Season One of The Secret Life of Muslims by Smartypants Pictures is distributed by Vox and The USA TODAY Network, CBS Sunday Morning, and PRI's The World. Check back for Season Two coming this spring or watch or watch past episodes in the playlist above.
If you watch CBS Sunday Morning, listen to NPR, use Facebook, read USA Today or attend SXSW, you’ve likely already encountered THE SECRET LIFE OF MUSLIMS, a series of short-form, first-person documentary films that uses humor and empathy to subvert stereotypes and employs a cutting-edge distribution strategy, making it available on TV, radio, the internet, and at live events from NYC to LA.
Featuring a diverse set of American Muslims from a wide range of ethnic and national origins speaking directly to their own respective experiences, the series illuminates the existing complexity and diversity of America’s 3.3 million Muslims, while pointing to a common shared humanity. The first season has been viewed more than 35 million times in our effort to contribute to a dialogue of tolerance and peace in contentious times.
Episodes
What does it mean to be Muslim? There are 1.7 billion answers.
FEATURES
Aman Ali
Wajahat Ali
Amani Al-Khatahtbeh
Reza Aslan
Negin Farsad
Mona Haydar
Maz Jobrani
Ibtihaj Muhammad
Zahra Noorbakhsh
Omar Regan
Sebastian Robins
Linda Sarsour
Layla Shaikley
Dena Takruri
Iqbal Theba
Khalid Latif: Muslim NYPD chaplain: saluted in uniform, harassed as a civilian
SPECIAL THANKS
Nick Allen
Elvert Barnes
C-SPAN
Dave Hosford
Bryan Derballa
Marc Eaddy
H.L.I.T
Dave Hosford
Karsten Moran/NYT
Khalid Latif
Liesa Cole
NYU CAS
Craig Ruttle/AP
Sarah Stacke/The Moth
Valk Aviation
Wochit News
Ahmed Ahmed: An American-Muslim comedian on
being typecast as a terrorist
SPECIAL THANKS
ABC
Ahmed Ahmed
CBS The Early Show
CNN
Cross Cultural Entertainment
The Comedy Store
Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times
Royal Oaks Entertainment Inc.
Jude Ferrara/The City Paper
KiroTV
kodoom.com
Levity Productions
lol flix (YouTube channel)
Warner Bros. Pictures
Rais Bhuiyan: This Muslim American was shot after 9/11. Then he fought to save his attacker’s life
SPECIAL THANKS
Al Jazeera English
BBC News
Rais Bhuiyan
CBC News
CBS News
KVUE News
Murderpedia.org
Misty Keasler / Esquire
Nick DiFonzo
NPR
Prelinger Archives
RT News
Sify News
United Artists
World Without Hate
Amani Al-Khatahtbeh: Tired of being bullied, this “MuslimGirl” found a way for Muslim women to talk back
SPECIAL THANKS
AOL
Amani Al-Khatahtbeh
Katie Booth
Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity
Paul Drinkwater
Dynamic Patents
Forbes
Getty Images
Kevin Jarrett
MTV
Jenna Masoud
Frank Micelotta
Muslim Girl
NBC
RPA
Tim Roney
Sample WM
TDx Talks
Teen Vogue
Vice Media
WQHT
Wireimage
Women in the World
One helpful rule for being a Muslim on the internet – don’t read the comments
FEATURES
Aman Ali
Amani Al-Khatahtbeh
Reza Aslan
Negin Farsad
Maz Jobrani
Zahra Noorbakhsh
Omar Regan
Dena Takruri
Iqbal Theba
Mona Haydar & Sebastian Robins: After San Bernardino, this couple fought Islamophobia with doughnuts and conversation
SPECIAL THANKS
Al Jazeera American News
AJ+
BBC
Boston Globe
CBS
Mona Haydar
NPR
PBS
People
Sebastian Robins
Upworthy
Twitter Users:
Salaam Bhatti
Hebron MSA
InterfaithYouthCore
Jamilla
Katherine Lymn
K Watmough
Layla Shaikley: How one woman used fashion to reclaim her Muslim American identity
SPECIAL THANKS
CNN
Disney
EP Wedding Films
GQ
Glamour Magazine
Jay Z
Kelly Osbourne
New York TImes
Rizwana Hussain
Women in the World
Dear Hollywood, stop portraying Muslims as terrorists
FEATURES
Amani Al-Khatahtbeh
Aman Ali
Wajahat Ali
Reza Aslan
Negin Farsad
Maz Jobrani
Zahra Noorbakhsh
Omar Regan
Linda Sarsour
Dena Takruri
Iqbal Theba
Dena Takruri: Meet Dena Takruri, the Muslim-American journalist working to give voice to the voiceless
SPECIAL THANKS
ABC News
AJ+
Dena Takruri
NBC Nightly News
NBC News
Walt Disney Studios
Reza Aslan: Why American TV needs a Muslim Modern Family
SPECIAL THANKS
ABC
Reza Aslan
CNN
Comedy Central
Deadline
Fox News
Huff Post Live
NBC
New York Times
Warner Bros. Pictures
Linda Sarsour: Before organizing the Women’s March on Washington, Linda Sarsour fought for Muslim holidays in NYC
SPECIAL THANKS
AJ+
Arab Women Activists & Leaders (A.W.A.L.)
CNN
Coalition for Muslim School Holidays
Daily News
Detroit Public TV
Ford Foundation
New York 1
New York City Department of Education
New York City Mayor’s Office
New York Times
Refinery29
Linda Sarsour
United Sikhs
WND
A Beginner’s Guide To Hijabs: Muslim-American women answer basic questions about the head covering — like whether you wear one during sex.
FEATURES
Amani Al-Khatahtbeh
Reza Aslan
Negin Farsad
Ibtihaj Muhammad
Linda Sarsour
Layla Shaikley
Dena Takruri
Ibtihaj Muhammad: The first U.S. Olympian to wear a hijab
SPECIAL THANKS
CBS
CNN
The Ellen Degeneres Show
Getty Images
Ibtihaj Muhammad
NBC
News 12 New Jersey
Olympic Broadcasting Services
Rolling Stone
The White House
USA Today
USTA
Village Green
Behind the Scenes: Mona Haydar's Music Video "Dog"
Funding Provided by
Advisory Board
Asma Uddin
Asma T. Uddin is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of altmuslimah.com, and Co-founder of altVentures Media, Inc., in which capacity she produces web content and offline programming on a wide range of issues pertinent to faith and gender. She is also a lawyer and scholar specializing in American and international religious liberty.
Dave Eggers
Author (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Zeitoun), Screenwriter (Where the Wild Things Are, Away We Go)
Howard Gordon
Executive Producer, Writer (24, Homeland)
Al-Husein Madhany
Executive Assistant to the Chief Information Officer at Facebook
Jonathan A. C. Brown
Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Muslim Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, Author, Council on Foreign Relations
Kashif Shaikh
Program Officer at McCormick Foundation
Meryl Chertoff
Director, The Aspen Institute’s Justice and Society Program, Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown Law
Mona Damluji
Mona Damluji, PhD Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies University of California, Santa Barbara
Salam Al-Marayati
Founder and Executive Director, The Muslim Public Affairs Council
Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur
Author (Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak), Activist.
Wajahat Ali
Playwright (Domestic Crusaders), Writer, Attorney, and Associate Editor of the website AltMuslim
Layla Shaikley
Cofounder of Wise Systems and Mipsterz
Imam Khalid Latif
Executive Director and Chaplain for the Islamic Center at New York University, Chaplain for NYPD
Daisy Khan
Founder and Executive Director, Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality
Maz Jobrani
Actor, Superior Donuts. Comedian, Axis of Evil.
executive producers
Joshua Seftel
Filmmaker Joshua Seftel began his career at age 22 with the Emmy-nominated Lost and Found, a documentary film about Romania’s orphaned and abandoned children. The PBS broadcast of the film led to the American adoption of thousands of orphaned children. Seftel went on to direct the anti-war film War Inc., a political satire starring John Cusack, Ben Kingsley and Marisa Tomei, as well as the groundbreaking Emmy Award-winning television program Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Recently, he created a YouTube series consisting of candid conversations between him and his 79-year-old mother. Seftel's essays and commentaries have appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, and This American Life.
Reza Aslan
Reza Aslan is a best-selling author (Zealot, No god But God), commentator, professor, and producer for The Leftovers (HBO), Of Kings and Prophets (ABC), Rough Draft (Ovation), and Believer (CNN).
credits
Director
Joshua Seftel
Executive Producers
Joshua Seftel
Reza Aslan
Supervising Producer
Anna Bick Rowe
Co-Executive Producer
Jill Landaker Grunes
Series Created By
Joshua Seftel
Brittany Huckabee
Producers
Wajahat Ali
Mona Damluji
Erika Frankel
al-Husein Madhany
Asma Uddin
Co-Producer
Jaclyn Biskup
Consulting Producer
Dena Takruri
Kashif Shaikh
Associate Producers
Eric Nichols
Salwa Shameem
Editors
Rob Chapman
Rabab Haj Yahya
Amanda Larson
Jacob Steingroot
Assistant Editors
Steve Benjamin
Nick Cancelliere
Katrina Pastore
Production Coordinator
Amy Shand
Music By
John Dragonetti
Animation By
Dan Sousa
Graphic Design by
Ehsaan Mesghali
Cinematographers
Ben Bloodwell
Naiti Gamez
Omar Mullick
Adam Silver
Funders
Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art
Ford Foundation
New York Community Trust
Pillars Funds
Legal Services
Sandy Forman
Series Advisors
Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur
Salam Al-Marayati
Jonathan A. Brown
Meryl Chertoff
Dave Eggers
Howard Gordon
Production Company
Seftel Productions
Copyright
© Seftel Productions, Inc. 2016