The Battle for Islam

Writer/critic Ziauddin Sardar, a British citizen of Pakistani descent who happens to be Muslim, travels to various countries to investigate diverse forms of Islam in this engaging 2005 BBC-aired documentary. Sardar's purpose is to demonstrate that while a strong strain of fundamentalism does exist in the Muslim world, the faith also embraces many more progressive and tolerant strands, and the film raises the question of which side might ultimately dominate. Sardar visits Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, and Turkey, speaking with a wide variety of interviewees, including moderate politicians such as President Musharraf of Pakistan, the prime ministers of Malaysia and Turkey, and a royal advisor to the Moroccan king; women's rights activists; and others (hairdressers, fashion designers, etc.) who balance their religious beliefs with secular lives. But Sardar also talks with those who espouse more rigorous views—including a teacher at a girls' school in Pakistan, and an erstwhile pop star in Malaysia who, along with her husband, has turned to traditionalism. The Battle for Islam does a fine job of presenting—in microcosm—the ongoing struggle for the soul of Islam, while also suggesting just how difficult it will be for the more progressive vision of the faith (with which Sardar obviously sympathizes) to triumph. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)