Parvez Sharma, whose film A Sinner in Mecca documents the gay filmmaker’s relationship with Islam, has received death threats ahead of the movie’s release this week.

Sharma began working on the documentary in 2011 when he embarked on the hajj, an annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca that must be carried out by all observant Muslims at least once.

While there, Sharma illicitly recorded footage on his iPhone and two small cameras, despite recordings being forbidden without the permission of Saudi authorities.

The documentary also includes footage of his wedding to his American husband in New York, reports RT. ‘A Sinner in Mecca’ is set for release in New York this Friday.

“My mother never forgave me for being gay,” Sharma says in the film. “I am now faced with a crisis of faith. I need to prove that I can be a good Muslim and be gay.”

Sharma is no stranger to death threats; ‘A Jihad for Love’, his documentary about the lives of gay and lesbian Muslims, generated much controversy upon its release in 2007.

Days after the film’s April premier, Sharma says Iranian government propaganda websites accused him of promoting a “disgusting act of homosexuality,” adding that the film was an “insult to Islam.”