A Personal Obligation, or Fard Ayan in Arabic, is the story of three idealistic young people who have come together in Afghanistan for very different reasons and motivations. Khalid, a young Saudi Jihadi, has set off in search of a struggle, believing it is a personal obligation of his faith to fight against injustice for those who are able. Mariam, his obedient Saudi wife, has left the comfort of her middle class upbringing to follow her husband and contribute whatever efforts he asks of her. When Khalid is taken captive, she tries to free him by working with Brian, an American CIA agent who sees Afghanistan as the perfect playground for his imperialistic pursuits.
The film focuses on the many people of my generation who were enticed to sacrifice their lives to the romance of Jihadi stories in Afghanistan and Chechenya. Some of the volunteers from my hometown never came back. Many of them went on to shape the twisted ideology of Al Qaeda and form many of the other militant groups lead by Arab fighters. However, the vast majority of them returned home with broken dreams and nowhere to go, led astray by a faulty ideology, false hopes and misguided ideals.
As Mariam begins to experience life outside of her husband’s realm, she transforms from a devoted, loving wife into an independent renegade. Her fears of challenging her ideologies break down as she emerges as a new woman.
Conversely, the film explores the influence of Western adventurism in Afghanistan and the strange bedfellows that resulted from the American and Saudi support of the mujahedeen during the Soviet-Afghan War. The actions, motivations, and aspirations of the central characters of the film will serve as a reflection for the larger socio-political actions that lead Afghanistan into the tragic and devastating path it is on.
However, it is more of a human story than a political one, told in a large part from the perspective of one of the many Arab women who joined their loved ones on their journey to the battlefield. Although the ideologies of their movement prevent them from being central figures in forging their destinies, many of them were fervent believers that they were a part of a larger, greater movement. The sad reality of their broken lives has been swept over in the annals of history, but must be examined as a counter balance to the fabricated and glorified tales of martyrdom that proliferate across the Arab world.