{"id":2013,"date":"2005-11-14T04:43:00","date_gmt":"2005-11-14T09:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=2013"},"modified":"2005-11-14T04:43:00","modified_gmt":"2005-11-14T09:43:00","slug":"a_lion_of_the_desert_remembering_moustapha_akkad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2005\/11\/a_lion_of_the_desert_remembering_moustapha_akkad\/","title":{"rendered":"Filmmaker Moustapha Akkad: Remembering a lion of the desert"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>\n\n\n
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Killed in Jordan: Moustapha and Rima<\/div>\n

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Whenever Muslims have talked about their continued demonized image in Hollywood, and subsequently about the dearth of Muslims working behind the camera to help change it, the example of filmmaker Moustapha Akkad<\/a> often came up as a bright spot. Akkad, who was murdered last week in the Jordan suicide bombing along with his daughter Rima, was for half a century the most successful Muslim in Hollywood, known in the West for jumpstarting the horror genre with the \u201cHalloween<\/a>\u201d films that he produced. But to Muslims worldwide, he was the one who brought the 1976 movie \u201cThe Message<\/a>\u201d \u2013 which told the story of the birth of Islam while deftly avoiding portraying the Prophet Muhammad directly \u2013 to the big screen. <\/p>\n

As with his 1981 film \u201cLion of the Desert<\/a>\u201d (about the real-life story of Libyan resistance, led by the simple Omar al-Mukhtar, to the Nazi invasion of WWII), \u201cThe Message\u201d performed poorly at the box-office (despite critical acclaim) but won the hearts of Muslims worldwide for being the \u201cPassion\u201d of its day. \u201cI felt that it was my obligation [and] my duty to tell the truth about Islam,\u201d said<\/a> Akkad, whose first experience with the type of extremists that took his life was when a group of Muslims who thought that \u201cThe Message\u201d portrayed the Prophet (which it did not) took hostages<\/a> at three Washington, DC theaters, demanding the movie not be shown in the US. <\/p>\n

Having lived in California for most of the last 50 years<\/a>, Akkad\u2019s passion was to tell stories of import to the Arab and Muslim worlds, but in a way that would be relevant and entertaining to Americans. \u201cIn my house, I am a pure Arab, mentally and everything,\u201d he told<\/a> a Jordanian newspaper last year. \u201cWhen I step out, I am thinking like an American.\u201d Akkad has inspired a generation of Muslim Americans \u2013 among them his son Malek<\/a> \u2013 who have entered the creative fields, determined to tell their stories and to entertain others. <\/p>\n

At the time of his death, Akkad had been achieving some progress in his decades-long effort<\/a> to bring the story of Salahuddin to the screen in an $80 million epic, reportedly convincing<\/a> Sean Connery to play the lead role. (\u201cThe character of Saladin should be presented in a language [Americans] understand and interpreted by actors\/actresses well-known to them,\u201d explained<\/a> Akkad.) <\/p>\n

But for the meantime, the cameras are off as family<\/a> and Hollywood friends<\/a> pause to remember their own \u201cLion of the Desert.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n

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