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My great-grandfather Rasim Tabakovic served as an imam within the japanese Bosnian metropolis of Visegrad. At all times immaculately dressed and carrying a white prayer cap at any time when he left his house, Imam Rasim was the non secular chief of the Muslim neighborhood on this picturesque city on the Drina River.
Muslims have been a minority in communist Yugoslavia and because of the repression of the faith by the regime, practising Muslims have been a minority inside a minority.
Individuals like my great-grandfather stood as pillars in communities of believers. He died within the late Eighties and Bosniaks within the Visegrad area and past nonetheless keep in mind him fondly for his honesty.
As an especially spiritual individual, he had no real interest in cinema, which on the time largely confirmed movies reflecting communist propaganda with which he had nothing to do.
That's why when Imam Rasim took my great-grandmother Hafiza to the cinema within the late Seventies – the primary and solely time, so far as individuals keep in mind – it was a special day.
The screening that Rasim took Hafiza to was no peculiar movie. It was The Message, a movie directed by Syrian-American filmmaker Mustafa Akkad and starring Antony Quinn. It tells the story of the start of Islam and the mission of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, to unfold the revelations.
It was a long-awaited screening and the theater in Visegrad was full of Muslims of all generations. Even in Sarayevo, the place my mother and father Fikret and Hamida have been finding out regulation on the time, theaters have been full of individuals desperate to see this outstanding movie.
For Bosnian Muslims dwelling beneath communism, the discharge of The Message was a historic occasion. This marked the start of the return of faith to public life, because the communist regime was adopting a much less harsh strategy in the direction of Islam and different religions.
For the primary time, Bosnian Muslims have been seeing on the large display screen what they’d discovered at house and in mosques concerning the historical past of Islam. Many have been shocked by the movie's highly effective affect and Akkad's skill to convey the historical past and messages of Islam in a approach that they thought-about religiously acceptable, utilizing a medium usually devoted to leisure. Imam Rasim himself was drastically impressed by this movie.
Quinn's exceptionally spectacular portrayal of Hamza, the Prophet's (PBUH) uncle, conveyed his tenacity and decisiveness on display screen. Mexican-born Quinn, whose actual identify was Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca, in all probability by no means imagined within the mid-Seventies how a lot his function on this movie would popularize the identify Hamza. This identify grew to become particularly in style within the Eighties and 90s.
Unexpectedly, the message was an academic useful resource for Bosnian Muslims.
I keep in mind watching the movie at my grandmother Hafa's home in Visegrad. She used to point out it to us – her grandchildren – on VHS. This was nonetheless communist Yugoslavia on the time and the movie started to be proven on TV solely after the autumn of the regime and the independence and liberalization of Bosnia within the early Nineties.
After we moved to Malaysia within the mid-Nineties due to my father's educating job on the College of Kuala Lumpur, I additionally noticed the movie screened on TV.
I noticed that from the Balkans to Southeast Asia, The Message has grow to be a favourite movie for Muslim communities. The success was not solely because of Akkad's outstanding abilities as a director, but additionally as a result of there are usually not too many movies on Islamic themes of comparable high quality and scope.
The opposite movie to be screened repeatedly throughout Ramadan and Eid is Lion of the Desert, additionally directed by Akkad and starring Quinn. It tells the story of Libyan chief and imam Omar al-Mukhtar's resistance to the Italian colonial invasion of his nation within the Twenties and early 30s.
The 2 epics of Akkad have been so extraordinary that different productions couldn’t match them. I keep in mind how throughout an prolonged Eid vacation in Malaysia within the Nineties, a TV station ran out of Islam-themed movies to point out, so it determined to point out the Orientalist and extremely controversial function Lawrence of Arabia . This prompted a Turkish professor educating at a Malaysian college to write down a criticism to the channel.
Certainly, Akkad's expertise in portraying the historical past of Islam and telling the story of Omar al-Mukhtar is unparalleled. What he achieved was not achieved by another director. Akkad produced different movies and his profession in Hollywood was not at all profitable.
He tragically misplaced his life alongside along with his daughter Reema within the 2005 Amman bombings carried out by al-Qaeda. It’s certainly ironic {that a} filmmaker who did a lot to unfold the message of Islam by means of movie was killed by terrorists.
The affect and affect of his most essential work has fallen upon him. From Visegrad to Kuala Lumpur and past, the affect of the message has been immeasurable. This movie is Akkad's distinctive contribution and his lasting legacy. That is his most consequential waqf.
The views expressed on this article are these of the writer and don’t essentially replicate the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.