Jihad: A Story of the Others

Surprising and deeply humane film about former jihadis that has made me revise my view of how these people are created.

If you don't consider the social consequence of fueling a war, the war may come to kill you. Violence is born of flesh. It doesn't regard who uses it. It is a great evil that comes to steal, kill and destroy. This documentary portrays the learned hatred of years under Islam Law. By the end of the documentary, there is such a "safe space" created, and we actually see the brokenness of man shrouded in shame. Sigh. It broke me. Shame is not the same as guilt. Shame says I am a mistake. Guilt says I made a mistake. If you put shame in a petri dish, it needs three things to grow exponentially: secrecy, silence and judgment. If you put the same amount in a Petri dish and douse it with empathy, it can't survive. The last interview was precious, Deeyah Khan. It was when you asked him if he forgave himself. To see a man in the "rhythm of weeping" over the memories of repressed trauma when the truth of shame is revealed by his sorrow. There is very little needed other than the love of a listening ear that wants to simply hear and understand. I wonder if you are a Christian. It was the question of his own forgiveness that seemed to come only from the spirit.

Deeyah Khan's documentary shows the men (and one woman) involved in the jihadi movements of the 80s and 90s. As an interviewer, Deeyah is a generous interviewer, allowing the subjects plenty of latitude to express themselves, but she is also adept at asking searching questions, never denying the horrific nature of violent extremism. Beautifully shot, the film gives an insider view of their processes of radicalisation, focussing on social and psychological factors. The intimacy is electric, and the personal stories are allowed to unfold in all their complexity. A nuanced take on one of the pressing social issues of our age that lingers in the mind long after the credits roll.

...to find out whether one as a muslim is sincerely up for a radical change of interpreting the dogma of the theology behind islam: draw a picture of Mohammed and publish it.

Or just meet the people who bomb abortion clinics "halfway" to compromise.

Nowhere does it entertain the cold fact that Islam has a problem with modernity, plurality and liberty. It does not mention the surveys that show a MAJORITY of Muslim clerics worldwide today believe in the death penalty for homosexual activity. or that for example a majority of college educated Egyptians believe in the death penalty for converting form Islam or leaving Islam -- that is right, not rural villagers -- but college educated Egyptians.

This idea that the modern world has to respond by compromising with misogynists, superstition or general backwardness is abhorrent.