Paragraph 1: Reflect on this film. Can you identify the type of religious specialists featured in this film? What characteristics led you to that conclusion? Classify them according to chapter 6. Do they fit more of a priest, a shaman, a healer, a diviner definition or a mixture? What roles did they take on for their community? Explain and provide examples to support your responses.
In this film, we are introduced to what I would consider a form of a priest that is referred to as an Imam. The duty of the Imam is to lead in religious prayers, as a priest would and guides his fellow people through their own journey. However, I do look at him as a form of healer in a more emotional aspect than physical, he discusses at great length, and with soft clarity, the importance of maintaining the faith of Muslims through life and death regardless of preference. In the film, he says that his role is to "help them find their own inner voice"(23:03). Later on, he discusses how with Allah you can speak the truth, however, gay and lesbians "swallow" their own voice and Allah is divine with the truth no matter the circumstances. So, he is a member of the community actively trying to incorporate and allow a space in which all people can feel accepted by their religion and not worry about what will happen to their prayers in the afterlife.
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How does the song that is sung by Imam Daayiee Abdullah (33:18), reflect the content of this film? He sings, "I'm not afraid of your Javhe, I'm not afraid of your God, I'm not afraid of your Allah, I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God.) Explain and provide examples to support your