Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Saudi Arabia is where Islam's heart beats. But for gay Muslim filmmaker Parvez Sharma, the country presents two serious challenges: filming is forbidden in the country, and homosexuality is punishable by death.
For Sharma, however, these were risks he has to assume as he embarks on his Hajj pilgrimage, a journey every able-bodied Muslim is commanded by Allah to go on at least once in a lifetime. So equipped with nothing more than an iPhone, two smuggled, tiny cameras, and his faith, Sharma audaciously enters the holiest city that has been closed to non-Muslims for 14 centuries.
On his journey, he tries to look beyond 21st-century Islam's crises of religious extremism, commercialism and sectarian battles. He brings back the story of the religion like it has never been told before, having endured the biggest jihad there is: the struggle with the self.
Already labeled an infidel for his first documentary film, A Jihad for Love, about the coexistence of Islam and homosexuality, Sharma is in for the most personal and challenging journey of his life as he sets out on the Hajj, wondering if he can secure his place within a religion that condemns him.
In Mecca, Sharma finds that he is at the ground-zero of Islam. He is at the frontlines of 21st century Islam's battles of faith and violent rhetoric. The fault-lines of the faith he discovers in Saudi Arabia run deep.
Based on a documentary of the same title, which was selected as a New York Times Critics' Pick, A Sinner in Mecca unflinchingly showcases parts of the dangerous ideology that governs today's ISIS and how much it has in common with Saudi Arabia's sacred doctrine, Wahabi Islam.
Sharma gives an intimate look into what went on behind the scenes of making the controversial film, as well as a deeper exploration of the stories among the Hajji pilgrims he encountered. He also reflects on news of havoc around the Muslim world, and hopes, with this book, to significantly change the rhetoric and debate around his religion.
A Sinner in Mecca is simultaneously one man's personal odyssey as well as a groundbreaking, provocative revelation of a forbidden world.
This is the Saudi Arabia they don't want you to see.
Synopsis
This is the Islam you've never been allowed to see. Daringly reported from its frontlines and forbidden to most of humanity for centuries.
The Hajj pilgrimage is a journey every Muslim is commanded by God to go on at least once in a lifetime if they are able and, like millions, Parvez Sharma believes his spiritual salvation lies at Islam's ground zero, Mecca. But unlike the journeys of his fellow Muslims, the consequences of his own could be deadly.
In A Sinner in Mecca, author and filmmaker Parvez chronicles his pilgrimage as a very openly gay Muslim to Saudi Arabia, where Islam's heart beats . . . and where being true to himself is punishable by death. Risking his life, Parvez embarks on a Jihad of the self--filming his experience along the way. Already under fire for his documentary A Jihad for Love, which looks at the coexistence of Islam and homosexuality, he would undoubtedly face savage punishment if exposed--from being thrown off a cliff to public beheading.
Parvez's odyssey is at once audacious, global, and remarkable. He meets everyone from extremists to explorers of the spiritual kind and the world they open up is frightening . . . yet breathtaking. In Mecca, Parvez comes out to a pilgrim, who then asks him why he would want to be part of something that wants no part of him. This book is his answer to this question and many more. Parvez provides an unflinching look at our troubling unfolding history, including Hizbullah, ISIS, Trump, the race-wars, an embattled Europe, and more. He offers real solutions, borne of his efforts to get his hands dirty to find them. This is a lived history--and its author is no armchair theorist.
Following the New York Times Critics' Pick hit documentary of the same title, A Sinner in Mecca unflinchingly showcases parts of the dangerous ideology that governs today's ISIS and how much it has in common with Saudi Arabia's sacred, yet treacherous dogma, Wahhabi Islam.
A Sinner in Mecca is simultaneously one man's personal odyssey as well as a groundbreaking, provocative revelation of a clandestine world and its fastest growing and most contested religion.
Synopsis
"The first book about the Hajj from a gay perspective, written by a man with a deep knowledge of Islamic history. This pilgrimage is the centerpiece of his book, and he recounts it with courage and fierce emotion."
--The Guardian
This is the Islam you've never been allowed to see. Daringly reported from its frontlines and forbidden to most of humanity for centuries.
The Hajj pilgrimage is a journey every Muslim is commanded by God to go on at least once in a lifetime if they are able and, like millions, Parvez Sharma believes his spiritual salvation lies at Islam's ground zero, Mecca. But unlike the journeys of his fellow Muslims, the consequences of his own could be deadly.
In A Sinner in Mecca, author and filmmaker Parvez chronicles his pilgrimage as a very openly gay Muslim to Saudi Arabia, where Islam's heart beats . . . and where being true to himself is punishable by death. Risking his life, Parvez embarks on a Jihad of the self--filming his experience along the way. Already under fire for his documentary A Jihad for Love, which looks at the coexistence of Islam and homosexuality, he would undoubtedly face savage punishment if exposed--from being thrown off a cliff to public beheading.
Parvez's odyssey is at once audacious, global, and remarkable. He meets everyone from extremists to explorers of the spiritual kind and the world they open up is frightening . . . yet breathtaking. In Mecca, Parvez comes out to a pilgrim, who then asks him why he would want to be part of something that wants no part of him. This book is his answer to this question and many more. Parvez provides an unflinching look at our troubling unfolding history, including Hizbullah, ISIS, Trump, the race-wars, an embattled Europe, and more. He offers real solutions, borne of his efforts to get his hands dirty to find them. This is a lived history--and its author is no armchair theorist.
Following the New York Times Critics' Pick hit documentary of the same title, A Sinner in Mecca unflinchingly showcases parts of the dangerous ideology that governs today's ISIS and how much it has in common with Saudi Arabia's sacred, yet treacherous dogma, Wahhabi Islam.
A Sinner in Mecca is simultaneously one man's personal odyssey as well as a groundbreaking, provocative revelation of a clandestine world and its fastest growing and most contested religion.
Synopsis
From the recipient of a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow
Based on the New York Times' Critic Pick documentary
"The first book about the Hajj from a gay perspective, written by a man with a deep knowledge of Islamic history. This pilgrimage is the centerpiece of his book, and he recounts it with courage and fierce emotion."
--The Guardian
This is the Islam you've never been allowed to see. Daringly reported from its frontlines and forbidden to most of humanity for centuries.
The Hajj pilgrimage is a journey every Muslim is commanded by God to go on at least once in a lifetime if they are able and, like millions, Parvez Sharma believes his spiritual salvation lies at Islam's ground zero, Mecca. But unlike the journeys of his fellow Muslims, the consequences of his own could be deadly.
In A Sinner in Mecca, author, filmmaker, and 2018 Guggenheim Fellow Parvez chronicles his pilgrimage as a very openly gay Muslim to Saudi Arabia, where Islam's heart beats . . . and where being true to himself is punishable by death. Risking his life, Parvez embarks on a Jihad of the self--filming his experience along the way. Already under fire for his documentary A Jihad for Love, which looks at the coexistence of Islam and homosexuality, he would undoubtedly face savage punishment if exposed--from being thrown off a cliff to public beheading.
Parvez's odyssey is at once audacious, global, and remarkable. He meets everyone from extremists to explorers of the spiritual kind and the world they open up is frightening . . . yet breathtaking. In Mecca, Parvez comes out to a pilgrim, who then asks him why he would want to be part of something that wants no part of him. This book is his answer to this question and many more. Parvez provides an unflinching look at our troubling unfolding history, including Hizbullah, ISIS, Trump, the race-wars, an embattled Europe, and more. He offers real solutions, borne of his efforts to get his hands dirty to find them. This is a lived history--and its author is no armchair theorist.
Following the New York Times Critics' Pick hit documentary of the same title, A Sinner in Mecca unflinchingly showcases parts of the dangerous ideology that governs today's ISIS and how much it has in common with Saudi Arabia's sacred, yet treacherous dogma, Wahhabi Islam.
A Sinner in Mecca is simultaneously one man's personal odyssey as well as a groundbreaking, provocative revelation of a clandestine world and its fastest growing and most contested religion.
Synopsis
From the recipient of a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow Based on the New York Times' Critic Pick documentary
"The first book about the Hajj from a gay perspective, written by a man with a deep knowledge of Islamic history. This pilgrimage is the centerpiece of his book, and he recounts it with courage and fierce emotion."
--The Guardian
This is the Islam you've never been allowed to see. Daringly reported from its frontlines and forbidden to most of humanity for centuries.
The Hajj pilgrimage is a journey every Muslim is commanded by God to go on at least once in a lifetime if they are able and, like millions, Parvez Sharma believes his spiritual salvation lies at Islam's ground zero, Mecca. But unlike the journeys of his fellow Muslims, the consequences of his own could be deadly.
In A Sinner in Mecca, author, filmmaker, and 2018 Guggenheim Fellow Parvez chronicles his pilgrimage as a very openly gay Muslim to Saudi Arabia, where Islam's heart beats . . . and where being true to himself is punishable by death. Risking his life, Parvez embarks on a Jihad of the self--filming his experience along the way. Already under fire for his documentary A Jihad for Love, which looks at the coexistence of Islam and homosexuality, he would undoubtedly face savage punishment if exposed--from being thrown off a cliff to public beheading.
Parvez's odyssey is at once audacious, global, and remarkable. He meets everyone from extremists to explorers of the spiritual kind and the world they open up is frightening . . . yet breathtaking. In Mecca, Parvez comes out to a pilgrim, who then asks him why he would want to be part of something that wants no part of him. This book is his answer to this question and many more. Parvez provides an unflinching look at our troubling unfolding history, including Hizbullah, ISIS, Trump, the race-wars, an embattled Europe, and more. He offers real solutions, borne of his efforts to get his hands dirty to find them. This is a lived history--and its author is no armchair theorist.
Following the New York Times Critics' Pick hit documentary of the same title, A Sinner in Mecca unflinchingly showcases parts of the dangerous ideology that governs today's ISIS and how much it has in common with Saudi Arabia's sacred, yet treacherous dogma, Wahhabi Islam.
A Sinner in Mecca is simultaneously one man's personal odyssey as well as a groundbreaking, provocative revelation of a clandestine world and its fastest growing and most contested religion.