Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here

Karima Bennoune interviewed journalists, doctors, musicians, museum curators, lawyers, street vendors and women’s rights activists, among others, in her three-year investigation of opposition to the rising tide of Muslim fundamentalism from Lahore to Minneapolis. Her subjects’ own religious views range from the wholly secular to the deeply devout, yet all bear painful witness to the brutal effects of fundamentalist violence and oppression. Defenders of freedom, they struggle to foster creativity, compassion, discussion and diversity even sometimes in the face of death threats (and more than threats) from armed religious militants. Yet, some of these vibrant, engaging and heroic people also suffer from the consequences of counterterrorism.