From the critically acclaimed BBC Two and iPlayer series Pilgrimage follows well known personalities of differing faiths and beliefs on a personal journey of discovery as they tackle some of the most famous walking routes across the UK and Europe. In this series the Pilgrims go to Austria in Pilgrimage The Road Through the Alps.
Harry calls Nelufar a “rule breaker” and asks her why she’s still a Muslim. Nelufar describes what it means – to her – to be a modern Muslim.
Transcript
Pilgrimage Moments: A Modern day Muslim
Harry: You seem a bit like a rule breaker. So how do you overcome that in your faith? And essentially, why do you still believe in your God and why are you still Muslim?
Nelufar: I've learned that the rules of my faith do not make a good Muslim because I'm rebellious, because I've chosen to modernise the faith. My faith lives on, and the only way that I can really do that is sometimes by bending, if not breaking the rules a little bit Harry so.
Harry: Well, I'm like you, just in a different faith, so that's why I asked. That's why I said.
Nelufar: The point is, Harry, that I make decisions for myself. You know, I've got a white atheist husband. You know, I'm a feminist. I'll go to the beach. I'll go for a swim. I don't wear the hijab, but no one can tell me I'm not a muslim because I tell me I'm a muslim.
Harry: So would you say you're damned by now? And how do you. How do you bear that?
Nelufar: Never shy away from asking the hardest questions on earth. Yeah, you keep cracking on. Am I damned? Yeah, I think so. But I don't know if I believe in the version of the God that would damn me for living the life that I pick.
