This film will examine the negative impact that the misinterpretation of Islam has created for some of its women by looking at Muslim women's lives in two different countries – America and Pakistan. The central thesis of the film is that Islam has been politicized and misinterpreted to suit the ends of certain fundamentalist factions within the larger religious group. This misinterpretation resulted in the tragedy of 9/11. It has also resulted in extremely barbaric behavior towards women in some Muslim countries, where political upheavals have drastically and negatively impacted the status of its women.

Background:

Though Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran are geographically in the same vicinity, they have very different political histories and cultures. Despite these differences, it is disturbing to see how women have been the first to suffer, in the name of Islam, when there have been political changes in these countries. For example, educated women were stoned, and even killed, in Afghanistan for daring to work professionally under the Taliban regime. Several women were jailed and publicly executed for behavior that the Taliban considered un-Islamic. Similarly, young girls in Iran, who freely played sports in western clothes, and attended university under the Shah's regime, were forced to wear heejabs and discard all notions of gender-equality under the Khomeni regime. Suddenly, it was blasphemous to dress comfortably, in Iran, and illegal to talk to a man unless you were married to him. Many Iranian women who questioned these rules were severely and ruthlessly beaten and tortured by Khomeni guards.

Why are these atrocities, towards women, committed in the name of Islam? After all, there is nothing in the Qu'ran, the holy book of Muslims, that condones the subjugation of women. The word Islam means peace, and when one reads the Qu'ran, one is inundated with suras, or verses, that stress equality between the sexes and the importance of a truly egalitarian society.

When Islam made its debut in the 7th century AD, it was one of the most progressive religions in terms of women's rights with regard to ownership of property and divorce procedures. The veil was prophet Mohammad's way of indicating that the woman beside him was his wife. It was a simple, innocent, symbol, comparable to a wedding ring today. However over the years, in many different Muslim countries, the veil has reincarnated itself as the heejab, burqa and chadoor has been used politically and inaccurately as a tool of subjugation and oppression.

What explains this behavior? How can one reconcile the original and true facets of Islam with horrific "honor killings" in Pakistan, where women are mutilated and brutally killed at the mere suggestion of adultery, without due process? These are some of the questions that this film will try to answer.