Region | Egypt
Religious television series draws mixed response in Egypt
Amidst a plethora of political and social TV shows, Qamar Beni Hashem (The Moon of the Hashem Clan), a bio-drama on the life of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), is proving to be controversial.
- By Ramadan Al Sherbini, Correspondent
- Published: 23:39 September 10, 2008
Cairo: Amidst a plethora of political and social TV shows, Qamar Beni Hashem (The Moon of the Hashem Clan), a bio-drama on the life of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), is proving to be controversial.
Egypt's official television had to cancel plans to show the 30-episode series after Al Azhar, the Sunni world's most influential institution, objected to the show. Al Azhar blocked the broadcasting of Qamar Beni Hashem in this predominantly Muslim country on the grounds it portrays companions of the Prophet. Depiction of the Prophet and his companions are prohibited in Islam.
However, the Sudanese-produced drama is being shown on 20 other Arab networks, including Al Hayat, a privately-owned Egyptian channel. Qamar Beni Hashem has achieved high viewership ratings in Egypt in the first 10 days of of Ramadan, which started here on September 1, according to local media reports.
Viewership rates usually peak during the month. Around 40 Egyptian, Syrian and Gulf soap operas are vying for the audience's attention this Ramadan.
"The show gives a spiritual insight into the life of the Prophet Mohammad [PBUH]," said entertainment critic Mohammad Badr Al Deen. "The director's professionalism takes religious drama in the Arab world to new heights," Badr Al Deen told Gulf News. The series, directed by Mohammad Shaikh Najuib of Syria, reaffirms "Syrian distinction" in epics and religious TV programmes, according to the writer.
The $1.5 million (Dh5.5 million) show features around 220 actors from different Arab countries. Qamar Beni Hashem has also been attacked by Muslim hardliners for allowing a Syrian Christian actress to portray an early Muslim woman.
"Actors wre selected on the basis of their artistic, not religious, background," Najuib, the director, said in recent press remarks.
Najuib said faces of the Prophet's companions are not shown in the drama. "Parts of their bodies can be seen, but not their faces."
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