Morocco Says No to Film Featuring the Prophet Mohammed

By Hadi Ameri

Morocco-Says-No-to-Film-Featuring-the-Prophet-Mohammed

The famous Iranian director Majeed Majeedy was given a stark rebuff from Morocco when he suggested that he might choose this country to shoot his new film. A Spanish news website had announced that Majeedy was planning to make a new film about the early days of Islam, the first ever in which the Prophet Mohammad would be represented.

The Moroccan Cinematographic Center (MCC) left no room for doubts in its reaction. A statement issued by the MCC made it clear that Morocco refuses categorically to provide the technically unavoidable authorization for any piece of work that would “undermine its religious foundations” and explained that representing the Prophet’s personality by an actor is regarded as such.

Mohamed Bakrim, the MCC spokesman who made the comment, nonetheless retorted that the Center didn’t receive any official request yet regarding that film and if it happened, it would be refused. He also highlighted the guidelines ruling the selection process for the foreign cinematographic works to be shot in Morocco.

“We have a framework of relevant criteria to prevent any abuse affecting the administrative, financial or dramatic aspects of these works”, added Bakrim who confirmed that “we make sure to check the legal status of the production company and the script of the drama.”

He also explained that the MCC is keen, as a general rule, to receive and study a copy of the whole script of those projects, not only the part of the film that would feature Morocco as a landscape, before dealing with the authorization request. A special committee would scrutinize the whole script and issue its approval or reject “on the basis of considerations including the respect of the Nation’s sacred values and the coherence of the administrative file.”

The same principles governed the clearance given to the late Mustafa Al Akkad, the World famous Syrian-American filmmaker who filmed a part of his masterpiece ‘Al-Risalah’ (The Messenger - 1977) in Southern-Morocco before consistent criticism forced him to withdraw into the Libyan Desert to finish his work.

The website “laverdad.es”, the virtual version of the namesake Spanish daily, quoted the celebrated Iranian director as saying that his upcoming project depicts the Prophet of Islam whose life was dedicated to “the enlightenment of humanity and its deliverance from the darkness”.
It is expected that the project would add sparks to the controversy triggered recently by the broadcasting on some Arab channels of a historical drama produced by the Iranian Television in which the Iranian star Mustafa Zamany played the Prophet Joseph, even though it was based on Islamic references.

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sueRabat : Hadi Ameri & all the moroccans who may read this article,

When you speak of the Prophet, say The Prophet Mohamad, Prayer and blessing upon him, and when we muslims speak of any Prophet, we say prayers upong him. The article's inclinations are obvious, I salute Morocco if it says no. The prophet Mohamad prayer and blessing upon him cannot be portrayed in any movie, article, book, writings or any publication, other than the Qoran & the Sunna. ..... It is all we Muslims have left. So HANDS OFF our Belief. Cinema Arts freedom of BS whatever do not have more rights than our religion does.

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