Are Islamic Films Permissible?
Sheikh Asif Raza from Sialkot, Pakistan asks:
Assalamo Alaikum (Walaikum Asalam), is is it acceptable to watch the Iranian film about Prophet Joseph?
These Islamic films, of which there are many
Iran has made movies on great Islamic figures and other prophets.
They also make them in Egypt.
There was a movie made in Hollywood called 'The Message'.
They've made movies in the west about Prophet Samson and Prophet Solomon
The story of Samson and Delilah.
There was a movie made in Hollywood a while back about Jesus Christ.
Passion of the Christ, and another one
The Da Vinci Code.
So such movies are frequently made and their main target it is to build revenue, and they do it by using scantily clad women
when people became used to watching such things, they needed another topic and then made movies on politics.
There was a time when there were just releasing action movies.
Right?
Just fighting left, right and centre.
And then they would only release movies about bombings and attacks on monumental sites in America
and then King Kong comes and throws buildings about like toys.
The film industry is fulfilling all their dreams.
So action films were made frequently.
Each country has their own way.
Then they made films on politics.
They make films on their Prime Ministers and Presidents.
And people also make movies about the conspiracy theories they are influenced by.
Similarly, people thought that not as many people come to watch these types of films
and they realised that the religious groups do not go to the cinema hall.
A large population of religious people do not go to the cinema.
Therefore, they decided to target the religious audience by making religious movies.
Now, no matter how dire and drastic the situation may be in real life, there is never as much drama and suspence as there is in films.
You understand?
Life goes pretty smoothly.
However, what they show in the movies is incredibly dramaticised; everything happens all at once.
So when they make films about the great religious personalities, they add their own twists, turns and embellishments about their lives
and they modify history to get the desired effect while making such films.
After watching such films, an average person would think that this is what happened in reality.
Just like there have been numerous movies about Karbala.
Right? So all those who have seen these movies, they think they now know all that transpired [in Karbala].
They don't think about all the lies mixed in with the story.
Isn't that right?
Therefore, after watching such films people fall prey to deception.
They fall prey to deception and they end up believing whatever they see.
They forget the reality. And this, I believe, is playing with the minds of people.
I am not in favour of this.
Why not? Because they make modifications and adulterations in history and they will change the mind of the public to what they want.
Look at Pakistani dramas
If the producer of the show is a Wahhabi, they will only show characters with the same Wahhabi mentality.
And a Sunni producer won't really talk about the Prophet's love, they will just show a short scene of a shrine.
That's it.
Whereas, a Wahhabi director or producer would depict his entire ideology.
Like 'do not ask anyone for except God' etc
Films are a very dangerous tool; the film scripts are just as long as a book
people will remember films better than they would remember books that were of the same length as the film scripts
What do you think?
People tend to remember the dialogues from tv shows, they remember the scenes
So when people watch the deeply modified movies, they think whatever they have watched is the reality.
And this is why I am not in favour of such movies.
There is no other reason. If you think watching films is a sin, that's another story but that is not my objection.
I am objecting to the fact that they completely change the history in order to add a bit of suspense and dramatise the story.
They modify the story which ruins the reality of history in people's minds.
This is not good for the mind's growth.
We have heard about the tragedy of Karbala since our childhood, clerics like Moulana Shafee Okarvi would retell the story
and the way he would tell it would seem like the live commentary in a cricket game.
Like: Imam Hussain is in the battlefield of Karbala, he has come out of the Hujra and first looks to his right and then his left and then looked up at the sky
and this was happening. In the meanwhile, a horse came running from the back....
The question then arises: was there somebody on the battlefield of Karbala who simply sat there, recording every passing moment?
The first book that was compiled in Islamic history was done so 200 years after the demise of Prophet Mohammad.
And the incident of Karbala took place in 680 AD, approximately 150 years before any written record of history.
You do not know what happened and what didn't happen. You just believed what you were told and shown.
This is the reason why sectarianism is widespread
[They change history] and make a businessman a thief and a thief a businessman.
One must not pay attention to the embellished lectures of the clerics.
Do not become influenced by clerics they are great satans.
There is no greater satan than a cleric.
It was the cleric who incited Yazid bin Muawiya
and told him, 'You are the Ameer ul Momineen, your command is greater. Tell Imam Hussain to pledge to you or kill him; he is not greater than the Koran.'
Otherwise, Yazid did not have enough courage to take such a step.
The clerics provoked him.
The history of Islam is coloured in red; there is only bloodshed.
Only bloodshed.
The streets of Mecca and Medina are awashed with blood.
Yazid committed mass murders, not only in the Karbala but he also wiped clean Medina.
He had 10 000 Muslims killed.
Hujjaj bin Yousuf married his own sister
and he, too, killed 10 000 Muslims
and he went into the streets of Medina and said, 'My anger will not lessen until the blood of people reaches my horse's reigns.'
So, he killed.
They tied their horses to the Prophet's mosque, they disrespected the mosque.
The Prophet's mosque was locked up for three days; no Salat was offered and no call to prayer was made.
You understand?
These are the Muslims?
Where is Islam?
We must show eternal gratitude to the Sufis
like Hassan Basri, Moula Ali, Abdul Qadir Jilani and Khwaja Gharib Nawaz
because through them we came to know of the religion.
Our books only tell us that those who raised their swords and killed a few enemies were the heroes of Islam.
What do you say?
Don't we respect the Companions a great deal?
When Usman-e-Ghani was martyred, his body remained unattended for three days.
They wanted to hide his body and nobody would open the doors to their house to hide his body.
Where has Islam been established?
Anyway, it is better not to watch films that appear to be Islamic because they will leave a profound effect on your mind.
You will think what you have seen is reality.
For example, the film The Da Vinci Code
Do you know what they tried to convey in that film?
One story is that when they crucified Jesus Christ and they placed a container underneath
to collect the blood that would drip down from the nails that were hammered into his hands and feet.
That container which collected the drops of blood is known as The Holy Grail in English.
Now, in The Da Vinci Code tried to portray that Mary Magdalene’s womb was the Holy Grail and where Jesus Christ’s sperm entered and stayed.
This is how much they changed the truth.
They misguided it.
And they projected that Jesus had a child and Mary Magdalene was his girlfriend.
This is all blasphemous.
Can you expect a prophet to commit adultery? God forbid.
But people made up stories like this just to make money.
I personally do not support watching such movies.
Now, if people say they are going to watch a film for fun, it will not be a source of obtaining knowledge
If you just want to watch a movie for entertainment, then watch something else. Religious films aren't entertaining.
Right?
Where's the entertainment in religious films? People just go around beheading each other.
Similarly, the film industry in India is popular and the target audience is Indian and Pakistani
and then the world-recognised industry: Hollywood
and Arabic people also have a film industry, the top country to make films is Egypt
Iran also makes films.
If you watch their films you will only have a headache.
They made movies about Ameer Muawiya and Yazid
If you watch their films about Ameer Mauwiya, you will end up thinking he was a fair and great man.
And you will think that Moula Ali was in the wrong, God forbid.
If you watch their films about Yazid, you will be left with the impression that Yazid was in the right during the Battle of Karbala.
Therefore, it is better if you do not watch religious films.
