Anisa Mehdi
on being a filmmaker, a journalist
and an American Muslim
In 2003,
journalist Anisa Mehdi opened a window
onto Islam that few non-Muslims had seen before. In the National
Geographic documentary Inside Mecca, producer/director Mehdi followed
three Muslims during the Hajj, the pilgrimage required of all able Muslims to
holy Mecca, a city off-limits to anyone other than followers of Muhammad. The
documentary is just one part of a body of work the Emmy-award winning Mehdi has
created illuminating the lives, beliefs and challenges faced by Muslims today as
members of not only the fastest growing religion, but one that is oftentimes
misunderstood. Through her documentaries, radio commentaries, articles and talks
Mehdi has worked to clear away some of the misperceptions and stereotypes many
non-Muslims hold, and present Islam as the religion of love and harmony that she
has known all her life.
In the interviews
that follow, explorefaith asked Anisa Mehdi about her faith background, her
personal relationship with God in an era of ongoing terrorist attacks, her
understanding of Islam, and the roles and rights of women in Islamic society.
Mehdi’s candor, clarity and insight offer yet another window into the Islamic
faith; her examples of inter-religious harmony—both personal and in
community—demonstrate that windows opened through understanding can also become
doors to reconciliation.
Anisa Mehdi on...
Being an American Muslim,
Pre and Post September 11
We were going to Sunday
school to make friends, to learn about the stories of the Bible, to learn music
(I had a fabulous music director at this church.... We were always encouraged to
explore our own spirituality. We were never told: This is what you need to
believe. Simultaneously, we were learning about Islam....Read More
Religion,
Terrorism & Politics
What people are angry about is what human beings have been angry about
forever. Political inequity, economic inequity, dictators who are keeping all
the money for the upper classes and leaving their nations impoverished. The
aggression of a more-powerful nation upon a less-powerful nation.
It’s all politics. It really has nothing to do with
religion.... Read More
Women's Rights and Islamic
Law
I would also like the
stories to be told of what the reality was for Muslim women in the early days of
Islam. That is very different from what we see typically in the media
today…scenes of oppression, lack of opportunity professionally, lack of
opportunity for education, which, as I've said before, are cultural mandates
rather than religious mandates on these people....Read
More