Faith

In "Shahada", Afghan-German filmmaker Burhan Qurbani elegantly weaves together the stories of three young Muslims living in Berlin. During the course of their stories, their faith and their value systems begin to falter. Forced by circumstances, they have to find a new path in life and ask themselves who they are, who they love and what they believe in. Maryam is a young Turkish woman raised in Germany, who has adopted a Western lifestyle and isn't much interested in the principles of Islam, which deeply worries her father. Nigerian worker Samir does not know how to deal with his love for his German friend and co-worker Daniel. Turkish police officer Ismael meets Leyla again, the woman who sustained a life-threatening injury from his weapon three years before. The encounter throws him completely off balance. The three characters and their stories meet, develop, and depart at the local mosque, run by Maryam's father, Vedat, a progressive and open-minded Imam. The film's title refers to the first pillar of Islam: Shahada - the Muslim profession of faith.