, filmmakers have to make great films. Filmmakers also need adequate funding.
It may be true that there is some resistance on the part of mainstream media to show films about the issues that concern Muslims(religious discrimnation, the plight of the palestinians, racism, and identity issues), but other groups have experienced resistance to their stories too.
Name
nasser
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Profession
Question
Firstly, your documentary was brilliant and finally related the American Muslim perspective. What steps did you take to ensure that a more moderate idea of Islam was presented. Did you find people open to the idea of relaying a more Westernized version of Islam?
Answer
We wanted to show what others weren’t showing. We did not want to focus on extremism or militancy but on the normal people who are more representative of how Islam is lived in the world. It was easy to find moderate ideas of Islam. Most people are moderate in their views. Are partners at frontline were anxious that the documentary not be too soft, so we had to refer the parts about Islam and Muslims that really do frighten people. For example the section on Nigeria, where we point out criminal penalties for crimes under Shariah law. Amputations and floggings are considered brutal by many people both Muslims and non-Muslims, but they are a reality in some nation states and we couldn't have a balanced piece of journalism without recognizing the thorny realities.
Name
Sumaya
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Profession
Question
Why was so much attention given in the documentary to people who clearly have little grounding in Islamic Law to interpret the Quran as they please without having the proper training to do so. EG. The case off the Malaysian women in the documentary who did not have training in interpretation of the text yet gave their understanding of it as if they were authorities. Would a person who studied shariah be able to give oppinion about pediatrics or political science for that fact?
Answer
This is a very fair question because certainly I want my children to be attended to by a qualified medical practitioner. To a certain degree this point is true about tending peoples spiritual needs as well. But in the film, we wanted to focus on regular people and not the authorities or the experts. The film was about what it means to be muslim and the various ways people intact Islam in their lives. Some are more studied then others. The case of the Malaysian women shows a group who are studying extensively the religious text and who use the text to justify a demand for equal rights. As one of them points out-Zainah Anwar- the Quran itself is sacred but the interpretation of the Quran is human and she feels they are open to question(the human interpretations).
We did interview experts who we hope contextualized the interpretations and activities of the characters we portrayed.
