Prophetic Film

On a completely different note, let's talk movies. You know what movie I want to see and what movie will never be made: a film about the life of the Prophet Muhammad and the early Muslims. That this film hasn't happened is a gaping hole in our popular culture. I firmly believe that there is a great desire on the part of Canadians and other westerners to learn more about the religion and history of Islam. I know that's how I feel.

Unfortunately and detrimentally, most of our history lessons come from films and television. You can certainly pick up a monograph on Muhammad and the early Muslims but these events are sadly absent from moving pictures, to coin an old-fashioned expression. Something is missing. We have The Ten Commandments to cover Moses, The Passion of the Christ for Jesus, even Gandhi for the twentieth century's prophet. In the middle we should have the Prophet Muhammad and his absence is glaring.

Unfortunately I know the reason this movie will never be made. If Muslims were upset about the publication of those (admittedly distasteful) Danish cartoons, imagine how enraged they would be about a visual depiction of the Night of Power (when God first called the Prophet Muhammad to recite the Koran). Or any moral questioning of Muhammad's actions in forging the Umma (the Muslim community). If the Prophet Muhammad was a perfect man how could he make mistakes or be considered immoral? Surely any film would address his faults and humanity. Ultimately in Islam, there should be no depiction of Muhammad in the same way there should be no depiction of God. I'd hate to be the actor chosen to play Muhammad. And you thought Salman Rushdie had problems.

Now that I think of it, there haven't been many popular movies about George Washington and the American Founding Fathers. Perhaps Americans and Muslims share reverence for their founders in common. Imagine that.

Maybe what the lack of this film means is that we westerners need to learn to approach this prophet in a different way from all his predecessors (and antecessors--sorry Muslims, I don't agree that Muhammad was the last prophet). Muslims don't need flashy ad campaigns about their founder to sell Islam to new converts. Anyway they don't allow it. But they do take the time to converse about the Prophet Muhammad's life and the way of living he promoted. Opening up this conversation will eventually get us to the point where we may together consider making this movie. But maybe, by then, it won't be necessary. I could live with that.