Imam Shafi'i, accompanied by Imam Abdullah bin Abdul Hakam al-Faqih al-Maliki and the chief merchant of Egypt, enters the mosque of Amr ibn al-Aas, circumambulating around the throat of the flag. Al-Shafi'i suddenly stops in front of a circle studying medicine and points with admiration to a manuscript in the hand of the teacher, saying to Abdul Hakam: "Medicine.. Science is two sciences, the science of religions and the science of bodies", then he gets down on his knees, asking the teacher to hold the manuscript made of papyrus that grows on the banks of the Nile and asks about its age and whereabouts like it, this is in the Egyptian series "The Imam's Message" by Syrian director Laith Hajo, 2023.

The series raises a lot of controversy over important issues related to historical drama and the extent of its commitment to the information contained in the heritage before the matter developed into an ideological and religious controversy in which many parties entered the line of discussion. I imagine that the issue is far from the problem of embodying historical facts and also from the question of language. In order to edit the issue and because of the mixing of several issues with each other, I preferred to discuss the series through several different levels to clarify some issues. These levels are the level of dramatic workmanship, the second level is the level of talent of those in charge of it, and the third level is the level of audience reception and interaction with the work, which are separate levels despite their connection to the essence of the work.

Writing a script for historical works requires a special kind of talent and effort. The late writer and poet Abdul Salam Amin was one of these and he wrote the series Omar bin Abdul Aziz and Harun al-Rashid and series about the Rightly-Guided Caliphs and added in addition to the research effort human touches stemming from being a poet so the series came creative pieces classy

First: the level of workmanship

There are several fundamental problems in the workmanship of the work, on top of which is the script, because it is an extension of a disaster in Egypt that has been going on for several years in television drama and cinema called the screenwriting workshop. The script for "The Imam's Message" is the result of a collective writing by 7 writers, 3 from Syria and 4 from Egypt. It is an unfortunate method that many dramas and films have turned into in recent years, and has transformed screenwriting from a process of unique self-creation with a personality to a mechanical process subject to profit. This is not my opinion alone, this is the opinion of the most prominent screenwriters in Egypt, including the late writer Wahid Hamed, Hani Fawzy and others. Last year's book "The First Story" explored this problem by Mohamed Ghalib and Imam Muhammad and included interviews with leading screenwriters.

Any specialist can notice fundamental problems in the script from the first episodes, as the unjustified and illogical movements between Iraq, the desert and Egypt, in addition to the imbalance in the dramatic development of the characters, clearly indicate that there is more than one vision of the script, which are not all wrong visions, but mixing them is wrong and the creative work loses its coherence.

This is reflected in the role of Imam Shafi'i in the series, as it is not clear from the dramatic context the nature of his character, regardless of the character's real fame. Because we do not find an employment, for example, of his jurisprudential or linguistic faculties, but we see a review of quick jurisprudential positions and some verses of poetry mentioned in different situations and not within the context of the development of events and people or part of them.

The other thing is related to directing, because the series does not have a clear directorial vision, despite the great financial potential. There is also an absence of the message, the visual language used, and how the director employs lighting, for example, to serve the development of the plot. Sometimes we find scenes filmed with a drone, which are beautiful shots that if relied on as a repeating pattern, they would have been informed, but we find a variety in the sizes of the shots and the shooting staff without clear meaning.

Second: The talent of those in charge of it

It's no exaggeration to say that many of the people on the show are real talents, but it seems that they were pressured at the time and couldn't express themselves properly. For example, actor Khaled al-Nabawi is an actor who has a presence, but the way he acts is far from the personality and style of the religious character in this series. Every look and every gesture from the actor carries a message, and in order to convince the viewer to embody an important and influential figure such as Imam Shafi'i, it required longer training. In order to infer this idea in a practical way, we must watch the performance of the late actor Noor al-Sharif in the role of the Umayyad caliph Omar bin Abdul Aziz and review his statements and videos published about this character and how he studies the gestures of the character.

A person who examines a personal career like Imam Shafi'i cannot stand alone in his role as a jurist and poet and transcend his piety. This last characteristic requires considerable effort to be reflected visually. This effort was made by Nour Al-Sharif, starting with the idea that was born between him and the late Minister of Awqaf, Sheikh Hassan Al-Baqouri, until Al-Sharif's will to show the scene of the death of Omar bin Abdul Aziz upon his death. It is possible to review the statements of the late artist Abdullah Ghaith during his role in the film The Message and how Anthony Quinn used to refer to him to understand the limits of the nature of the Arab character so that he could embody it in the role of our master Hamza bin Abdul Muttalib, may God be pleased with him.

The talent here does not stop at the limits of acting and extends to the script, in addition to the elements mentioned in the scenario notes above, writing the script of historical works needs talent and effort of a special kind. The late writer and poet Abdul Salam Amin was one of them, who wrote the series of Omar bin Abdul Aziz and Harun al-Rashid and series about the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, and added in addition to the research effort human touches stemming from being a poet, so the series came with high-end creative pieces.

I remember that I used to discuss a lot with the late writer Osama Anwar Okasha about his philosophical, religious and historical projections in his famous series, and I asked him once if he saw the possibility of repeating his experience and talent in the future with other writers, and he said that he dreamed of establishing a script institute affiliated to the Radio and Television Union to discover and train new talents in screenwriting and he made a proposal for this matter already. But it seems that the idea has not found its way into practice. By the way, the production sector of this union had traditions and rules in drama production that were undoubtedly better than they are now.

Third: What the public demands

Apart from the dramatic artistic elements of the series, no drama about a famous religious figure can override the audience's reaction. Because in this case it is not a question of objective rules but of subjective feelings and dogmas that must be taken into account. Although I think that the anger of most of the audience is justified not because of the reasons given by many, but because of the defect in the workmanship and talent in the series that led to the search of non-specialists for the reasons for the inability of the series to persuade, sometimes they went to the idea of historical scrutiny and sometimes to the issue of the use of some colloquial Egyptian, which could have passed or at least remained within an elitist discussion if there was strength in the rest of the elements of the series.

It is precisely on this point that the taste of the Arab audience seems to have already risen linguistically because of the historical series written by Dr. Walid Seif. In his memoir, "The Witness of Witness", he says that he was asked to dilute the old Arabic language in historical series so that the audience could follow the work. His point of view was the opposite, which is to raise the taste of the public and not to bring it down, and he considered it an opportunity to spread the Arabic language in the original references and sources among the people, and he was.