Yesterday, Saturday, the Cinema Center in Morocco issued a statement announcing that the movie "Lady of Heaven" - which deals with the life story of Lady Fatima al-Zahra, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace - was not granted approval for screening at the commercial and cultural levels.

The Supreme Scientific Council, the official religious body responsible for issuing fatwas, also denounced the content of the film, which "contradicts the principles of Islam."

In statements to the British newspaper "The Guardian", the executive producer of the film, Malik Shlipak, described the ban on showing it in Britain and a number of Muslim countries such as Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq, as a capitulation to pressure.

crisis in britain

The ban in Morocco came a few days after the film was stopped in British cinemas, after it sparked a state of controversy and anger that prompted cinemas to stop it.

Opponents accused the filmmakers of insulting Islam and trying to distort its image, as well as criticizing the embodiment of the companions' personalities such as Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, Omar Ibn Al-Khattab and Othman Ibn Affan (may God be pleased with them).

The English film was directed by Ellie King, and the script was written by Kuwaiti writer Yasser Al-Habib, who has been living in London for years because of his anti-Sahaba religious views, and was previously imprisoned in Kuwait.

A demonstration against the screening of the movie "Our Lady of Heaven" in Britain (networking sites)

The crisis escalated after protests by Muslims in Britain with the aim of preventing the film from being shown, which led to its withdrawal from theaters, and the British “cineworld” network of cinemas was forced to stop showing it after campaigns and demonstrations that considered the film offensive and fueling strife between Sunnis and Shiites. .

The company's spokesperson said that it was decided to cancel the showing of the film in order to preserve the safety of workers and spectators, after more than 120,000 people signed a petition calling for it to be withdrawn.

On the other hand, the British authorities dismissed Imam Qari Muhammad Asim, the imam of the Mecca Mosque in Leeds, Britain, from his position as vice-chairman of a working group on Islamophobia. The publication limits freedom of expression.

Merging the past with the present

The film, whose name was changed from "Day of Torment" to "Lady of Paradise", is the first artwork that deals with the biography of Fatima al-Zahra, the daughter of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and its makers chose to combine the past and the present through the story of an Iraqi child named "Laith", whose mother and name were killed. Fatima brutally confronts him at the beginning of the film, in a battle between ISIS members and the forces resisting them, so he goes to his grandmother’s house, who in turn decides to console him by telling him the story of the Prophet’s daughter Fatima al-Zahra (may God be pleased with her), whom the film considers the first victim of terrorism in the world. the scientist.

The work moves to the Arabian Peninsula and the historical period that witnessed the reunion of Lady Fatima with her father, the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, in Medina, and her marriage to the companion Ali bin Abi Talib and her birth to Imam Hassan and Imam Hussein (may God be pleased with them), but the film did not address her well-known historical story. In Islam or the sacrifices made by Imam Al-Hassan or Al-Hussein, but he focused on some of the false accounts that included religious insults about differences between Lady Fatima and the companions of the Messenger, including Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq and Omar bin Al-Khattab, may God be pleased with them.

The film claimed that the two companions, Abu Bakr and Omar - may God be pleased with them - burned her house and physically assaulted her, which caused her to miscarry, and weeks later she died of physical injury and extreme grief.

Fallacies and errors

The film's dependence on false narratives, and the embodiment of a character such as the companion and the first Muslim caliph Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, may God be pleased with him, who seized the lands of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and the money of Khaybar after the attack on Lady Fatima, and he cut down and destroyed the tree that bears her name, and expelled her from her house to live in a small tent until her death.

These are not the only religious insults and historical inaccuracies dealt with in the film. There are other religious abuses, such as the appearance of the Prophet’s women, peace and blessings be upon him, and the believing women wearing modern clothes far from the clothes that distinguished the women of the Arabian Peninsula and the women of the Prophet, peace be upon him, at that time.

The film, which embodied the personality of the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, and his daughter, Lady Fatima, may God be pleased with her, used visual effects to avoid the appearance of the face and replace it with a halo of light in the two characters.