Thinking about spaces that are built for Muslim women and the “jokes” referencing the (lack of) resources allocated to the women’s prayer spaces and how lack of materially affects the actual prayer experience. How do you follow along a prayer in congregation if the speaker you are supposed to hear the imam from is broken? Or the television livestreaming the imam so you can follow along is at an angle opposing the one you are supposed to stand in for prayer?

We follow this young woman who desperately wants something and she believes that ritual prayer is the way to get it. We see her perform different very traditional rituals like what you typically think of when you think of muslim prayers, we see her pray over prayer beads and try to use fruit pits and seeds which is more of a cultural aspect, lighting incense and making dua by lifting her hands up and asking. And none of it seems to really work, she starts to develop a bruise on her forehead which is a sign of piety and she’s real excited but then a horn erupts and she struggles with how to relate to and be a part of her community while hiding this physical manifestation of how bad she wants what she wants.

And in the end, we reference the way that every spiritual epic in islam has this moment of meditation in the natural world, whether that is a cave or on the water or in the light of a fire or whatever. For her, it is in the woods. We see her finding peace by taking that time to reflect inwards and come back to herself once she figures out what it means to her to pray and connect with the divine.

Sainthood in Islam is very different from traditionally understood Christian sainthood in that it is not a title bestowed based on an hierarchy. It’s more of a socially understood adjective because Islam isn’t hierarchical. So this woman figuring out what sainthood means to her, what piety means to her, is what is at the center of this project.