{"id":2321,"date":"2006-03-28T14:52:00","date_gmt":"2006-03-28T14:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2006\/03\/copts-muslims-debate-arabic-jesus-movie\/"},"modified":"2006-03-28T14:52:00","modified_gmt":"2006-03-28T14:52:00","slug":"copts-muslims-debate-arabic-jesus-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2006\/03\/copts-muslims-debate-arabic-jesus-movie.html","title":{"rendered":"Copts, Muslims debate Arabic Jesus movie"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Life-of-Jesus movies have been made in many languages \u2014 from the early French talkie Golgotha<\/a><\/i> (1935) to Mel Gibson\u2019s Aramaic- and-Latin The Passion of the Christ<\/a><\/i> (2004) \u2014 but I don\u2019t believe one has ever been made in Arabic before. That may change soon, though, now that a Coptic Orthodox Christian screenwriter and a Muslim movie producer have joined forces in Egypt.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alas, the usual don\u2019t-you-dare-depict-a-prophet protests have begun \u2014 thanks this time to \u201cthe highest authority in Sunni Islam, the Al Azhar<\/a> institution in Cairo\u201d, reports Agence France-Presse, via the Middle East Times<\/a><\/i> \u2014 so the screenwriter, Fayez Ghali, and the producer, whose name is reported variously as Mohammed Uchub or Mohammed Ashub or Mohammed Ashoub, have not had much of a chance to spell out what they intend to actually do<\/i> with their film. Instead, the various news items that I have seen quote them only to let them defend their movie against the fatwas.<\/p>\n

Ghali rightly asks the AFP, \u201cChristian dogma does not prohibit the depiction of Christ, so what gives Al Azhar the right to intervene?\u201d And the film\u2019s Muslim producer notes that several films about Jesus, including The Passion of the Christ<\/i>, have played in Egyptian theatres without causing this sort of controversy. He adds, \u201cAl Azhar does not have the right to intervene in something which concerns the Christians, otherwise it would have to tear down the icons of Christ and the Virgin Mary from churches.\u201d<\/p>\n

FWIW, Islam Online<\/a> quotes its own \u201cShari\u2019ah Section\u201d researcher, Sheikh Massoud Sabri, to the effect that, while acting is allowed because it is a new form of art that post-dates Mohammed and was never prohibited by him, \u201ccontemporary scholars agree that depicting prophets is haram<\/i> (prohibited by Allah) since it would not be real and accordingly negatively affects their image. The rule says preventing harm has a priority over achieving gains.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the Catholic News Agency<\/a> quotes Al Azhar member Abdel Moti Bayumi to the effect that, \u201cMuslims hate seeing Jesus represented in human form and especially if they show him in moments of weakness.\u201d One wonders if this extends to depictions of Christ\u2019s agony in Gethsemane, or for that matter to the crucifixion of Jesus, which Muslims do not believe took place.<\/p>\n

In that same CNA story, Ghali says, \u201cThat the depiction of the prophets is forbidden is an issue for our Muslim brothers, not for me. . . . I am following my Orthodox Christian teaching. No human being ought to prohibit the movie, whether it\u2019s Al Azhar, the church or even the state.\u201d He adds that, if the making of the film were prevented, it \u201cwould be a historic catastrophe, as it would be understood as an imposition of their power on the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ghali is reportedly open to letting a Muslim actor play the part of Christ \u2014 though he says the church will have a say in the casting of the film, and the producer apparently insists that a Christian take the role. Beyond that, there is also some talk of casting only first-time actors and \u201cbanning\u201d them from future movie roles, though how this ban would be enforced is not spelled out.<\/p>\n

Deferring to Muslim sensibilities and following their prohibition against depictions of the prophets makes sense when making a movie about Mohammed<\/a>, of course. But when the character in question belongs to the older Judeo-Christian tradition, and the filmmakers themselves are Christian, it gets a bit ridiculous.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In fact, this all sounds very reminiscent of the fuss that was made some years ago over Youssef Chahine<\/a>\u2018s al-Mohager<\/a><\/i> (1994), AKA The Emigrant<\/i>, which was basically an adaptation of the biblical story of Joseph and Potiphar. Chahine, a Coptic Catholic, changed the names of the characters out of deference to the Muslim prohibition against depictions of the prophets; but the film was banned anyway, and some Muslims reportedly<\/a> even threatened to kill Chahine because he personally played the part of the Jacob figure.<\/p>\n

Hence, Chahine\u2019s next film, al-Massir<\/a><\/i> (1997; my capsule review<\/a>), AKA Destiny<\/i>, was all about Muslim fundamentalists \u2014 medieval fundamentalists from the 12th century, true, but one of the points of Chahine\u2019s film was that the decline of Muslim civilization and many of Islam\u2019s current problems stem back to that era.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet<\/a> for alerting me to this story.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Life-of-Jesus movies have been made in many languages \u2014 from the early French talkie Golgotha (1935) to Mel Gibson\u2019s Aramaic- and-Latin The Passion of the Christ (2004) \u2014 but I don\u2019t believe one has ever been made in Arabic before. That may change soon, though, now that a Coptic Orthodox Christian screenwriter and a Muslim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCopts, Muslims debate Arabic Jesus movie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Life-of-Jesus movies have been made in many languages -- from the early French talkie Golgotha (1935) to Mel Gibson's Aramaic- and-Latin The Passion of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2006\/03\/copts-muslims-debate-arabic-jesus-movie.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Copts, Muslims debate Arabic Jesus movie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Life-of-Jesus movies have been made in many languages -- from the early French talkie Golgotha (1935) to Mel Gibson's Aramaic- and-Latin The Passion of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2006\/03\/copts-muslims-debate-arabic-jesus-movie.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-03-28T14:52:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/photos1.blogger.com\/blogger\/7991\/933\/400\/emigrant.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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