Muhammad Movie Planned: Film Brings Together Hollywood Producer Barrie Osborne And Banned Muslim Cleric Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi

A movie about the prophet Muhammad is in the works, according to Reuters. According to reports, the $150 million film will bring together a major hollywood producer and a Sunni imam banned from entering Britian.

Producer Barrie Osborne, a producer of both The Matrix and The Lord Of The Rings is organizing the film. The Times reports that Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi will work as the film's theological consultant. Al-Qaradawi hosts a show on the Arab-language network al Jazeera. According to the BBC, Al-Qaradawi was denied entry to Britain in February 2008. The UK's Home Office said that it would not tolerate those who sought to justify acts of terrorist violence.

The Times:

[Al-Qaradawi] is also a highly controversial figure who was refused entry to Britain last year because of his views. He has reportedly condoned the Holocaust, supported the stoning of homosexuals and praised suicide bombers in Iraq, not to mention telling an interviewer that he considered Shia Islam a heretical branch of the faith.

According to the Gulf Times newspaper he told journalists in Doha that the film was a response to "the crusader-styled distortion of Islam [that] continues to influence [the] world population today."

Osborne hopes to "bridge cultures" with the film, telling Reuters that "the film will educate people about the true meaning of Islam."

Production on the film is slated to begin in 2011. The Qatari firm Alnoor Holdings will finance the English-language film.

The film will not include any physical depictions of Muhammad. Such depictions are banned in the Islamic faith.

A cartoon depicting Muhammad sparked protests worldwide after it was published by a Danish newspaper in 2006. Two Chicago men were arrested last week for planning attacks on the newspaper.

Comments

[MosheDayanHero]

Hey, I thought Neo was the One!

[MosheDayanHero]

In related news.
Bishop Williamson and Ahmadinejad are credited as historical advisers on upcoming sequel to Schindler's List.

[Discipulus04]

exactly!!! they could not have picked a more inappropriate "advisor"

[asem111]

Its quite possible..its been done before, and very successfully - watch 'The Message' starring Anthony Quinn.

[riff4u]

The movie "The Message" was very successful and very accurate. It was shot in both English and Arabic and see all over the world mostly in DVD. It remains to be seen how this will be done and it sounds like trouble because there will always be those who don't like it.

[Khirad]

Yup.

[OxamsRazor]

I commend the producer for doing this. Muhammad is one of the most misunderstood people in history. The West needs to learn and can learn a lot about and from him.

I only wish the producer picked Karen Armstrong as the theological consultant. To be honest, her biography of Muhammad was the best I ever read.

[MosheDayanHero]

Very touching.
I wonder if his wedding with 'Aisha would be included.

[riff4u]

The wedding with Aisha may be included ......so what. Every Prophet had multiple wives most of them were by western standards of today child brides. How old do you think Rachel and Leah were? How old do you think Hagar the wife of Abraham was? How old was Mary the wife of Joseph....­..probably about 11 or 12.

[Khirad]

Not always the same as consummation, and why not? It's in the Hadith. Put it in the same historical context as men (even holy ones) marrying twelve year olds and younger in Judaism and Christianity of yore.

[Muhammad Abu-Jahl]

If it is, she'll be 35, not 6:

"Narrated 'Aisha: 'Allah's Apostle said (to me), "You were shown to me twice in (my) dream [before I married you]. Behold, a man was carrying you in a silken piece of cloth and said to me, 'She is your wife, so uncover her,' and behold, it was you. I would then say (to myself), 'If this is from Allah, then it must happen.'"'" (Bukhari Volume 9, Book 87, Number 139 and 140).

"Narrated Aisha: The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six (years) . . . I got ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew (again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me while I was playing in a swing with some of my girl friends. She called me, and I went to her, not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She caught me by the hand and made me stand at the door of the house. I was breathless then, and when my breathing became alright, she took some water and rubbed my face and head with it. Then she took me into the house . . . Unexpectedly Allah's Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age" (Bukhari Volume 5, Book 58, Number 234).

"The Prophet consummated his marriage with me in my house when I was nine years old”

[OxamsRazor]

Yeah they should. Warts and all. Karen Armstrong does a great job of that.

[riff4u]

It would be nice to include his marriage to Aisha. All the Prophets had multiple wives. Check out your Old Testament. All of these wives by modern western standards would be considered underage. How old were Rachel and Leigh? How old was Hagar the wife of Abraham? How old were the wives of Moses? How old was Mary mother of Jesus? Probably 12 or 13. Funny thing in Florida where I live a girl can be married at the age of 14 with parental consent. We also have to take into account that these Prophet marriages were just that MARRIAGES, not L&L relationships as we see so much today. In those days girls did not go to school, in fact nobody went to school. A girl was promised to a man at 8 or 9 and then married shortly after upon reaching puberty. I already know where you are going with this, but check out your Hebrew Prophets and Judaism in general before you point fingers.

[biglimes]

Well this should be interesting.

[whitewoman]

It has been done before, you can find the film "The Message" at most mosques and of course there was a cartoon called "Mohammed" (pbuh) a couple of years back. It's really not that dangerouse. What worries me is that the personality of the prophet may be turned into a two dimenional hollywood cardboard cutout ,just as Jesus' personality has.Jesus was obviously a darker complexioned middle eastern man but in the movies he seems to be a European .

[jdbuckjr]

As long as there's no physical depiction of Muhammad they'll be fine. No justification for jihad. It may stir up some controversy amongst themselves, but it is Arab-financed according to the article. Of course, somebody will inevitably get their panties in a wad, but you can't please everyone. Could be cool if they do it right.

[CherrySpring]

Why should this be any better or worse than "The Passion"?

[uncc49er]

I don't think this is a good idea. Very dangerous territory to step in.

[amir rahim]

i wish 'em luck...

[Hirnlego]

Wouldn't want to be involved in any way..

[mhusaini]

I love how it says "banned" Muslim cleric. What does that even mean? From a juristic perspective, Qaradawi is actually considered quite a liberal scholar, and is well-respected in the Muslim world. The media sure loves its sound bites.

[bismillah001]

It would have been a better choice to use Sheikh Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri than Shiekh Qaradawi.

[Gasparilla]

He wants to stone people for no reason and he's a liberal?

[riff4u]

He will be good for the movie. You'll have the wing nuts out there giving the movie extra exposure and plenty of free air time on the cable networks resulting in bigger sales.

[iowamo]

How can they make a film about Muhammad without "any physical depictions of Muhammad"?

[riff4u]

It has already been done in "The Message". An excellent movie starring Anthony Quinn.

[WallisDonaghey]

They've done it twice already. It was interesting. You never saw him, he never spoke. Sometimes they showed things from his "viewpoint".

[bobbobato]

how could they make a movie about Mohammed without showing him?