A Sinner in Mecca A Sinner in Mecca A Sinner in Mecca is a 2015 documentary film from director Parvez Sharma ("A Jihad for Love"). The film chronicles Sharma's Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia as an openly gay Muslim. The film premiered at the 2015 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival to critical acclaim as well as negative controversies. The film opened in theaters in the US on September 4, 2015 and is a New York Times Critics' Pick. "A Sinner in Mecca" enters a world that has been forbidden to non-Muslims for 14 centuries. Sharma documents his journey on an iPhone and
Mecca century was Ibn Battuta. In his travels, he provides us with an important description of the city. Around the year 729, Ibn Battuta arrived in Mecca. Immediately when Battuta arrived in Mecca it felt like a holy sanctuary and thus he started the rites of the pilgrimage. He remained in Mecca for a couple of years. During Battuta's second year there, his caravan arrived "with a great quantity of alms for the support of those who were staying in Mecca and Medina" (p. 51). Giving these alms to the poor also helped to fulfill another pillar of faith, while he