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 reference to Mecca, but there is no compelling explanation to link the two names. In the Islamic view, the beginnings of Mecca are attributed to Ishmael's descendants. The Old Testament chapter Psalm 84:3–6, and a mention of a pilgrimage at the Valley of Baca, that Muslims see as referring to the mentioning of Mecca as Bakkah in Quran's Surah 3:96. Some time in the 5th century, the Kaaba was a place of worship for the deities of Arabia's pagan tribes. Mecca's most important pagan deity was Hubal, which had been placed there by the ruling Quraysh tribe and remained until