The Light in her Eyes

The Light in her Eyes is an engaging documentary about the charismatic, but yet not unproblematic, Muslim preacher Houda Al-Habash. We follow her and the girls attending her Koran school in Damaskus.

Houda is convinced that women should learn the Koran in the same way as men do. She is pictured as a strict, but yet friendly and mother-like character, who encourages the girls to take their studies seriously. The girls are reflecting a lot about their role in the Syrian society where men are dominant. Who are they as students, religious, women and wives? It’s not Islam that takes opportunities away from women, says Houda al-Habash, it’s the Muslims themselves that have taken away everything. Due to this, she cannot be seen as a tradition breaker. The strength of the film is that it does not show the reality in a typical black-and-white perspective with simple, stereotypical characters – Houda is immovable regarding the facts that women are responsible for the home, and that the hijab is a religious duty. It is Houdas religious conservatism, combined with her project concerning equality between women and men that makes this film highly engaging and provocative. CH