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The final film in the America at a Crossroads series was a documentary called “The Mosque in Morgantown.” In the series finale, viewers followed Asra Nomani as she took her skills as a seasoned journalist and applied them to a personal advocacy campaign for gender equality in her local mosque. The campaign begins in Morgantown, West Virginia, but expands across the country as Nomani’s activism gains momentum.

We invited Nomani to take your questions last week as the film aired on PBS stations across the country. In some cases I have edited or condensed questions for clarity. Here are her responses:

The fundamental idea behind the Abrahamic religions is absurd, and Islam is currently the silliest of them all. Why would you bother? Why are ANY women involved in American Islam? Barrett

I hear this question a lot from folks who have really lost hope in religion. I understand the frustration. I feel it often times. I agree that the Muslim world is further behind the Christian and Jewish faiths in developing interpretations of religion that aren’t rigid and dogmatic. I bother because I know we’re not going to get rid of religion, no matter how much anyone of us wishes it would just go away. With that concession, I want to fight for the way religion is expressed. In my narrative, that’s Islam.

How do you respond to critics like Brother Shaheed who argue that “Islam is not a democracy & Islam is not a religion that seeks to align itself with secular western values?”

I believe it’s narrow, rigid interpretations of Islam that make it seem as if the faith isn’t compatible with values of democracy, critical thinking, freedom and personal liberty so often connected to the West. But I believe Islam can be interpreted to be compatible with all of those values.

In reference to those who call themselves fundamentalists, Stuart asks: “Who [do you think] were the true practitioners of Islam? Those who wanted to turn back the clock or those who had moved forward?”

I believe religion is what we make it, and there is no truth with a capital “T” related to religion. With that said, I believe that the people who want to move forward are correct, and the people who want to turn back the clock are wrong.
 

“[For those who] think we can't what does that say about [their] your assertions about this being a free society?” Umer

Muslims are practicing Islam and also pursuing capitalist dreams. It’s a part of Islamic tradition. The first wife of the Prophet Muhammad, Khadijah, was a prosperous caravan merchant, and the prophet was her favored employee. Not long ago, I went to “a hijab fashion show” at Nordstrom’s store at the tony Pentagon City Mall outside Washington, DC. Just stand there, and you’ll see Muslims with no problem whatsoever with money.

Having read Asra Nomani's work, I think her views were not portrayed as well as they might have been due to the choppy and flitting nature of the documentary clips… [Her] voice is making a positive change but this documentary portrayed her badly.   JH

Sure, I had a Jerry Springer moment or two; okay: or three or four. That is okay. I didn’t want to be airbrushed. I am comfortable with all that I’ve done and how I’ve done it, so I am not wedded to final product. I just see myself as a narrative vehicle to tell a story about many women locked out and even tossed out of places of worship. Enough already. We need to take back our mosques for all.

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