Film About Jesus Stirs Controversy
--Egypt's Muslim and Christian clerics have baulked at a plan by a Syrian director to make a film on Jesus Christ.
Filmmaker Mohammad Aziziah has unveiled a plan to start shooting The Arab Messiah, a film about Jesus from an Islamic perspective.
"I am going to file a lawsuit in the name of the Church to get the production of the movie stopped or to have the script changed," Najeeb Gabriel, an adviser to Pope Shenouda, Egypt's top Christian cleric, said.
Aziziah said in recent remarks he would not seek approval of his film from Egypt's Orthodox Coptic Church or Al Azhar, the Sunni Muslim world's most influential institution. "The film will not be shot in Egypt. It can be shot in Syria, Morocco or Tunisia," the filmmaker told the Egyptian independent newspaper Al Khamis earlier this month.
Gabriel told Gulf News that he was assigned to send a letter to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, urging him to interfere in person to stop the shooting of the movie and to force its director to send the script to the Egyptian Church first, so it can revise it and correct the religious "misconceptions". "This film is an affront to Christianity, one of whose most important teachings is that Jesus was crucified," added Gabriel.
According to the Quran, Jesus was not crucified, but rather he was raised alive to Heaven.
The Arab Messiah is not only daring but very new. Hundreds of films have been shot depicting Jesus's life and mission in nearly every language. But this will be the first time such a film will have Jesus speaking in Arabic and he will no longer have blue eyes or yellow hair. He will be played by an Arab actor, according to Aziziah.
Ebrahim Al Fayoumi, the Secretary General of Al Azhar's Islamic Research Centre, which by Egyptian law has the authority to license religious dramas, said the centre will ban the movie if it is eventually produced.
Al Azhar prohibits the personification of prophets in movies and drama. This means that this work cannot be screened in Egypt," Al Fayoumi told Gulf News. "There is a general consensus at Al Azhar to reject movies personifying prophets, because films only detract from prophets' spiritual value."
"I intend to show the glory of Christ in Islam, the fact that Islam recognises all the prophets and the fact that Christ has a big place and enjoys much respect among Muslims," said Aziziah. He has disclosed that his film would cost some $1.5 million (Dh5.51 million) and an Arab actor and actress would be hired to play the role of Jesus and his mother, the Virgin Mary.
Bishop Kyrollos, a Christian cleric, argues that the director wants to tell the West, "who insulted the Islam's Prophet Mohammad(PBUH), that Muslims believe in Christ and respect him."
"But clarifying the issue of Jesus from an Islamic perspective should not be at the expense of the Christian religion," he told this paper.
"Christians believe that Christ was crucified and died, rising on the third day and then appearing to his Apostles, before ascending to Heaven after 40 days," he added.
"Instead of showing the things Islam and Christianity agree on, the director focuses on core differences, which could result in resentment among religious people in the Middle East," added the cleric.
Christians make up around 10 million of Egypt's nearly 79 million. Aziziah is bent on going ahead with his project, which he said is financed by unnamed European producers. "I'll shoot it whatever the obstacles are. I will not give up because this is a big dream for me."
Source: Gulf news
"I am going to file a lawsuit in the name of the Church to get the production of the movie stopped or to have the script changed," Najeeb Gabriel, an adviser to Pope Shenouda, Egypt's top Christian cleric, said.
Aziziah said in recent remarks he would not seek approval of his film from Egypt's Orthodox Coptic Church or Al Azhar, the Sunni Muslim world's most influential institution. "The film will not be shot in Egypt. It can be shot in Syria, Morocco or Tunisia," the filmmaker told the Egyptian independent newspaper Al Khamis earlier this month.
Gabriel told Gulf News that he was assigned to send a letter to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, urging him to interfere in person to stop the shooting of the movie and to force its director to send the script to the Egyptian Church first, so it can revise it and correct the religious "misconceptions". "This film is an affront to Christianity, one of whose most important teachings is that Jesus was crucified," added Gabriel.
According to the Quran, Jesus was not crucified, but rather he was raised alive to Heaven.
The Arab Messiah is not only daring but very new. Hundreds of films have been shot depicting Jesus's life and mission in nearly every language. But this will be the first time such a film will have Jesus speaking in Arabic and he will no longer have blue eyes or yellow hair. He will be played by an Arab actor, according to Aziziah.
Ebrahim Al Fayoumi, the Secretary General of Al Azhar's Islamic Research Centre, which by Egyptian law has the authority to license religious dramas, said the centre will ban the movie if it is eventually produced.
Al Azhar prohibits the personification of prophets in movies and drama. This means that this work cannot be screened in Egypt," Al Fayoumi told Gulf News. "There is a general consensus at Al Azhar to reject movies personifying prophets, because films only detract from prophets' spiritual value."
"I intend to show the glory of Christ in Islam, the fact that Islam recognises all the prophets and the fact that Christ has a big place and enjoys much respect among Muslims," said Aziziah. He has disclosed that his film would cost some $1.5 million (Dh5.51 million) and an Arab actor and actress would be hired to play the role of Jesus and his mother, the Virgin Mary.
Bishop Kyrollos, a Christian cleric, argues that the director wants to tell the West, "who insulted the Islam's Prophet Mohammad(PBUH), that Muslims believe in Christ and respect him."
"But clarifying the issue of Jesus from an Islamic perspective should not be at the expense of the Christian religion," he told this paper.
"Christians believe that Christ was crucified and died, rising on the third day and then appearing to his Apostles, before ascending to Heaven after 40 days," he added.
"Instead of showing the things Islam and Christianity agree on, the director focuses on core differences, which could result in resentment among religious people in the Middle East," added the cleric.
Christians make up around 10 million of Egypt's nearly 79 million. Aziziah is bent on going ahead with his project, which he said is financed by unnamed European producers. "I'll shoot it whatever the obstacles are. I will not give up because this is a big dream for me."
Source: Gulf news
