Question
Salam. I saw moves based on the life of the PROPHETS of ALLAH quite some time ago. I think that they had been made in the light of the BIBLE. I wanted to know if showing the characters of the PROPHETS and using the voice of a man for the heavenly voice of ALLAH when he talked to his messengers is right or not. Throw some light keeping in mind that TV being the biggest means of conveying message to people should the MUSLIMS not make such movies to revive the spirit of ISLAM and to remind MUSLIMS of their history?
Answer
I agree with you that such movies can play an extremely effective role in character building, education and information of the masses. Furthermore, especially after the making of movies like ‘The Bible’, ‘Abraham’, ‘Ten Commandments’, ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ etc., it seems all the more important that the lives of these great personalities be presented from a Muslim perspective as well.
The making of movies on such personalities or is not prohibited by the Shari`ah. If a movie is made on the life, times, teachings, surroundings and the environment of a prophet of God, it cannot be termed as something, which is in contradiction to any of the clear directives of the Shari`ah. However, there is another problem, which seems to discourage people from undertaking such projects. This problem relates to the great reverence in which the Muslims hold the prophets of God. Due to this extra-ordinary, yet completely justified, reverence given to the prophets by the Muslims, they would not condone the idea of actors playing their roles. However, this problem was very effectively and creatively handled by the team, which produced ‘The Message’1. It is a movie, in which the person of the main character – i.e. Muhammad (pbuh) – is not shown, yet he plays the main role. The movie was and still is a great success. On the same principles, if movies are made on the lives of other prophets, without showing the person of these prophets (or depicting the voice of God etc.), then it can definitely prove to be an effective tool not only in the development and elevation of the positive values in people but also in educating them as well as exposing them to the Islamic perspective regarding the events in the lives of these prophets.
Many Arab televisions have produced long plays (in 20 to 30 episodes) on the lives of great Muslim personalities like Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Ibn Taymiyyah etc. I have found these plays to be extremely effective in introducing the viewers with the lives and works of these great personalities.
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Moiz Amjad
August 31, 2001
- The movie produced on the life of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). [↩]