Iran film stirs debate over prophet's depiction

Acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi’s plans to depict Prophet Muhammad in a film on the childhood of the Muslim figure revive controversy in the Islamic world over the permissibility of visual portrayals of the prophet.

Academy Award nominee Majidi announced early this month that he would direct a movie about the first 12 years in the life of Prophet Mohamed to be filmed in several countries in the Middle East, particularly in Morocco, where he plans to shoot most of the scenes.

The film entitled “Muhammad” is expected to be the most expensive in the Iranian cinema with an approximate budget of $30 million.

Iranian filmmaker Kambuzia Partovi, who directed “Café Transit” in 2005, took three years to write the movie’s script, which awaits revision by a group of historians and religious scholars.

The historical documents used as references for the movie were compiled and translated by a group of experts in Iran, Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, Iraq, and Algeria, Majidi said in a press conference.

Recognizing that movies made about the Muslim prophet were much fewer than, for example, those made about Jesus and Moses contributed to Majidi's interest in making the movie, he added.

“There are more than 200 movies about Jesus and more than 100 about Moses while only 40 movies were made about Muhammad,” he said.

Majidi’s highly-acclaimed film “Children of Heaven” was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1998.

There are more than 200 movies about Jesus and more than 100 about Moses while only 40 movies were made about Mohamed,”

Majid Majidi

Depicting the Muslim prophet

The visual depiction of Prophet Muhammad is expected to be one of the major challenges Majidi’s project is bound to face, especially that the first movie is only a part of a series about the prophet’s life.

Spokesman for the Moroccan Cinematographic Center (MCC) Mohammed Bakrim said Morocco had not granted permission for Majidi to shoot parts of his film in Morocco.

"Although Majid Majidi's films are considered big in terms of production, Morocco made its decision long ago. There are certain topics that we can allow to be filmed in Morocco," Bakrim told the Moroccan daily Akhbar al-Youm.

There have been several religious rulings or Fatwas in the Islamic world prohibiting the visual depiction of the prophet and his wives and companions but controversy remains unsettled among some religious scholars.

Renowned Egyptian preacher Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi sanctioned depictions of only some of the prophet’s companions, while the Grand Mufti of Saudi prohibited the impersonation of all the prophet’s companions and wives as well as all prophets.

In Kuwait a crisis ensued when a Saudi religious chanting group Fajr al-Islam gave early this month a performance in which the character of Prophet Muhammad was depicted. Conservative MPs lashed out at the performance and called for penalizing members of the group.



*(Written by Sonia Farid and Mustapha Ajbaili).

Although Majid Majidi's films are considered big in terms of production, Morocco made its decision long ago. There are certain topics that we can allow to be filmed in Morocco

Spokesman for the Moroccan Cinematographic Center Mohammed Bakrim