By
Shruti Ganapatye
Jul 17,
2020
A day after
the Maharashtra government requested the Centre to prevent the release of an
Iranian movie called 'Muhammad: The Messenger of God', Muslim scholars
and intellectuals have slammed the demand. The movie was made by famous Iranian
director Majid Majidi in 2015 and is slated to release globally on online
platforms on July 21. The movie depicts the early life of Prophet Muhammad.
Prophet Muhammad sits with the Abrahamic prophets in Jerusalem,
anonymous, Mirajnama (Book of Ascension), Tabriz, ca. 1317-1330Credit: Topkapi
Palace Musuem, Istanbul, Turkey.
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Objecting
to the censorship, Irfan Engineer, Director of the Centre for Study of Society
and Secularism, criticised the demand of banning the movie. "I am against
any kind of censorship. You may disagree with the movie or its content. So,
there are ways to register the protest. You can file a lawsuit, debate over the
content, educate people or protest on the streets. The thought of banning the
movie is wrong and it has happened several times in the past. When the Congress
government was in power, import of Salman Rushdie's book 'Satanic Verses' was banned.
Recently, there was a controversy regarding the movie 'Padmavat' which cannot
be justified," Engineer said.
Also
Read: Why Banning The Movie
‘Muhammad - Messenger of God’ is Nonsensical
Writer and
scholar on Islam, Abdul Kadar Mukadam questioned as to why an objection was
raised if the movie narrates the life of Prophet. "Many Muslims are not
aware of Prophet Muhammad's life, which is inspiring. Between the 7th and 13th
centuries, Arabs progressed culturally, economically, and scientifically
because they were inspired by the Prophet and his teachings. Islam prohibits
idol worship but has no objection to talking or depicting life of the Prophet.
In fact, the Prophet had said that when he is not receiving revelations, he is
like an ordinary person. However, the fundamentalist forces entered in Islam
from the 14th century," he said.
Terming the
controversy unnecessary, Editor of an Urdu newspaper Sarfaraz Arzoo questioned
the objection to the movie. "Does the movie have historical misrepresentation
or wrong interpretation? One should first watch the movie to object to it.
Instead of banning the movie, a panel of experts could give its opinion on the
movie and delete the scenes if objectionable. Why be spanner in the
wheel?" he said.
After the
demand from Raza Academy and a few other Muslim organisations to ban the movie
release, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh wrote a letter to the Ministry of
Electronic and Information Technology. "We request you to block/suspend
those digital platforms where the movie would be released on the probable date
of 21st July 2020, under section 69A and the blocking rules of the Information
Technology Act, 2000 and Information Technology Act (Amendment) 2008. It's also
requested to issue instructions/directions to all Digital Platforms like
YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat etc to ban
the release of the aforesaid movie," Deshmukh said.
Raza
Academy spokesperson Rehman Noori said the objection is to show the Prophet as
a human. "The movie has shown his childhood and mother which is not
permitted in Islam. We will not tolerate it. We have written to all the
authorities to ban the movie which would hurt sentiments of Islam," he
said.
Original
Headline: Muslim scholars slam Maharashtra government for seeking ban on film
about Prophet Muhammad
Source: The Mumbai Mirror
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-culture/the-movie-muhammad-messenger-god/d/122532