Final preparations on a $1 billion, seven-part series of movies covering the life of the Prophet Mohammed and the other Abrahamic prophets are underway, with the first film set to launch in 2018, a Qatar-based media group said.
Final story lines are being written for Mohammad: The Messenger, according to Alnoor Holdings, which has been developing the epic series for more than five years.
Alnoor gave the latest update for its blockbuster at the ongoing Montreal film festival, where another film about the Prophet, Muhammad: Messenger of God, by Iranian director Majid Majidi, premiered.
The group added that some filming for the series will take place in Qatar.
Described by the media firm as being a series “of Hollywood standards”, movie experts who have advised on development include Barrie Osborne, who produced the Lord of the Rings and The Matrix trilogies.
Ambitions for the series have grown significantly since it was first planned as a three-part film with a budget of $150 million. In late 2012, the media group announced that the project would be much bigger in scale, running to seven parts with an estimated cost in excess of $1 billion.
More than 200 experts from around the world have been brought in to advise and work on the series, which will combine fiction with non-fiction, Dr Azahar Iqbal, international productions director of Alnoor Holdings, said in a statement.
Qatari cleric Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi, who has been leading the research on the movie, previously said that while the Prophet will not be directly depicted in the series, his companions will be.
Collaboration invite
Speaking at the Montreal festival, Majidi – whose film is the first to visually depict the Prophet, although it doesn’t actually show his face – reportedly invited the Qatari team to work together on future ventures.
“The more movies that are made about the prophet’s life, the better. We hope the Qatari team will make a correct interpretation of Islam, and they are most welcome to come and film at our facilities in our country,” The Guardian reports Majidi as saying.
Iqbal said he was “open-minded” about collaboration, although said that the Qatar series has been designed to have mass appeal.
“We’re not here to preach. We really want to work on something that works as entertainment,” Iqbal reportedly added.
In a statement on its website, the group described the development of the series as having created: “a wealth of script scenarios that are appealing and exciting within endorsed limits of sensitivities challenged by such a project.
Alnoor Holdings’ Chairman Ahmed Al-Hashemi said: “The films will bring a ‘wow’ factor in graphics and visual effects that has not been achieved before.
“We are also developing technology tools for storytelling that will certainly be an element of surprise for the industry.”
Thoughts?
Note: This article was edited to correctly reflect the $150 million budget of the original trilogy, not $150,000 as previously stated.
“We’re not here to preach. We really want to work on something that works as entertainment,” Now what are we to understand from this?!
I think the message is pretty clear. Presenting true historical events is not preaching, forcing down religious scriptures written millennia ago, is. For history enthusiasts like me, this is great entertainment.
I just HOPE they represent a historically accurate and unbiased perspective… I doubt it though..
They can’t. See my previous point.
Don’t be surprised if the histirical facts are depicted accurately you may be just as swayed as one who was preached to. The story of the blessed prophet pbuh is a legacy owed to the world
Er – what does depicting actually mean. “His face will not be shown” suggests that nevertheless someone will be acting the role of the Prophet Mohammed? Isn’t that depicting?
It is great that they are bringing in experts and all but a cost of 1 billion dollars?! That is an excessive amount of money for a movie series. I would think Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) would rather have had that money go to charity then a big budget movie about him.
I agree, this completely defeat the purpose of his command not to worship him, but on the other hand, the prospect of such a great film in the hands of the ‘maestro’ Majid Majidi, excites me.
I’m not opposed to the film being made. It is that huge budget that makes me cringe. It is the same feeling about the world cup here, I’m not opposed to it but it seems more people are suffering these days more than ever and having such a huge budget just seems like the world has their priorities mixed up.
I don’t think you can possible be in a position to know what Mohamed would think.
After rereading what I wrote, you are right, I take that back. I’ll edit it. Thanks.
I wonder how the recent carbon dating of the Birmingham Koran fits in with the work that’s already been done on this..
I wonder if it will have a catchy ear worm theme song like Jesus Christ Superstar?
I can’t wait to see how they manage a 7-part biopic without showing the subject.
South Park Season 14 Episode 5!
They’ll manage it alright, but the film’s quality will be downgraded. Why spend $1 bn on a movie if you’re not even going to bother to portray the protagonist?! It’s hard to fathom that the directors are knowingly sabotaging their own film.
It’s a challenge for sure, but an Iranian film maker did the story of Maryam (the blessed vigin Mary mother of Christ) without showing Yahya pbuh face nor that of Jesus pbuh and it worked out fine. You may find it online and watch. Excelling cinematography and effects and off course the story itself amazing
I hope you cover the sensational news that came out yesterday, which would rewrite the whole story of Islam and Mohamed. C14 dating of the oldest Koran found points to it Predating Mohamed, throwing the whole traditional narrative of Islam right out of the window. This would put Islam under a major review and change the whole way we look at the life of mohamed and the early Muslims.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/08/carbon-dating-suggests-worlds-oldest-koran-is-even-older-than-the-prophet-muhammad/#.VeT5XLip1U0.twitter
Quoting the article you linked,
“Koran stored at a Birmingham library suggests that the book was produced between 568 and 645 A.D., said scientists at the University of Oxford, but Islamic scholars generally believe Muhammad lived between 570 and 632 A.D.”
So the book does not predate Mohammed, but is contemporary, and against the belief that the first Quran was written much later! Did you only read the headline of the news that represent journalism worse than DohaNews?
I think you miss the point. The traditional narrative is that the Koran was revealed to Mohd later in his life and passed on orally. The written Koran was not formalized until Othman.
This points to the Koran already been written in some form and Mohd just collected the stories. However the believers will not accept evidence and will continue to believe what they want
No I did not miss the point. Read the second half of my first sentence. You just made another comment without reading thoroughly!
Whatever new things we are learning and the origins of Islam, one thing is for certain it requires further investigation as the fact is we just don’t know with any certainity what happened. Where do the Koran come from? How much was copy and paste from earlier works? What was Mohamed’s role in the early Muslim state and conquest? How did the early Muslims act and practice their faith? What drove the early Muslims to burst out of Arabia and go on a period of conquest and create a huge empire to dominate large swathes of humanity?
The fact is on current evidence is no one can answer these questions with any certainly currently.
That’s more like it! If you read Kuran, read the ‘known’ history of that time, and apply some logic, most of your question can be answered without concrete proof, but based on rationale. But that thing ‘rationale’ is hard to argue with when it comes to religion!
Sorry but I can’t accept, evidence is the only way, evidence that can be cross referenced with independent reliable resources. Guessing what might be correct, leads to huge margins of error.
You may not like it, but that’s how history is written. It is always written by the victor, you seldom get to know the story of the defeated, the oppressed. You then proceed to call them reliable sources. Why going far? The history of Islam is a fine example. What kind of proof do you expect? CCTV footage of the siege of Mecca?
Lol at the CCTV footage, best comment of the day!
It is not the believers, it is you who can’t read a proper english statement and comprehend it. Time to go back to school. Such clickbait articles are written for naive people like you who fall for it.
Lol. Do you hear the sound of your world collapsing….,
The reality is that carbon dating is not terribly precise. It works well archaeologically and paleologically because error margins can afford a few 100/1000 years plus/minus when you’re looking at 1000s or millions. Honestly this is just sensationalist headlines. The science is simply not there to back up the assertion.
Reading the method used the protocols were robust. However this of course needs further research as unlike religion science will not except just one ‘source’ as evidence.
Interesting stuff though and like the Turin shroud was proved to be a fake, science could rewrite Islamic history as well.
Exciting times we live in
I can’t wait for some of the war scenes, especially the battle of badr. I love a good war film. Saladin conquering Jerusalem in kingdom of heaven was great, I hope it matches that.
The Directors cut version was amazing. Still one of my favorite films and soundtracks.
For a budget of a billion dollars, they should bring in tarantino to do the action scenes.
Lol, that’s going to be inappropriate…
Why not? Mohd and the early Muslims launched many wars of conquest. The slaughter and enslavement of the Jewish tribe at yathrib would be ideal. Or they could even look at the battle of badr.
Tarantino’s movies are a bit weird…
Your comment reeks bias ignorance. Go read up on facts and stop spreading these lies. The blessed Prophet Mohammed only wanted religious freedom to worship one God, he fled religios persecution , he was never the agressor. As for the Jews, they were offered protections under one Muslim welfare state and freedom to worship as they chose under the first constitution ever drafted in world history “meethaq ilmadina” look up the medina constitution. The story of the stolen shield after Mohammed pbuh when a Jew was up against a Muslim and the Jew was the one in the right: Islam judged fairly against the Muslim who was in ten wrong. The neighbour of the Prophet Mohammed was was a Jew who would throw garbage on the prophets door daily and one day when he didn’t the prophet was concerned if his jewish neighbour was sick and went to check on him, and indeed he was and the Jew was so taken back by the blessed prophets kindness embraced Islam. These are accurate accounts , as for the jewish betrayal and aggression towards Muslims that is also noted in our history. Dont spread these lies.
Your comment reeks of blind faith. Of course the victorious Muslim armies and Mohd himself as a successful general wrote history that is favourable for them. Mohd and his followers conquered the whole of Arabia and after his death burst out of Arabia on a orgy of conquest throughout Persia, the levant and North Africa. Really quite impressive how much they conquered in such a short time. The merging of faith and war was a powerful force. I’m not picking on the Muslims only, it was the way of the world back then with the Roman and Persian empires. Interestingly both destroyed by the rampaging Muslim armies within 100 years of Mohd.
I’m sorry the narrative doesn’t fit what you want to believe is true, but that’s the horrible thing about history it’s not always nice and fits your prejudices.
First thank you for the complement. I’m very proud of my Muslim faith and no it’s not blind at all. Secondly, where’s my prejudice? If there’s any prejudice it’s yours. I don’t care for not engage in discussions with people whose choice of words Is beneath my civilized sensibilities ” slaughter” “enslavement” “burst out of arabia in an orgy of conquests”
But I’ll say this: Out faith was never spread by wars, contrary to the sensationalit’s myths your likes spread solely aimed to demonize Islam. Islam was never an aggressor, when attacked it defended itself. This is known through out history and no matter how ppl like your self try to thinly spread these zionist lies everyone is able to read, to learn , to judge for themselves.
Case in point. Islam spread to Indonesia , Malaysia and now the west namely America post the home grown zionist lead 9/11 orchestration. Islam spread without wars. People reverted to Islam with no swords or guns. Don’t inderestimate people who are equipped with their intellects, and they are embracing Islam by the millions. Which is why this well oiled (zionist owned) media machine counters the spread of the Muslim faith with well orchestrated and carefully planned , not to mention questionable sensationalist anti Islam campaigns. Albeit in your defense it’s your ignorance which is inwittingly making you today’s anti Islam mouthpiece. The truth my friend can never be obscured. I won’t ask you to read up and educate yourself on the factual history of Islam. Just munch on your popcorn and watch the movies when they come out.
If you are proud good for you and you can have your own opinion on the origins of Islam but you can’t have your own facts. Please read up about the first caliphate if you want to know more about Muslim conquests, really more Arab as Islam wasn’t fully formed yet, which lead to one of the quickest expansions and establishment of a huge empire in such a short time. (Yeah I know all those defensive wars left the Arab armies with huge amounts of terrority to rule….)
If you want to read just one phase of conquest, look at the invasion and conquest of Persia. The Persians put up furious resistance and some of the battles still echo through history but eventually they were defeated.
As for Indonesia, true to was intially spread by trade contacts but once a sultan decided to convert, his subjects were forced to follow suit. Interestingly the last mass conversion was in the 1960 as people wanted to distance themselves from the communists who were murdering thousands as they believed they could hide as Muslims and would not be persecuted by the state.
I do appreciate you calling me anti Islam as that is your only defence to throw insults in light of the facts of history. You can’t deny or discredit facts, so you scream discrimination to deflect the conversation. People will not be fooled by these attempts.
You either remain painfully ignorant as you still try to perpetuate the confetti of lies, or you like many like you are, let’s say, perhaps even paid to troll the forums to spread your toxic anti Islam smear campaign. Because if you’re not ignorant dribbling your lies about the history of Islam, then you have all the trappings of a zionist. I believe you even referred to “the dirty Palestinians ” in another post, which I’m surprised has pass unnoticed by the mods.
Just as you spread lies about islam (rest assured to no avail because indeed people will not be fooled by YOU, you probably will even claim the deliberate genocide and holocaust of the Palestinians families and children as a modern day myth too.
You are anti Islam and I’m surprised you are allowed thus far to spew your hatred and lies about my religion on this site.
If your in Doha I hope you get deported and you take your disgusting prejudices and lies back to the hole your crawled out of
Just a few points of correction.
The reference to “dirty Palestinians” in another thread was in reference to the poor treatment they receive in the GCC from their “brothers”. In fact I have upmost sympathy for them due to their treatment at the hand of the Israelites and GCC countries but the world does not seem to care.
I am not anti Islam or pro Islam but I do have an interest in history without the bias you hold. I know some of the facts of history are uncomfortable for you, but try to embrace the truth rather than just attack others and pretend it never happened. Maybe you need to read more.
You give yourself too much credit zionist. I have no reason to be uncomfortable, nor am I bias. The historical facts you lay claim to remain lies and people have access to historical facts. You can’t even read arabic or our history books and you come here claiming to be an expert. It’s beyond foolish, it’s pathetic. There are innumerous Historical books are also written in English and many other languages, but these would wasted on ppl like yourself who are will always be blinded by prejudice or those with agendas. Whether you like it or not, Islam IS a religion of peace and the final unadulterated message attesting to the oneness of God swt. It spread through the hearts and intellect. Or would you rather say that the thousands of Americans and Europeans who converted to Islam over that last two decades were held at gun point? Such a fool. You’d like to elegantly tout yourself as someone with “an interest in history” but in really you’re shackeld with an unyielding obsession to demonize Islam. The prejiduce, hatred and lies you try to spread are a reflection of your personal spiritual and intellectual inadequacies; these are best served amongst your kindred folk in a zionist anti islam website. Kindly suck up your sterile dribble and take elsewhere to recieve the ignorant nods of those who share your own hateful rhetoric. Not under a post where we Muslims cheer our country Qatar and their generous donation Coupled with the best directors and producers in collaboration to create a movie that depicts OUR history. For those who want to whet their appetite for the story of Mohammed pbuh until these movies come out, you can watch the movie ‘Muhammed’ narrated by the lovely western non muslim scholar Karen Armstrong
I am a Zionist. Lol. Is that the best insult you have.
I’ve never said that people don’t convert to Islam of their own free will but the history of early Islam is of conquest, that’s a fact whether in English or Arabic. Similar to the spread of Christianity in South America.
If I am so wrong, please explain caliphate Uthman and his conquest of Persia, parts of modern day Pakistan, Afghanistan and Armenia amongst others. Maybe I’m just stupid and these were peaceful wars of conquest bringing Islam to save these people.
Hope it’s historically accurate and unbiased
It can’t be historically accurate as we no so little for certain about that period. It is just a dramatisation of what they think Mohd did during his life.
Seriously how can Al Qarawdi be leading the research in this film. His views are deplorable.
Beating your wife is ok and how to do it properly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBsnur8lZPE
Blaming women for being raped.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1466715/For-her-to-be-absolved-from-guilt-a-raped-woman-must-have-shown-good-conduct.html
Justifying the murder of apostates for Islam to survive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huMu8ihDlVA
Justifying suicide bombing.
Calling Shias hereitics, thus inciting more sectarian strife.
Seriously, if it wasn’t wrapped up in religion you would arrest this man for inciting violence and encouraging people to kurder, let alone his dispensable views in the treatment of women.
I only saw the first video and you lose credibility. This is not Al Qaradawi. As usual, lies continue to spread…
So can you say he never said any of those things? Not in his TV shows or his books?
Whatever the semantics of your argument, Al Qaradawi is a dangerous, deluded old tosspot. Anyone in their right mind can see that. Unless of course you blindly follow the pronouncements of your parents or local mullah and see him as some kind of visionary……….my hearty sympathies if you believe the bilious spoutings of an out of touch old fool sway you his way.
There’s a video? Please forward me the link thanks
7 movies!!!! so we have the MCU (marvel cinematic universe) and now the new ICU (Islamic cinematic universe).
Yet another fictional, fantasy film? It’s a crowded market………
I’m so proud of my country for seeing this amazing project through! This news has made my day! Well done Doha. I only wish I could be a part of it, for free! I strongly recommend that Amr Khaled is a main contender and advisor. With all due respect to AlQaradawi who I’m not saying should be removed, but Amr Khaled already having done a fantastic 30 day series on the prophet Mohammed and an natural orator and scholar of how to deliver the story of the Prophet. If anyone is reading this do consider asking him to join as an advisor. I so want these movies to be more than skills of cinematography and technology renderings. I want the story , the meaning, the message of our blessed Prophet Mohammed delivered , in a smart , effective and accurate way.
For the person who mentioned wife beating in Islam , here is an explaination to help clear up confusion
http://youtu.be/xalPwKPoDQ4