Muhammad in film

Part of a series on
Muhammad
show Life Mecca Hegira Medina After Conquest of Mecca Farewell Pilgrimage (Farewell Sermon) Hadith Milestones and records
show Career Military Diplomatic
show Miracles Quran (First revelation) Isra and Mi'raj Splitting of the moon Others
show Views Jews Christians
show Perspectives Islam Bible Judaism Medieval Christian Historicity Criticism
show Succession Saqifah Ghadir Khumm Companions of Muhammad Hadith of the pen and paper Ahl al-Bayt
show Praise Salawat Naat Mawlid
show Related Al-Masjid an-Nabawi Possessions Relics Seal History of Islam
Islam portal  Biography portal
v t

The depiction of Islamic prophet Muhammad in film (as with other visual depictions) is a controversial topic both within and outside of Islam. Although the Quran does not explicitly forbid images of Muhammad, there are a few hadith (supplemental teachings) which have explicitly prohibited Muslims from creating visual depictions of figures. Because the different branches of Islam use different Hadith collections, there is a split on this issue between the two major denominations of Islam, Sunni and Shia Islam.

Most Sunni Muslims believe that visual depictions of all the prophets of Islam should be prohibited^[1] and are particularly averse to visual representations of Muhammad.^[2] In 1926, Egyptian actor Youssef Wahbi was in discussions to play Muhammad in a film financed by the Turkish government under Atatürk. When the Sunni Islamic Al-Azhar University in Cairo heard about it, scholars there released a fatwa stipulating that Islam forbids the depiction of Muhammad on screen and King Fuad then sent a severe warning to the actor, threatening to exile him and strip him of his Egyptian nationality. As a result of the controversy, the film was abandoned.^[3]

In Shia Islam, scholars historically were also against such depictions, but have taken a more relaxed view over the years and images of Muhammad are quite common nowadays.^[2] A fatwa given by Ali al-Sistani, the Shi'a marja of Iraq, states that it is permissible to depict Muhammad, even in television or movies, if done with respect.^[4]

Notable films[]

The Message[]

Mohammad, Messenger of God, released in the US as The Message, was the first major film about Muhammad. The film was released on January 1, 1976 and on July 29 of the same year it had its premiere in "Plaza", a London cinema. There are two versions of the movie, an English one and an Arab one. The Arab version had also its premiere in a London cinema, Curzon, on August 19, 1976. Both versions were screened till September 29. So the English version was shown for nine weeks, and the Arab version for six weeks.

When director Mustafa Akkad was shooting the film, he made use of an American cast and an Egyptian cast. In the English version Anthony Quinn played Hamza, Michael Ansara Muhammad's principal opponent Abu Sufyan, and Irene Papas Abu Sufyan's wife Hind. In the Arab version these roles were played by Egyptian actors. However, in a number of overall shots, in which a large group is acting, such as the Battle of Badr, it can be heard that the scene is shot only once, as the actors shout "Allahu Akbar", whereas in other similar scenes the director opted for "God is great".

Although the movie is about Muhammad, the director decided to shoot the film so as to not depict Muhammad. Akkad frequently changed the position of the camera at moments when Muhammad would be brought into vision. When Muhammad was essential to a scene, the camera would show events from his point of view.^[5]

The Message became very popular, not the least in the circles of Muslims, for example in Africa, and Asia. Even so, two well-known fatwas from Al-Azhar University and Shiite Council of Lebanon were issued about The Message.

It is certainly probable that this is not the result of the creativity of the filmmakers but of the rules announced by the Islamic scholars of the Azhar and the Shia Council of Lebanon, who prohibited any representation of Muhammad's wives as well as of Muhammad himself.^[5]

Muhammad: The Last Prophet[]

Muhammad: The Last Prophet is an animated film produced by Badr International according to the same principles as "The Message". Its director is Richard Rich. The movie was released in 2004 and it was screened in a limited number of movie-theatres in the United States and the United Kingdom. The film focuses on the early period of Islam.

Muhammad: The Messenger of God[]

In October 2012, Iranian director Majid Majidi began shooting a film titled Muhammad: The Messenger of God with plans to show Muhammad on screen, though not his face, as per Shia tradition. The film world premier was on 27 August 2015.^[6]

The Lady of Heaven[]

In June 2020, Deadline Hollywood announced that Enlightened Kingdom were producing The Lady of Heaven which would be the first film that shows the face of Muhammad.^[7] In order to respect aniconism in Islam, Muhammad was portrayed by light and cinematic effects as opposed to being portrayed by an actor or single individual.^[8] The producers of the film also discussed how they tackled the very challenging aspect of depicting a Muslim holy personality.^[9] A trailer for the film was released in December 2020.^[10]

Later projects[]

There are some new films currently being produced about Muhammad, considered the "second of their kind" (referring to Western films respecting the portrayal of Muhammad).^[11][12]

In October 2008, Producer Oscar Zoghbi, who worked on the original The Message, stated that he would shooting a remake called The Messenger of Peace, to be shot around the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.^[12]

Film producer Barrie M. Osborne has been hired as an adviser on a possible series of epics about Muhammad. The films, which are financed by a Qatari media company and will be supervised by the Egyptian cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, are unlikely to depict Muhammad at all on screen as per Sunni tradition which sees all renderings of the prophets as blasphemous.^[11][13]

List of films[]

Date	Production company	Title	Country of origin	References
September 3, 1977	Moustapha Akkad	The Message (or Mohammad, Messenger of God)	UK  USA	[14][15] [16][17] [18][19]
November 14, 2004	Fine Media Group	Muhammad: The Last Prophet	USA	[20][21] [22][23] [24][25]
December 17, 2002	PBS	Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet	USA	[26][27] [28][29] [30][31] [32]
Unknown	History Channel		UK	[33][34]
2000 March 5, 2005	PBS	Islam: Empire of Faith	USA	[35] [36][37] [38]
March 12, 2002	Mpi Home Video		USA	[39]
September 25, 2006	Quantum Leaps; EDS		Turkey	[40]
2005	BBC (BBC Four)		UK	[41][42] [43]
May 2, 2004	BBC		UK	[44][45] [46][47]
Unknown	BBC		UK	[48]
Unknown	Unknown
October 21, 2004	National Geographic	Inside Mecca	USA	[49]
March 2, 2006	Towers Productions	(Decoding the Past)	USA	[50]
Unknown	Unknown			[51]
July 18, 2011 July 25, 2011 August 1, 2011	BBC (BBC Two)	The Life of Muhammad	UK	[52]
March 2015	Nurtaban Film Industry	Muhammad	Iran	[53]
2021	Enlightened Kingdom	The Lady of Heaven	UK	[54]

See also[]

• List of Islamic films
• List of animated Islamic films
• Depictions of Muhammad
• Historicity of Muhammad
• History of Islam
• List of biographies of Muhammad
• Muhammad in Islam
• Prophetic biography

References[]

Further reading[]

• Bakker, Freek, Cinema, in Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God (2 vols.), Edited by C. Fitzpatrick and A. Walker, Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2014. ISBN 1610691776