Islam Unveiled

When Mohamed Atta crashed his 767 into the South Tower of the World Trade Centre, he left one clause in his will: no women were to touch his corpse, to attend his funeral, or ever visit his grave…

Why is it that a faith that claims over a billion followers across the globe is now seen by many as a bastion of sexism and misogyny? And in the present climate, can Islam now find any kind of reconciliation between the values of Mohamed Atta, and those of the modern, liberal West?

This major two part series for Channel Four attempts to answer these crucial questions by taking the viewer on a dazzling ride across four continents and fourteen centuries, embarking both on a journey of the heart and a quest of the intellect.

It is a quest that will reveal surprising truths about women’s lives in the Muslim world today, and will trace back to their cultural roots beliefs and practices that to many Westerners seem cruel and archaic. The fundamental, urgent question we will address is simple – can Islam ever truly become part of the modern world?

Leading the viewer on this quest will be a woman standing on the bridge between these two worlds. Samira Ahmed, now a presenter on Channel Four’s News, was brought up as a Muslim – but she also went to a Catholic school and had a largely secular upbringing. Samira never wore the hijab – but now she sees educated middle class girls not just taking the scarf, but often the full veil.

In these programmes, Samira travels right across the Muslim world in all its rich diversity. From Malaysia to Nigeria, from Iran to Egypt, the programmes tackle an ambitious range of contentious questions about the past, present, and future of Islam.

In Iran, the first country to undergo a fundamentalist revolution, we see girls of nine taking the hijab in a ceremony that will remind Christians of first communion, but we also meet brave dissident Muslim women who resent enforced veiling.

In Turkey, the first Muslim country to undergo a secular revolution, we see the opposite – girls fighting for the right to wear the hijab. In Nigeria, we go to the far north to investigate cases of women sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.

In Malaysia, we meet fundamentalist politicians who have banned live music, and shut the bars. And we meet progressive Muslim women who say that none of this is in the Koran.

And in Egypt, we find female theological students who are challenging the opinions of male sheikhs who insist that female circumcision is an Islamic practice.