‘Muslims’: A Clear Picture of Islam

It’s taken decades upon decades for the global forces in play to create a world-changing event on the scale of the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks. Yet in one two-hour block tonight, “Muslims” manages to bring a crystalline focus to issues of kaleidoscopic complexity, resulting in an all-too-rare “special” that is worthy of that tag.

The “Frontline” production (9 p.m., KCET) takes viewers on an international tour of the religion’s strongholds in places such as Egypt, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria and Turkey, showing the myriad gradations and interpretations that exist, helping to shatter the monolithic mask that Islam wears for many here in the West.

“With the events of Sept. 11,” says Nigerian attorney Muzzammil Hanga, “the West is frantically trying to establish two worlds--the forward-looking Western world and backward, uncivilized Islamic world.”

But the program also outlines the conflicts that exist within many of the countries between Muslim traditionalists and those in the religion who favor more personal freedom and equality between the sexes.

“We found that it is not Islam that discriminates against women,” says feminist activist Zainah Anwar in Malaysia. “It is not the verses in the Koran, it is the way that these verses have been interpreted by men living in patriarchal societies who wish to maintain their dominance, and their superiority and control over women.”

In the second hour, the focus shifts from the taxis festooned with images of Osama bin Laden in Nigeria to the cars and homes in the U.S. draped in American flags, and what the post-9/11 political climate means to Muslims here.

“I look at Muslims in the U.S. as being in a very unique position to be able to produce a model for how Islam can be lived [alongside] other religions,” says an Illinois man, perhaps echoing the hopes of all of us.