NEW DELHI: An Indian Muslim group has issued a fatwa against Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi’s film ‘Mohammed: Messenger of God’ and its music composer AR Rahman.
Sunni Muslim group – Raza Academy, demanded the Muslims to reject the film, which is the first of the trilogy on the life of Prophet Mohammad.
Last week, the group had written to Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the CM of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis for seeking a ban. Raza Academy also wants to fix a meeting with the Home Minister and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.
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“We are against the title. People may use it in a bad manner if they do not like the film, which will mean an insult to the Prophet. The actors have charged money to act in the film and they may have dubious character in real life. How can we Muslims allow such things to happen?” asked Saeed Noorie, chief of Raza Academy.
The fatwa was issued by Muhammad Akhtar – the chief mufti of Mumbai. The fatwa claims the film makes a mockery of Islam, and professional actors, including some non-Muslims, have been cast in the key roles.
The fatwa adds that the Muslims working on the film have committed sacrilege and will have to read the kalma again and also solemnise their marriage again. “They have erred and they must apologise,” he said.
Noting that most members of the film’s crew were Muslim, Noorie said that it was more important to make them realise their mistake. “We would have been criticised if we had condemned American or Danish filmmakers. If it’s an insult, then it is an insult and the person’s religion doesn’t matter,” he said.
Majidi along with another Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf has directed films like ‘Children of Heaven’, which was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 1998 Academy Awards, ‘The Color of Paradise’, and ‘Baran’. He is also currently working on a film on Kashmir.
