The Tells: Hollywood's View of Islam

Day Books: Sunday, 1998-07-19 12:46 EDT - Freeman Lake

What I did was watch a movie with scantily clad women dancing Isadora Duncan moves behind diaphonous garments and veils that left nothing to the imagination. At least from a Muslim perspective.

I watched a movie called Arabian Nights (1942) and was overwhelmed by how much damage such a film does to the average Westerner's impressions of Islam based on the behavior of these so-called Muslims.

Dancer Sherazade was told by the stars that she will become wife of the kalif in Bagdad. She tells Kamar, brother of kalif Haroun. He planned a coup d'etat, which failed at first, but supported by the wasir he finally succeeds. Haroun is injured and gets help from Ahmad's actor troupe, where he is nursed by Sherazade, who doesn't recognise him. When she hears that Kamar is looking for her she goes to him, but is sold with the complete troupe of actors to slavery. They're able to escape, but Haroun is still in danger. To save him, Sherazade agrees to poison Kamar, but Haroun tries to establish his rulership first.

Summary written by Stephan Eichenberg {eichenbe@fak-cbg.tu-muenchen.de}

The dialog was full of things like people swearing "by the beard of the prophet" ... greeting each other by saying "salaam" while touching their lips, forhead, and chest like they were making the Sign of the Cross in Arabic or something ... and the cavalry arrives to the cry of "Allahu Akbar!"

Well, I just don't have time to go into what's wrong with these distortions and falsehoods about the behavior of Muslims, but as someone who made shahada over ten years ago, I nonetheless got an insight as to why some Muslims might make that particular gesture, although no brother has ever greeted me that way ... I figured it was one of those Arabian things.

But there's meaning in the gesture that would escape the non-believers ... it serves as a reminder to "speak, remember, feel" while saying the word "peace" ... the words that are being said should make us think about the One who brought us together, and we should feel true sincerity in our heart, instead of a casual, insincere formality.

Devout Muslims remember Allah in everything that they do. Some not only say a prayer before starting a meal, but also say bismillah (in the name of Allah) before each mouthfull.

Some devote Muslims will not allow a television in their home. Instead of listening to the radio when they drive their cars, they play tapes of the Holy Quran in Arabic (the language in which the Angel Gabriel gave it to Allah's Messanger 1300 years ago) and recite along with it if they are alone.

Most devout Muslims will never see this movie, and would consider it a Sin to do so ... and they will never understand what they must overcome in terms of prejudice aginst Muslims around the world.

It's not just that Hollywood's portrayal of Islam and Muslims has an Arab-centric bias ... it's that the vast majority of people who see it will not be able to distinguish what is correct from what is not, and this will irrepairably diminish their regard for devout Muslims.