European Television Channel “Arte” will broadcast next January 29, 30 and 31 a documentary series devoted to "Muhammed, the Prophet of Islam," praise be upon him, according to Algerie Presse Service (APS).
This program, presented in the form of frescos entitled very simply "Mahomet", is made up of five episodes of 55 minutes each, where the three co-authors and the producer, namely "Arte France", have applied to convey to the uninitiated part of their viewers, culturally and sociologically diverse, the universal and sacred feature of Islam.
On Thursday, "Arte" organized in its Paris office an exclusive projection with journalists to present the first two episodes, titled "Towards Prophecy" and "The Revelation", which foresee the overall opportunity for a television movie that will not fail to feed controversy. The remaining three episodes are titled "Medina and the Law," "Power and Mecca" and "The Koran."
The co-authors, two Moslems and one Christian, are Tunisian Yousef Seddiq, philosopher and anthropologist, Turkish Tugrul Celal, film maker and producer, and Franco-Spanish Chema Sarmiento, the film's technical producer. The latter is co-produced by "Arte France" and "La Cie des Phares et des Balises" (France) in co-operation with other French, Canadian and American partners.
After the projection, the authors touched on the extent of the difficulties lied in this topic, given its sacred feature and the passions it raises in today's world, both within the Moslem communities and the rest of mankind.
The mainly pointed out that they stuck arbitrarily to the early years of Islam and the Moslem world, focusing their attention mainly on the personality of Prophet Muhammad, in order to avoid to fall into the trap of the discords that appeared even soon after his death. As such, the program deals with the period ending in the 8th century AD, a period when Islam was geographically rooted exclusively in the Arabian peninsula.
A choice that somewhat alters the story of Islam experienced for centuries in a certainly polyphone way through the formidable ethnic and linguistic diversity of the Moslem world. However, both episodes broadcast on Thursday, show that such a choice does not in the least question the universal and communal feature of Islam, revealed in Arabia indeed, but for the whole of mankind – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
