Women Leaving Islam (2021)

In this powerful film, six ex-Muslim women activists share their moving stories of growing up in Muslim families and Muslim-majority countries and the violence, loss and shunning they faced because of their apostasy. The women talk about everything from tearing their hijab on door handles as a child, wearing a burkini on a beach in Italy, wanting to scream their atheism in Mecca during Hajj, losing custody of a child after a husband’s accusations of blasphemy, reporting a violent fundamentalist father, forging a male guardian’s signature in order to flee their country and being shunned for defending gay rights… Despite the risks, the women speak of hope, happiness and freedom from Islam and the hijab. The brave women: Fay Rahman, Halima Salat, Mimzy Vidz, Rana Ahmad and Zara Kay reside/have resided in Australia, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands. They are from backgrounds as diverse as Bangladeshi, British, Egyptian/Moroccan, Saudi, Somali/Kenyan, Pakistani and Tanzanian.