‘Sure I have conflicts between my faith and day-to-day life, but doesn’t everybody?’ asks Ali.
A practicing Muslim porn star who performs in traditional dress says she has no plans to quit her controversial profession despite being “banned” from Pakistan, where many of her family live. Nadia Ali is an American adult film actress who says she was brought up in “a very strict Islamic community” by Pakistani parents and prays regularly whilst acknowledging her religion is in conflict with her job.
Her adult performances have been viewed by millions and she says she has been “officially banned from Pakistan” for her videos in traditional Islamic dress, with a veil or hijab. According to the 25-year-old, traditional dresses are in demand by porn producers.
The former eyebrow technician has been in the porn industry for two-and-a-half years after working as an erotic dancer then escort. The Los Angeles resident says that the porn industry is just a temporary move and she plans to move back into the beauty industry.
In an interview with Refinery29, Ali said she was “officially banned from Pakistan” adding that “it’s been on all the news…they banned me because I wore the scarf and the traditional dress in the adult scenes and performed in Islamic wear.”
Hijab porn is an emerging genre in the industry and in February, Ali said she has been attacked and subjected to death threats. Mia Khalifa, another adult film star, has also received death threats for also wearing a hijab in some of her movies.
Ali’s projects included a controversial adult film called Women of the Middle East.
She said in the video interview: “I’m a practicing Muslim. Sure I have conflicts between my faith and day-to-day life, but doesn’t everybody? I practice Islam, for the sake of peace and guidelines of life – not to steal, be humble, be happy, be thankful.
“One of the biggest main sins is adultery and doing it multiple times a day as an escort you will not be forgiven and I am fully aware of that but yet I still pray. But I don’t escort anymore.”
Ali said “ideally” her parents would prefer her not to work in the porn industry – but they do understand her choice. And she said that the only time she walked out of a movie was when he co-star was portrayed as Donald Trump.
“After doing 20 scenes, I quit, because I realised that in some of the scenes, they were trying to make Middle Eastern people look bad,” she said. “They offered me to do a scene where an all-American white guy dressed like Donald Trump is f****** a Muslim girl. I felt disrespected. That wasn’t going to be my 21st scene.”