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Competing paths to change in an American Muslim community

The story unfolds

Muslims in Morgantown

Changing the world

Views from within

Asra Nomani at the Islamic Center of Morgantown.

Morgantown, West Virginia, is a university town of 30,000 nestled in the Appalachian Mountains—and the site of a brewing battle within the local mosque.

Journalist Asra Nomani glimpsed Islamic extremism up close when her dear friend and former Wall Street Journal colleague Daniel Pearl was murdered in Pakistan. When she returns home to West Virginia to raise her son, she believes she sees warning signs at the local mosque: exclusionism against women, intolerance toward non-believers, and suspicion of the West.  Her resulting campaign against perceived extremism in the Islamic Center of Morgantown brings a storm of media attention, unexpectedly pitting her against the mosque’s moderates.

Many women in the community disagree with Asra’s views.

These would-be allies object to Asra’s methods and suspect her motives, seeking themselves a more conciliatory path to change. They say she has unfairly used the label of extremism and is working only to further her own career as a writer. It is not long before members put forward a petition to expel her from the mosque.

But Asra is unwavering. She believes intolerance in the mosque is the first step on a potential path to violence, and that Islam cannot afford to handle this problem with half-measures and diplomacy; the stakes require nothing less than a revolution. As her efforts to spark that revolution escalate to the national stage, many Muslims in the mosque and elsewhere begin to suspect she aims to reshape the religion into something that is no longer Islam.

The film also features Christine Arja, a convert to Islam who initially opposes Asra’s efforts but eventually becomes her only ally in the mosque; and Ihtishaam Qazi, a moderate mosque leader who becomes Asra’s strongest opponent as he struggles to balance competing viewpoints in the community.

THE MOSQUE IN MORGANTOWN frames this local conflict as a lens to explore the larger dilemmas facing American Islam. It tells a story of competing paths to social change, American identity, and the nature of religion itself.

More information about this film with critical essays, reviews, and a discussion forum is available at www.themosqueinmorgantown.com.

“The story in Morgantown is really about the dilemma of moderate Muslims, and that’s a story we don’t often see covered in the media. But it’s an absolutely critical part of the evolving saga of Islam in America, and at the same time I think it’s a story to which people of all faiths can relate. Hopefully this film can open a window for non-Muslims to understand what goes on inside the local mosque — and hold up a mirror for Muslims to reflect on their own experiences.” -Brittany Huckabee, director

Additional funding provided by

Center for Asian American Media

LEF Foundation Moving Image Fund