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MULTIPLE LANGUAGE SUBTITLE TRACKS FROM ITUNES (moviesbyrizzo uploads)
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My grandmother told me that I should
always look for the emerald.
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Islam was her emerald.
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00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:33,400
Justice, love and unity.
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00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:41,200
She told me that the falsified
prophetic statements in Islam, -
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00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:46,000
- the strict Shariah laws
and macho Imams, -
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00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:50,320
- had swallowed the light
from the emerald.
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00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:56,800
Only when all these are removed,
will the emerald start to shine again, -
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00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:00,840
- and women's suffering will cease.
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00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:15,000
Grandma was so lucky.
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00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,200
She was free to say
what she meant.
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00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:20,280
I am not free.
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00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,600
When I criticize Islam
in the Muslim world, -
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00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:28,560
- I'm considered reform-minded
and progressive.
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00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:33,240
When I criticize Islam in the West,
my words will be used by -
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00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:38,560
- anti-immigrant and
anti-Muslim groups.
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00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:47,000
I am fed up with living
in such a prison.
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00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:53,240
He won't meet us
if we don't cover our hair.
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00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:58,040
He wants no perfume or makeup.
He even suggested niqabs.
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00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:05,360
I will be visiting a young Salafist,
Sheikh Mahmoud Mekki, in Cairo.
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00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:08,800
His Islam is the exact opposite
of my grandmother's.
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00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,120
Let's try and go inside.
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00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:20,040
The Salafists view themselves as the
only correct interpreters of the Quran.
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00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:26,000
For them, all moderate
Muslims are almost heretics.
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00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:49,920
The reason I agreed to this interview,
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00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:58,840
- was that it might be beneficial
for people outside the Arab world.
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00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:07,320
Otherwise I would have insisted on having a
male photographer or director.
28
00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:13,760
How many times have you had
a female photographer film you?
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00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:16,600
-Never.
-Okay.
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00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:20,320
-I'm the first one?
-Yes.
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00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:30,080
I want to tell you something: my wife,
during our six years of marriage,
32
00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:35,560
- has never once left the
house to go shopping.
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00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:44,920
I do the shopping. She never goes out, except
once every three or four months, with me.
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00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:47,920
She's happy? And you're happy?
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00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:50,880
-Yes.
-Okay.
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00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:55,840
Oh, it's strawberry?
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00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:05,480
I will learn Arabic. I will.
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00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:08,400
-Insha'Allah
-That's good.
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00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:15,200
If I came here without
wearing a hijab...
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00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:19,720
Do you think you'd have
treated me differently?
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00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:25,720
I am the same person.
I have the same smile. So do you.
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00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:28,520
And we share the same religion.
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00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:33,720
Even I, a Sheikh, if a woman
comes to me unveiled,
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00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:38,160
- I will have desire for her.
This is my nature as a man.
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00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:46,240
If a woman wearing an Islamic dress,
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00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:52,880
- with her face, hair and body
veiled, walks in front of a man,
47
00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:57,560
- while another woman passes
perfumed, wearing modern clothes,
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00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:00,000
- revealing parts of her hair and body,
49
00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:06,080
- which one of the two would excite the
man and tempt him into committing rape?
50
00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:11,680
So what if the man has nothing to...
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00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:16,800
He's not going to rape any of them,
because he's a good human being.
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00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:20,840
In that sense, I'm unsure
what you're talking about.
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00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:26,640
You are denying man's natural
instinct to desire women.
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00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:30,200
You can't understand this from
your female point of view,
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00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:32,800
- whereas I can understand it
because I am a man.
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00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,440
Gamal Al Banna also lives in Cairo.
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00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:54,360
He has been a target of Islamic extremists,
because of his progressive ideas.
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00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,200
He is now 90 years old.
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00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:05,160
He has lived with constant
death threats for several years.
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00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,600
His courage gives me hope.
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00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:14,840
His perspective helps me in my
quest for the emerald I'm seeking.
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00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:20,600
The woman issue needs a real revolution -
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00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:25,880
- within the backward Islamic
thought, which is far away -
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00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:33,720
- from the texts of the Quran, its spirit and
the spirit of Islam in general.
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00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:50,000
It is difficult for Europeans, whether
right or left, to understand Islam,
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00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:56,920
- because they can only judge it
by one of two things:
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00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:01,280
Either by Muslims and their actions,
or by the ideas of religious scholars.
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00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:05,520
Those are the Europeans' references.
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00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:12,840
Muslims' situation is shit, just as
the German convert said:
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00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:17,880
I thank God that I became a Muslim
before I saw Muslims."
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00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,040
The Islamic scholars' views are in fact against Islam.
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00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:29,040
As I said before, there
came a time when -
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00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:33,560
- falsifying Hadiths (the Prophet's sayings),
was considered a necessity -
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00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:38,080
- and even a virtue. And all the details
(of Shariah) come from the Hadiths,
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00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:41,160
- as there are no details in the Quran itself.
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00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:48,560
The Quranic text came down for a
purpose. This purpose is justice.
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00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:53,040
So if evolution has made this text
unable to achieve justice anymore,
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00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:57,840
- then we have to change it.
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00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:02,600
Because the fundament is
the goal of the text, not its letters.
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00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:16,800
Family mysteries have always
caught my attention.
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00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:29,120
Gamal's older brother, Hassan Al Banna,
was the founder of the Muslim Brothers, -
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00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:35,680
- and a leading inspirational force behind
today's Islamic fundamentalism.
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00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:43,000
How come these brothers have
chosen two so very different Islam?
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00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:54,000
I wonder if Europeans can understand
the various faces of Islam, at all?
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00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:05,880
Last night I had a strange dream.
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00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:12,720
In the dream I sent a balloon to
Allah, and put all my wonder into it.
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00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:27,680
Suddenly I saw a tent that
looked like the Sufi tent -
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00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:31,080
- in my grandmother's stories.
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00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:37,200
Everything was there.
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00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:41,920
The past, the present and the future.
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00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:47,240
I had to find an emerald that could
bring a new light to us women.
92
00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:56,200
I was free to go wherever I wanted.
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00:09:56,400 --> 00:10:04,160
No one asked me if I had a valid
residence permit or a valid passport.
94
00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:13,880
There I saw our origins, Adam and Eve.
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00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:19,520
Playful, joyful and erotic.
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00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:24,720
I also wanted to join them.
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00:10:28,680 --> 00:10:32,160
Time almost stood still.
98
00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:37,160
Eve took an apple, and asked me:
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00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:40,560
What is your religion?
100
00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,320
Why didn't I tell Eve that I'm Muslim?
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00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:50,560
What kept me silent?
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00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:57,000
Somehow, I had lost my language.
103
00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:10,480
I am a filmmaker with an accent,
living in-betweenness;
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00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:16,000
Europe, Asia, Asia, Europe.
105
00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:24,440
I live with images and dreams, which
belong to two different continents, -
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00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:31,880
- and I tell stories in several broken
hybrid languages.
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00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:54,160
Don't let them build their houses
on the mountain tops."
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00:11:54,720 --> 00:12:02,200
Don't let them send their
daughters to the far-away land."
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00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:04,720
- Women are oppressed!
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00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:09,280
- Even if you sing: "don't let them
harass mother's precious daughter",
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00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:14,360
- you don't hesitate to beat your beloved.
They say that's what it says in the Quran.
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00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:27,080
- Honestly, mom, I don't know which story
I'm going to choose in this film,
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00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:30,240
- because it's a very complex subject.
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00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:33,760
Your choice is different from mine,
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00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:38,840
- the woman wearing hijab has made
another choice, but all of us share the same goal;
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00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:41,520
A better and more dignified life.
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00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:45,200
And what do we need to make our lives better?
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- I have to find out.
- All of us need to and have the right to be happy.
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00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:55,040
- Yes.
- Of course, without stepping on anyone's toes.
120
00:12:56,160 --> 00:13:00,080
- There is something I don't understand.
121
00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:02,440
- What's that, Nefise?
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00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:07,440
- Why didn't you wish for a daughter?
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00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:12,400
I mean, why did you always wish for a son?
And then I showed up!
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00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:18,440
- I wanted a boy because I knew how
girls are oppressed in our society.
125
00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:24,640
I thought of the social oppression towards
women, psychologically as well.
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00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:29,800
And I thought that a daughter would
be exposed to all of that,
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00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:32,880
- whereas a son would have no problems.
128
00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:36,640
Look at our five fingers.
They are very important.
129
00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:40,760
- I have five pieces of advice for you.
- Okay, tell me.
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00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,560
- #1 is to educate woman,
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00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,840
- and let her stand on her own feet,
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00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:50,520
- and understand herself better.
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00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:56,080
#2; let her make her own decision
in marriage. If it fails,
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00:13:56,280 --> 00:13:59,360
- she should not be humiliated.
- Okay.
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00:13:59,560 --> 00:14:02,080
- #3; regarding inheritance,
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00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:06,280
- daughters and sons should
have equal rights.
137
00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:09,720
#4 is women's career and work situation.
138
00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:15,120
Women should have wage equality,
and should not be harassed at work.
139
00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:17,800
You know, the most important thing for me?
140
00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:20,880
The most horrible of all?
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00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:23,400
- What?
- Domestic violence.
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00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:30,160
- What kind of life have you had?
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00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:33,200
- My life?
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00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:37,800
- Let's talk about it.
- Let's talk about it.
145
00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,120
That's private.
146
00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:45,520
My life? Let me tell you...
147
00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:49,600
I was never oppressed by my family.
148
00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:53,840
What have I done? I finished my education.
149
00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:56,920
I went to medical school, to be a doctor.
150
00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:04,880
I decided my marriage freely, and I also
divorced by my own choice.
151
00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:09,840
- And then?
- I remarried and started a new family.
152
00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:14,760
- I was never oppressed!
- Okay, but did you have a happy life?
153
00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:35,760
I think of my dream.
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00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:41,280
How can I find the emerald that can
alleviate women's sufferings?
155
00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:45,880
I travel from my biological mother
to my literary mother, -
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00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:51,360
- the Egyptian feminist, psychiatrist
and novelist, Nawal El Saadawi.
157
00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:57,280
To walk with her in the streets
of Cairo, just after her final exile, -
158
00:15:57,480 --> 00:16:01,440
- is an art in and of itself.
Everyone knows who she is.
159
00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:07,400
Several times I had to clarify to the police
why I had a film camera with me.
160
00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:11,880
I said I made a movie about balloons.
161
00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:14,520
It was okay.
162
00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:20,880
Nawal El Saadawi is the queen of the
progressives, and one of the -
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00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:24,480
- main opponents to the
Islamic extremists.
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00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:28,400
She was one of the first
who took up the theme -
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00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:33,160
- of women, sex and oppression
in the Muslim world.
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00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:36,680
She knows the bitter taste
of prison and exile.
167
00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:41,760
Last year I met her in the literature
festival in Molde.
168
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:47,120
There, I had the opportunity to read out
a letter I had written to her.
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00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:53,480
I don't know how to begin. I'm one of
your daughters you haven't met yet.
170
00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:57,720
Your work has influenced me
for many, many years.
171
00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:04,240
The core of my work has never been
based on hate against religiosity, -
172
00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:08,760
- but based on a great will
to change, interpret, -
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00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,880
- create, repair and inherit.
174
00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:17,840
Which way shall I go, Nawal?
175
00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:21,120
Which fights will be my priority?
176
00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:27,400
Do I need to have a religious,
sexual and cultural identity?
177
00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:36,000
What if my identity becomes a hinder?
178
00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:43,560
I'll put all my balloons
all around Cairo.
179
00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:50,840
-And I'll follow it to Turkey...
-And Norway.
180
00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:54,640
I wrote a letter to God
when I was a child.
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00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:58,200
-I didn't know where to send it.
-Maybe I know.
182
00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:02,400
-You know his fax?
-I read it in your play.
183
00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:07,600
But I can't send a fax.
I have to send an e-mail.
184
00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:11,000
Maybe he doesn't have e-mail.
185
00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:16,320
We need to in fact
go to the root of the problem.
186
00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:20,360
How do you go to the root?
187
00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:25,120
By asking questions.
What do you mean by that?
188
00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:30,480
When a boy in his childhood
learns at school -
189
00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:34,400
- that he's better than his sister, -
190
00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:38,240
- that he shall inherit
the double of her, -
191
00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:42,920
- that she should be veiled,
and not he, and all that, -
192
00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:46,400
- his conscience is killed.
193
00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:51,840
His sense of justice is killed.
So that's the problem.
194
00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:56,280
I want real secularism.
195
00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:01,600
I need a secular law
and value system.
196
00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:05,800
I don't want a family law
based on religion.
197
00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:08,840
It must be secular.
198
00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:13,560
It's religious in Egypt.
It's religious in many countries.
199
00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:17,680
So your daughter and son
will inherit differently?
200
00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:22,360
According to the law, yes.
Unless I change it myself.
201
00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:28,920
And before I die, I divide my money
equally, and that's what I did.
202
00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,840
-So you can do that?
-I did it in my lifetime.
203
00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:36,080
Because I'm free. I own my money.
204
00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:42,720
So I told my daughter and my son
they'd both get an equal share.
205
00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:48,640
I've done it in my lifetime.
But if I die, the government -
206
00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:53,640
- will give my daughter
half of what my son gets.
207
00:19:56,160 --> 00:20:01,920
Because when you ask me
whether Islam allows feminism, -
208
00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:05,800
- then I have to know
what you mean by both.
209
00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:09,600
Because everybody has
a definition of feminism.
210
00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:16,680
There are many forms of feminism,
of Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
211
00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:20,640
Every country,
every group, interprets -
212
00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:26,120
- religion, feminism and humanism
according to their own interests.
213
00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:30,760
If men are going to have this,
I want to have it too.
214
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:37,520
I don't want to have this one. I want
to have the same. Feminism is justice.
215
00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:41,120
And what is Islam to you?
216
00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:44,080
That's...
217
00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:51,840
Islam is...
218
00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:56,920
I can't say it's justice.
219
00:20:57,160 --> 00:21:04,000
I'm more attached to Muslim culture
than to Christian culture.
220
00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:11,200
Though I live in a Christian country,
have a Christian husband, my kids...
221
00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:16,200
-You're married to a Christian?
-A Norwegian man.
222
00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,560
And the thing is...
223
00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:25,840
I'm very attached to Sufism, and
I'm really attached to spirituality.
224
00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:30,160
And I feel like my existence...
225
00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:45,240
I feel like my existence
is related to others.
226
00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:50,080
-I need you to be myself.
-Exactly. That is creativity.
227
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:56,200
So as I told you, you know,
the existence in the culture -
228
00:21:56,400 --> 00:22:01,600
- where I grew up...
I don't need to say who I am.
229
00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:07,080
Because we have so many
hidden things that we can say.
230
00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:11,840
So many small words
we can use to in a way -
231
00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:15,760
- tell our hidden stories
to each other.
232
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,920
That's why your mother was unhappy.
233
00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:22,680
My mother died young.
She was unhappy.
234
00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:27,360
It's true that women are unhappy -
235
00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:32,600
- regardless whether they live
in Oslo, Turkey or Egypt.
236
00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:37,360
Whether they are poor or rich.
Even rich women are unhappy.
237
00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:42,840
Because it's the patriarchal system,
you know.
238
00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:46,120
So we are all in the same boat.
239
00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,920
And we need to show that in films.
240
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:55,760
And the silence is also very strange.
Many women I know...
241
00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:00,520
In my family.
242
00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:04,920
They are... Let's see...
They have education.
243
00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:11,520
They have economy, money.
And they have good status.
244
00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:17,760
But they have had domestic violence.
245
00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:24,440
When these women, very strong
women, doctors, lawyers, teachers, -
246
00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:27,480
- when they experience violence, -
247
00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:30,560
- they don't talk about it.
248
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:35,040
Because it's not nice
to be a broken glass.
249
00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:39,280
-You want to be, you know, proper.
-You hide...
250
00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:43,520
And you hide your broken self.
251
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:48,680
And they don't want me
to talk about it, because...
252
00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:00,640
It's not nice to be a broken glass.
253
00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:03,360
-Yes, exactly.
-It's not.
254
00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:08,600
I love that. I love this expression,
a broken glass.
255
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:12,720
But I feel I am a witness -
256
00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:19,480
- to much sorrow
and much unhappiness.
257
00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:24,800
And I myself haven't experienced
either domestic violence -
258
00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:29,360
- or violence in society.
I'm the lucky generation.
259
00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:35,200
I feel kind of... I don't know...
guilty that's I'm the one -
260
00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:40,120
- who receives all the time.
The one who receives and receives.
261
00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:44,920
I want to give back.
Through films and everything.
262
00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:51,800
Talking about women's situation
is also a very private thing for me.
263
00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:54,480
But...
264
00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:59,120
But it's difficult because
they don't want to talk about it.
265
00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:02,600
We have lost our true self.
266
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:07,840
Now, in those moments you were
crying, you were the real one.
267
00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:12,920
You brought your real self out.
But we are afraid, you know?
268
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:19,920
The first fear in our lives is to
be real, to bring out our real self.
269
00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:22,400
-Yes.
-That's it.
270
00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:26,400
How can we bring it into films?
271
00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:31,120
When I write a novel,
I try to bring my real self.
272
00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:34,840
-What is your real self?
-Despite everything, -
273
00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:41,120
- the one that is full of fears
and tears. Fears and tears.
274
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:47,840
All my life, I've been
getting rid of my fears.
275
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:52,040
Tell me about your fears.
276
00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:55,000
What are you afraid of?
277
00:25:59,360 --> 00:26:02,400
-Say it, say it!
-Okay.
278
00:26:06,360 --> 00:26:12,040
If I come from Istanbul and make a
film about how women have suffered...
279
00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:16,400
How my mother has suffered,
my aunts have suffered.
280
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:22,200
I can make a film. I can be
like a bulldozer, you know?
281
00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:26,640
And I see myself...
Oh my God.
282
00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:30,200
And I see myself in Oslo.
283
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:35,080
And if I'm saying the same things...
284
00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:40,120
Real things.
Real criticism.
285
00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:43,080
Then... If...
286
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:46,640
-Then it doesn't work.
-I know.
287
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:49,680
This split in me makes me cry.
288
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:13,880
When a man marries a woman,
289
00:27:14,120 --> 00:27:17,800
- he may later discover
that she has flaws.
290
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:21,840
There are 3 solutions:
291
00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:24,840
The first is to divorce her,
292
00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:27,880
- which will destroy the home
and harm the children;
293
00:27:28,120 --> 00:27:31,840
The second is to stay with her
while hating the situation;
294
00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:38,040
The third is to marry a new wife without
ruining the first marriage,
295
00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:44,560
- and at the same time making it easier to accept his
first wife's flaws by having another one.
296
00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:52,760
And statistics prove that there are up to 7 times as
many women in the world as there are men,
297
00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:56,840
- so if I give only one woman to every man,
I will have condemned millions of women -
298
00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:00,840
- to remain unmarried. Is that
the kind of justice the liberals want?
299
00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:27,800
As a fundamental rule in Islam,
a woman is seen as a precious jewel.
300
00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:30,800
Thus I ask: if you have a jewel,
301
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:37,520
- will you leave it unprotected
in the street, for anyone to grab,
302
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:44,200
- or will you keep it in a velvet box, and hide it from
everyone except yourself, the owner of the jewel?
303
00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:51,120
What's on a Muslim woman's mind
when she meets a fireman?
304
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:54,280
Lust?
305
00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:57,160
Well then, he must be protected.
306
00:28:58,360 --> 00:29:05,440
What does a Muslim woman feel
when she meets an officer?
307
00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:08,880
Desire?
308
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:13,120
He should be covered.
309
00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:19,640
What makes a Muslim woman excited
when she meets a carpenter?
310
00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,840
His naked body?
311
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:24,600
Sex?
312
00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:29,840
He should be wrapped.
313
00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:35,920
What's on a Muslim woman's mind
when she meets a doctor?
314
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:38,880
Orgasm?
315
00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:42,360
He must be hidden away.
316
00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:44,840
We don't believe in hijab at all,
317
00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:49,160
- but as for niqab, we see it
as a stain of shame.
318
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:57,360
It is 100% unacceptable, because it
erases a woman's personality,
319
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:04,400
- and paralyzes her freedom
to work and to truly participate.
320
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:21,880
Even the glance the Salafists consider a sin,
321
00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:27,120
- let alone intermingling or kissing!
322
00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:29,760
The last fatwa that we
recieved from Saudi Arabia -
323
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:34,600
- says that anyone who permits
intermingling is a pimp!
324
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,080
Of course, their talk is just nonsense.
325
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:49,840
Polygamy in the Quran was allowed
in order to limit polygamy,
326
00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:54,800
- because polygamy was
widespread among Arabs.
327
00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:58,640
A man could marry 8 or even 10 women.
328
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:02,840
Islam wanted to resist that trend,
329
00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:07,920
- so there came a very strange
Quranic verse (4:3).
330
00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:15,480
This verse has one condition at
the beginning and another at the end,
331
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:19,920
- for polygamy to be permissable.
332
00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:24,640
Muslims have neither understood
the first nor the second condition;
333
00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:26,800
they just kept marrying!
334
00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:31,800
The only part they understood form the verse was
Marry women of your choice, 2, 3, or 4.
335
00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:41,920
A "polytheist", in the Quran, referred to
the Arabs who worshipped idols -
336
00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:46,000
- and were the enemies of Islam.
337
00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:50,400
There was always a war going on against them.
338
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:58,400
So, what is prohibited in Islam is not that a
Muslim woman marries a Jew or a Christian,
339
00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:03,000
- but that she marries a polytheist.
340
00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:13,760
However, we can no longer say -
341
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:19,000
- that today's Buddhists, for example,
or the adherents of a Chinese religion -
342
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:26,520
- are polytheists like the polytheists back in
the time when Islam first came into being.
343
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:32,440
Maybe in the past, a woman
was not autonomous,
344
00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:36,560
- and was too shy to speak out
when a suitor proposed.
345
00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:42,920
Nowadays, women aren't
shy at all, thanks God!
346
00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:47,840
She has the right to decide
freely about marriage,
347
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:50,840
- without needing the consent
of any "guardian".
348
00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:58,880
We also believe that divorce should be
validated in the same way as marriage,
349
00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:03,160
- that is through mutual consent.
350
00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:07,880
But that a man monopolizes
the right to instant divorce,
351
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:10,080
- just by saying "you are divorced!" -
352
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:12,920
- this should have no value at all.
353
00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:17,720
Even if he keeps saying the words all
day and night, it is pure nonsense!
354
00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:34,480
I can give you an example of the difference
between the Quran and Muslims' conceptions:
355
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:43,840
If a Muslim hears a rumor about
his wife betraying him,
356
00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:47,600
- he will grab a knife and kill her,
exclaiming "my honor!"
357
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:50,520
The Quran is totally different.
358
00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:56,440
In the Quran, even if a man saw
with his own eyes -
359
00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:00,240
- his wife in bed with another man,
360
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:03,800
- he couldn't do anything to her.
361
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:08,560
Why? Because there are no witnesses.
362
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:47,880
There are three crimes for which
execution is instituted:
363
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:51,160
if a man or a woman leaves Islam,
364
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:58,600
- commits adultery or commits murder.
365
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:03,920
But can a Muslim woman
marry a Christian man?
366
00:35:04,160 --> 00:35:08,520
The Prophet, praise be upon him, said
whoever changes his religion, kill him!
367
00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:15,240
The case is not as most people think,
that there is an absolute freedom of faith.
368
00:35:15,720 --> 00:35:19,400
So when a Muslim woman
marries a non-Muslim,
369
00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:24,080
- she may be influenced by his religion
and may leave Islam.
370
00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:28,440
And if she leaves her religion,
it would be obligatory for us Muslims -
371
00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:31,480
- (via the Islamic state) to kill her for apostasy.
372
00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:35,600
This issue has harmful consequences
in both respects:
373
00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:42,240
In this life, an apostate should be killed,
and in the next, he/she will burn in Hell.
374
00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:04,920
Let there be no compulsion in religion.
375
00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:08,520
This is written in the Quran.
376
00:36:08,720 --> 00:36:16,400
I don't know how one can interpret this
as a justification for violence and hatred.
377
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:21,920
I hope that my children, in the future,
through their marriages and their lives,
378
00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:29,640
- will bring new religions, new cultures
and new languages to our family.
379
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:51,840
It isn't just the fundamentalists,
but also the media -
380
00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:57,000
- which is obsessed with the fall
and misery of Muslim women.
381
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:07,760
The world is fixated on statistics!
382
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:11,000
Now it's my turn to be measured.
383
00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:20,640
My sexual oppression level is 52.
384
00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:30,760
My cultural oppression measures 78.
385
00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:41,000
My longing for freedom increases
when I see the progressive Muslims -
386
00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:46,480
who want to create a new democratic Islam
and change women's oppression -
387
00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:50,240
- in this patriarchal culture.
388
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:59,880
This demonstration is against
the violence and aggression.
389
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:04,800
The majority of Muslims
need to be aware -
390
00:38:05,040 --> 00:38:08,840
- that silence can give
a wrong impression -
391
00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:14,680
- of supporting those who do
violence in the name of Islam.
392
00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:44,400
I like your balloon to God.
It's like my letter to God.
393
00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:50,680
When I was a child, I was very
furious. So I went to my room -
394
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:56,000
- and wrote a letter to God.
I told him, "Dear God."
395
00:38:56,200 --> 00:39:00,800
My grandmother told me
that you are justice."
396
00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:07,080
But now I face injustice
in the family, in your name."
397
00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:13,080
Because they preferred my brother,
though I am much better in school."
398
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:19,000
Because he is a boy. They say
you said so. Did you say that?"
399
00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:23,280
Because if you prefer boys to girls,
you are unjust," -
400
00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:27,360
- "and I am not ready
to believe in you."
401
00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:31,440
I feel that my God is in me.
402
00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:36,480
And God... In Turkish,
we don't have "she" and "he".
403
00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:42,880
So my God is sitting inside me,
but without any gender, genderless.
404
00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:48,800
And God moves in my body, and
this is how I feel it protects me.
405
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:53,200
You must explain what you
mean by God in your body.
406
00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:56,520
Is it your liver, your spleen?
407
00:39:56,720 --> 00:40:00,920
-Your uterus? What's in your body?
-It's everything.
408
00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:04,760
-It's in your mind.
-My brain. My imagination.
409
00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:08,840
It's the idea, yes.
Imagine the idea of God.
410
00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:11,000
The idea of justice.
411
00:40:14,640 --> 00:40:19,840
The word of God in the Old Testament,
The New Testament, the Quran, -
412
00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:23,240
- the word of God is not clear.
413
00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:29,360
One needs human beings
to clarify the word of God.
414
00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:38,840
My next destination is Turkey.
415
00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:43,480
I will film a seminar where,
for the first time in history, -
416
00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:48,000
- will be trained about women's rights
and violence against women.
417
00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:52,680
This is just amazing!
418
00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:57,120
All the Imams in Turkey
will take this course.
419
00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:05,440
- When did you start giving courses to Imams?
- We have been working on it for two years.
420
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:10,840
- The issue of violence towards women
is a very touchy subject.
421
00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:16,400
I think what you're doing is very important,
422
00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:22,640
- but there are still groups in Turkey
where men legitimize beating their wives,
423
00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:26,800
- because they see themselves as
masters of the household.
424
00:41:27,040 --> 00:41:31,160
Imams have immense importance
in the shaping of the perception -
425
00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:34,200
- of what is right and what is wrong.
426
00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:38,200
And still, many men think they can
beat women in the name of Allah.
427
00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:40,200
So absurd.
428
00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:43,280
- We Imams have incredible power.
429
00:41:43,480 --> 00:41:47,880
A woman came to me, and thought that
the domestic violence she was suffering,
430
00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:51,640
- was her payment to God,
and was meant to happen.
431
00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:55,000
She said: "it's true, my husband beats me,
but if I'm patient,"
432
00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:57,760
- I will earn my place in heaven.
433
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:03,280
I don't advise her to contact the
police, but I enlighten her.
434
00:42:03,480 --> 00:42:06,920
She says: "my husband
prays five times a day."
435
00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:10,480
I find him at work and
drink tea with him.
436
00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:14,280
I tell him: "if you beat your wife ever again,
I will publically disgrace you,"
437
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:16,840
- which is easy in a small community.
438
00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:24,800
- But what if he tells you to stay out of his business?
- Oh, he wouldn't dare!
439
00:42:30,720 --> 00:42:34,480
- Our ways of understanding
Islam might be different.
440
00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:38,240
I don't think I need to use hijab
in order to call myself a Muslim.
441
00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:45,200
- In my understanding, you
don't need to use hijab either.
442
00:42:45,400 --> 00:42:51,840
I cover myself out of personal choice,
443
00:42:52,080 --> 00:42:56,840
- but you are just as free to be a
Muslim and still wear a bathing suit.
444
00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:08,040
- A Salafist sheikh from Egypt, told me that
a Muslim woman in an interfaith marriage,
445
00:43:08,240 --> 00:43:12,720
- can be killed if she leaves Islam.
446
00:43:13,720 --> 00:43:20,000
- It has nothing to do with Islam. It shows
how his ideas are associated with violence.
447
00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:23,160
The writer of the Koran is Allah.
448
00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:26,760
He has spoken once
before, now he is silent.
449
00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:28,840
Who is talking now? We are talking.
450
00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:35,920
Nobody can speak on Allah's behalf.
451
00:43:54,720 --> 00:43:59,280
- Even if a woman won't admit
she's being physically abused,
452
00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:01,720
- you are like doctors,
453
00:44:01,920 --> 00:44:04,000
- who look at her bruises,
454
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:07,840
- and determine when
and how they occurred.
455
00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:11,800
You have that same ability
to discover such things,
456
00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:14,720
- only you are doctors of the soul.
457
00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:20,240
- Do we have any examples of
Mohammed beating his wives?
458
00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:28,480
Isn't it about time we found a new
translation for the word "beat"?
459
00:44:28,680 --> 00:44:33,640
- Your question is very good.
460
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:38,600
Why do we create this distance
between us and violence?
461
00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:47,600
Even though we all seem
to agree inside this room,
462
00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:51,800
- our male sub-consciousness
will always be in us.
463
00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:57,840
As an Imam, I don't know if I'm able
to see this issue objectively,
464
00:44:58,080 --> 00:45:03,040
- without the influence of
customs and traditions.
465
00:45:03,240 --> 00:45:07,080
- It's very simple; we raise our
daughters and sons alike.
466
00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:09,920
Now I've gotten reactions from some Imams,
467
00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:13,640
- who think that boys
should be raised as warriors.
468
00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:18,600
I told them that I have two sons, and
I don't want any of them to be warriors.
469
00:45:20,560 --> 00:45:24,400
When the Imams speak about
a new interpretation of the Quran, -
470
00:45:24,600 --> 00:45:26,560
- it triggers my imagination.
471
00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:30,840
In the Quran it says:
if your wife is disobedient, -
472
00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:36,160
- you should first talk to her,
then throw her out of bed, -
473
00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:41,560
- and if she is still not obedient,
you should beat her.
474
00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:49,160
But what is the instruction for women?
475
00:45:49,360 --> 00:45:56,000
What should a Muslim woman do
if her husband isn't obedient?
476
00:45:58,600 --> 00:46:02,720
First of all, she should talk to him.
477
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:21,560
Then, she should throw
him out of her bed.
478
00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:25,040
No sex for you, darling.
479
00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:40,800
And finally, she should beat him.
480
00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:45,640
Or should we find a new
interpretation of the word "beat"?
481
00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:57,080
Islam is not the only religion
struggling with its views on women.
482
00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:04,040
Islam, Christianity and Judaism
share the same origin: Abraham.
483
00:47:04,240 --> 00:47:08,920
And these 3 religions also have in
common their belief in only one God.
484
00:47:09,160 --> 00:47:14,400
And they all have a history of
the oppression of women.
485
00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:20,000
I wish the women of these 3 religions
would talk together more.
486
00:47:20,200 --> 00:47:22,800
We have scriptures -
487
00:47:23,040 --> 00:47:29,160
- that tell us to shut up
and hide, in a way.
488
00:47:29,360 --> 00:47:33,400
Christianity tells us
that women should be silent.
489
00:47:33,600 --> 00:47:35,840
It's Paul, isn't it?
490
00:47:36,080 --> 00:47:40,280
He's particularly good
at that, isn't he?
491
00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:46,560
The question that remained, was why
this God, neither male nor female, -
492
00:47:46,760 --> 00:47:49,760
- should speak to empower men?
493
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:53,840
Judaism separates
women and men in prayer.
494
00:47:54,080 --> 00:47:57,000
That can take a variety of forms.
495
00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:02,800
Traditionally, if you go into
older synagogues in Europe, -
496
00:48:03,040 --> 00:48:07,800
- you'll find balconies. The women
were meant to be on balconies.
497
00:48:08,040 --> 00:48:15,120
Behind latticework or some sort of...
partition of some description.
498
00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:21,400
It was thought that men were unable
to pray if they could see women.
499
00:48:21,600 --> 00:48:24,120
I find that line of reasoning -
500
00:48:24,320 --> 00:48:28,840
- oppressive to women's spirituality
and demeaning to men.
501
00:48:29,080 --> 00:48:34,520
Is having female religious leaders
important to prevent violence?
502
00:48:34,720 --> 00:48:41,000
I don't romanticize women. Women
are not necessarily better than men.
503
00:48:41,200 --> 00:48:46,920
Women do some things differently.
Call attention to other perspectives.
504
00:48:47,160 --> 00:48:52,920
That's absolutely a responsibility.
The Muslim reading of the Quran -
505
00:48:53,160 --> 00:48:58,040
- is that there's complete equality
in the religious domain.
506
00:48:58,240 --> 00:49:01,240
But women are inferior in society, -
507
00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:06,680
- which strikes me as a really
incoherent argument. It's like:
508
00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:10,680
So women and men
are equal before God," -
509
00:49:10,880 --> 00:49:15,800
- "but unequal in the eyes of men?"
How did we get there?
510
00:49:16,040 --> 00:49:20,680
If I'm in Pakistan, my awareness,
intelligence and knowledge -
511
00:49:20,880 --> 00:49:22,920
- counts for nothing.
512
00:49:23,160 --> 00:49:27,680
Because the system
is already centered on males.
513
00:49:27,880 --> 00:49:30,680
Even to speak as a Muslim woman, -
514
00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:34,800
- an interpreter of the Quran,
is like, "Who are you?"
515
00:49:37,920 --> 00:49:44,400
Asma Barlas is one of the most important
contemporary female interpreters of Islam.
516
00:49:44,600 --> 00:49:47,800
For hundreds of years, there
have been only men -
517
00:49:48,040 --> 00:49:51,800
- who have told us how the
Quran should be interpreted.
518
00:49:52,040 --> 00:49:58,040
Now is the time to hear how
women read the text.
519
00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:02,000
You know, I first found
you on the Internet.
520
00:50:02,200 --> 00:50:05,640
I was goggling Muslim feminists.
521
00:50:05,840 --> 00:50:10,280
Even though you don't call
yourself a feminist. Why?
522
00:50:10,480 --> 00:50:13,000
Well, I think...
523
00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:19,160
Once you use that label, many other
conversations get shut down.
524
00:50:19,360 --> 00:50:25,160
My country was colonized by Britain.
It was disturbing to see that, even -
525
00:50:25,360 --> 00:50:30,920
- among modern feminists, there's
this notion of rescuing the other.
526
00:50:31,160 --> 00:50:36,240
And for many Western feminists,
Muslim women are the other.
527
00:50:37,920 --> 00:50:43,680
A long time ago, through orientalism,
Muslim women were described as nude.
528
00:50:45,360 --> 00:50:51,640
All the Turkish harems, the theme
of all the famous orientalists.
529
00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:58,480
All those women lolling around, semi-
naked in Turkish baths and hamams.
530
00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:01,440
And they always have this style.
531
00:51:01,640 --> 00:51:05,720
That was the other.
European notions have also changed.
532
00:51:05,920 --> 00:51:11,360
Western feminists love this, because
it's the exact opposite of them.
533
00:51:11,560 --> 00:51:14,520
They associate freedom with nudity.
534
00:51:14,720 --> 00:51:18,920
But historically only slaves
were denied clothing.
535
00:51:19,160 --> 00:51:24,840
It's always, "Muslim women are
helpless, who shall rescue them?"
536
00:51:25,080 --> 00:51:26,920
Feminists? The West?
537
00:51:27,160 --> 00:51:33,400
Anyone can call themselves feminists
now, even Bush and his wife.
538
00:51:33,600 --> 00:51:36,440
They use women to justify war.
539
00:51:37,240 --> 00:51:41,560
I also want to speak directly
to Muslims worldwide.
540
00:51:41,760 --> 00:51:44,080
We respect your faith.
541
00:51:44,280 --> 00:51:47,560
But we condemn the Taliban regime!
542
00:52:00,000 --> 00:52:06,040
If I understand you correctly,
you say no to some of the hadiths.
543
00:52:06,240 --> 00:52:12,360
I say no to all the hadiths which are
contrary to the Quran or undercut it.
544
00:52:12,560 --> 00:52:17,800
We cannot attribute something to
the Prophet that would undermine him.
545
00:52:18,040 --> 00:52:20,800
Which runs contrary to his methods.
546
00:52:21,040 --> 00:52:24,520
It's simple.
Anyone could figure it out.
547
00:52:32,680 --> 00:52:38,680
The parts of the Quran that describe
women's relationship to God, -
548
00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:45,840
- have mostly been stamped out of the
scripture, usually through the law.
549
00:52:46,080 --> 00:52:49,920
Much of it is done through
secondary religious texts.
550
00:52:50,160 --> 00:52:56,160
-And certain changes need to happen.
-So we need to have reform in Islam?
551
00:52:56,360 --> 00:53:02,240
If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't
be reading the Quran as a text -
552
00:53:02,440 --> 00:53:04,920
- with multiple possibilities.
553
00:53:05,160 --> 00:53:10,920
So why do we continue to make bad
choices? Give me one good reason.
554
00:53:11,160 --> 00:53:15,920
They claim it's in the Quran.
Then say it's in the hadiths.
555
00:53:16,160 --> 00:53:22,120
You say, "Why accept hadiths
that contradict the word of God?"
556
00:53:22,320 --> 00:53:27,520
Then they say it's in the Sharia or
the Sunnah. They keep evading you.
557
00:53:33,000 --> 00:53:37,840
Just like you have a particular
understanding and relationship -
558
00:53:38,080 --> 00:53:43,760
- to Islam through your grandma,
I have a relationship to Islam -
559
00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:47,720
- through my understanding
of the scripture.
560
00:53:49,280 --> 00:53:51,840
This is grandmother again.
561
00:53:52,080 --> 00:53:55,280
-My goodness!
-And this is her.
562
00:53:56,520 --> 00:53:59,000
You were pretty serious.
563
00:53:59,200 --> 00:54:04,000
And it was actually she who
taught me how to be a good Muslim.
564
00:54:06,200 --> 00:54:12,000
Sharia is a human interpretation
of provisions in the Quran -
565
00:54:12,200 --> 00:54:18,040
- to make laws out of it. It's not
a law book, but a scripture.
566
00:54:18,240 --> 00:54:22,600
But many people do that.
Many nations do that.
567
00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:28,360
And in many Islamic nations they use
the Quran as Sharia, as a law book.
568
00:54:47,680 --> 00:54:53,080
We should see which verses of
the Quran would be different now.
569
00:54:53,280 --> 00:54:58,040
Taking the same meaning
without the institution is foolish.
570
00:54:58,240 --> 00:55:03,760
So it means that, in that sense,
there are some verses in the Quran...
571
00:55:04,000 --> 00:55:08,800
I don't mean we can freeze them,
but read them as a historical fact.
572
00:55:09,040 --> 00:55:10,680
Yes.
573
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:49,920
Imagine that the story
goes like this:
574
00:55:50,160 --> 00:55:54,720
Once upon a time, there were
575
00:55:54,920 --> 00:55:59,400
One of them had a cross,
another a Star of David -
576
00:55:59,600 --> 00:56:02,800
- and the third had a crescent.
577
00:56:03,040 --> 00:56:05,200
They gathered around
an apple tree -
578
00:56:05,400 --> 00:56:09,720
- that had once introduced
the misery in the world.
579
00:56:09,920 --> 00:56:13,840
These 3 religious sisters
wanted new interpretations -
580
00:56:14,080 --> 00:56:16,640
- of the sacred writings.
581
00:56:16,840 --> 00:56:22,280
Women's lives would no longer be
characterized by suffering and violence,
582
00:56:22,480 --> 00:56:26,440
- but by freedom and love.
583
00:56:30,400 --> 00:56:36,640
Such a religion would give space
to women, and also to me.
584
00:56:50,680 --> 00:56:55,280
I had a dream that I sent
a balloon to Allah.
585
00:56:55,520 --> 00:56:58,980
Now I look forward to getting an answer.
52281
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