Parvez Sharma

Parvez Sharma grew up in a small town in India, just twenty minutes from the Islamic seminary that gave birth to the Taliban. Now he makes fearless, multiple award winning films about faith, identity, religious extremism and social justice. Two of the best known are A Jihad for Love (8 million viewers) and A Sinner in Mecca (a NY Times Critics' Pick). In the latter, shot mostly with an iPhone, guerrilla-style, Parvez travels to Mecca to reveal a side of Islam that’s never been seen before. “We emerge from the film more enlightened,” writes The New York Times. He has been hailed as a “gifted filmmaker,” (The Wall Street Journal) “frankly brave,” (NPR) “provocative” (San Francisco Chronicle) and as carrying out “an attack on Islam” by Ayatollah Khamenei’s regime in Iran. From the UN to the DHS to Harvard to the EU Parliament to the Dar-ul-Uloom Sunni Muslim seminary in north-India, Parvez has spoken at more than 200 events worldwide about how to solve the "problem" with Islam. "A Jihad for Love", "A Sinner in Mecca" (film) and his first book, A Sinner in Mecca (A Gay Muslim's Hajj of Defiance) complete what is known as Sharma's "The Islam Trilogy." He was named one of “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World” in a list headed by the Dalai Lama. A Sinner in Mecca is his first book.