Vox Tablet

Modern Muslim Girls

Documentary film The Light in Her Eyes reveals how a Syrian school upends notions about religious education

July 18, 2012
Still from The Light in Her Eyes.(Courtesy Julia Meltzer and Laura Nix)
Still from The Light in Her Eyes.(Courtesy Julia Meltzer and Laura Nix)

Many people think of Islam, or religion generally, as disempowering for girls and women. The Light in Her Eyes, a documentary by Laura Nix and Julia Meltzer, challenges that notion. It follows Houda al-Habash, a conservative Muslim, wife, mother, preacher, and founder of a girls’ religious school in Damascus. In observing al-Habash, her children, students, and colleagues at school, at home, in shopping malls, and at outdoor cafés, the film explores how modernity and Muslim faith co-exist, challenging many Western assumptions that such co-existence is a fallacy.

Meltzer and Nix join Vox Tablet host Sara Ivry to talk about the difficulties they had filming as American women—one Jewish, one Christian—in Syria and about their audiences’ reactions to the seemingly contradictory values and aspirations expressed by al-Habash and her students.

The Light in Her Eyes airs on the PBS series “POV” on July 19, 2012, and streams online from July 20 through Aug. 19. You can also see a clip from the film here. [Running time: 18:27.]

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Vox Tablet is Tablet Magazine’s weekly podcast, hosted by Sara Ivry and produced by Julie Subrin. You can listen to individual episodes here or subscribe on iTunes.

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