Cineworld has pulled a film chronicling the life of the Prophet Mohammed’s daughter after protestors rallied outside theatres, branding it “blasphemous”.
Hundreds of demonstrators picketed theatres in Bradford, Bolton, Birmingham and Sheffield following screenings of The Lady of Heaven over the weekend.
The British-made epic tells the story of an Iraqi boy who is orphaned when his mother is executed by ISIS militants.
The child is adopted by a woman who comforts the youngster with the story of saintly Fatima, and the viewer is transported back to the seventh century.
Islamic tradition forbids the direct portrayal of religious figures and the film’s director Eli King depicts Fatima as a faceless character, shrouded by a black veil.
But protestors have accused film makers of inaccurately depicting religious history and negatively portraying three of Islam’s most important figures.
Religious censorship by the mob too. It’s been what, 50, perhaps 60 years since we allowed Christians to determine what may be shown in this manner?
When did they start capitalising the P in prophet? Around the same time as the B in black? Both noxious.
We can either have free speech or Islamic immigration we can’t have both.
This film was written by a Shia and all the protestors are Sunni.
It started with Rushdie, didn’t it. If those burning books and calling for murder had been dealt with by a baton charge, the UK would be in far better shape today.
I recall Sikhs taking (ceremonial) swords to protest against a theatre production a few years ago. It was axed pronto.
Surely a brave broadcaster, unafraid of challenging authority and always “speaking truth to power”, will show the film.
Channel 4, perhaps.
With trigger warnings of course . . .
decnine,
as in, it got the chop?
40 years. I saw Life of Brian in London in 1982. It was banned in Hull at the time. Interestingly, although it did poke fun at religion, LoB was really targeting movies like Quo Vadis and Ben Hur rather than religion specifically. The Meaning of Life was much more direct in its mockery, particularly the prayers and hymns of public school.
@decnine: The play Behzti, Birmingham Rep, December 2004. Three police officers injured during the protest so not that ceremonial.
The main beef was that the play was set in a gurdwara, which, if applied to Christianity, would means Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral should be censored.
decnine; Sikhs violently protested a play at Birmingham Rep. about Sikhs and written by a Sikh:
Stuart Rogers, the executive director of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, admitted that the play’s closure amounted to censorship, but said he had a duty of care to staff and audiences.
Clearly, there’s a hierarchy of ethnic and religious groups when it comes to your complaints being taken seriously by the Establishment.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/dec/20/arts.religion1
Just dug Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens out of the library.
But that only goes for Christianity, so no problem.
I’m confused by this line
“Islamic tradition forbids the direct portrayal of religious figures”.
Does that mean it’s not explicitly banned by the religion, just the traditions or customs of people who practice said religion ? The the latter, then didn’t Clive of India say something relevant about peoples customs.
It sounds like another one of those Schrodinger things, like the burka which goes from a tradition, to a symbol of the religion, to a choice depending on the situation.
@gunker
I think by traditions they mean Hadith – which are for all intents purposes scripture in Islam.
Many Islamic teachings come from the Hadith not the Quran
I guess if there were a bunch of fundamentalist Christians all tooled up and on the warpath against some supposedly blasphemous play, the theatre would also abandon it. But that doesn’t happen here. Try it in Kampala though…
Gunker
You are thinking of Charles Napier, when governor of Sindh in the 1840s he banned Sooty.
“For it is abhorrent to put one’s hands up the backsides of small bears and in my country this practise is punished most severely.”
“Stuart Rogers, the executive director of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, admitted that the play’s closure amounted to censorship”: them wuz the days.
“by traditions they mean Hadith”: I chortled when I saw a chap on the internet describe himself as follower of “Koranic Islam”. Subtle stuff. He might be the sort of fellow who’d point out that early Islam did allow portraiture – just look at some of the early coins.
All this Hadith crap is reminiscent of the paganism and baloney about the Church Fathers that infest Roman Catholicism. At least the fundamentalist Christians tend to be scripturalists however lame their interpretations of scripture tend to be.
P. S. It wasn’t Clive it was Sir Charles James Napier. Was he related to the logarithms Napier? Dunno.
British iconoclastic authority-hating creative types tend to show how radical they are by attacking Christianity, especially Roman Catholicism. Gilbert and George had an exhibition called “Son of a God”, featuring pictures of crucifixion and some naughty words about how chaps bumming each other was OK. The “anarchist” band Chumbawamba had a female singer who daringly dressed up as a nun who smoked and swigged whisky.
Gilbert and George were based near Brick Lane, and Chumbawamba were I believe from Burnley. There were targets closer to hand if they really wanted to show how daringly irreverent they were.
@Ottokring & @dearime
Thanks for putting me right. Ottokring’s did bring a smile to my face.
dearieme,
But funny how the fundagelicals are less than keen on the “…this IS my body…” bit.
He gets knocked down, and he gets up again.
https://5pillarsuk.com/2021/12/24/lady-of-heaven-pure-unadulterated-sectarian-filth/
The complaint seems to be that the film is aligned with Shia interpretations of history so insults figures beloved by Sunnis. Also Shia are more liberal than Sunni about portrayal of the prophet and his companions, for example in Iran fabric portraits of Muhammad and Ali are often hung in the home, but the Sunni don’t give them any leeway for it – none of this “we don’t personally agree with it, but we accept that in their interpretation of Islam such treatment is allowed”, it’s full-on “we don’t think it’s allowed, so if you do it, you’re anti-Islam even if you claim to be ‘Muslim'”. The really extreme Sunnis don’t allow any figurative art whatsoever – not just of religious figures, but of any living thing. Rather an impractical view in the era of passport photos and ubiquitous TV and laptop screens, but the Taliban did go through a phase of outlawing all photography for that reason.
I’ve never quite understood the difference between Sunni and Shia, but “I got you babe” is a terrific song.
During the jubilee celebrations the left, staunch republicans and assorted FBPEers took great delight in pointing out that Paddington Bear is an immigrant. Completely, maybe even wilfully, missing the point that he adapted and even adopted the ways of his host country which is why he was accepted and even celebrated.
I sneeze in threes wins, insha’Allah
@Bloke in North Dorset – “Paddington Bear is an immigrant … he adapted and even adopted the ways of his host country”
Paddington was an illegal immigrant, so nowadays would be liable for deportation to Rwanda. Adapting and adopting makes no difference to immigration status – as is obvious from the Windrush scandal whereby even British citizens are liable to be deported on the principle of “guilty until proven innocent”.
Paddington would NOT be deported, don’t talk such nonsense.
DEFRA will have him put down
“Sir Charles James Napier. Was he related to the logarithms Napier?”
Yup: WKPD is wonderful for non-political stuff (insofar as anything is allowed to be non-political these days).
He was – you are dying to know – son of George, who was the son of Francis, who was the son of Elizabeth, who was the daughter of Margaret (died 1706) who was the great-granddaughter of the great John Napier.
You’ll see there was a bit of husbands adopting the surname of wives’ family in this list. Margaret – to wit Margaret Brisbane (née Napier) – was a Peer of Scotland and therefore a member of the old Scots Parliament.
Christians burned Beatles albums, not women who wear a tank top.
The immigrants threatened with deportation were the ones that hadn’t applied for citizenship, and were then surprised that they might be asked to leave.
@TW
Couple of days late covering this, but thanks for courage to do so
@Anon
This film was written by a Shia and all the protestors are Sunni
+1
Good piece:
Inaya Folarin Iman responds that Islamic mobs must not be allowed to dictate what films can be shown in cinemas.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/06/07/the-shameful-censorship-of-the-lady-of-heaven/
RoP Watch
“the comments are factually accurate”: insofar as one can trust “facts” from that era. After all there are scholars who argue that the Holy City wasn’t Mecca at all: Petra, perhaps, but not Mecca.
@Bloke in Wales – “The immigrants threatened with deportation were the ones that hadn’t applied for citizenship, and were then surprised that they might be asked to leave.”
They were born citizens under the British Nationality Act 1948 and consequently had no need to apply for it. Subsequent changes in the law took this away from them while purporting to give equivalent rights to those who had moved to the UK, but due to the eventual application of the principle of guilty until proven innocent (and the deswtruction of immigration records) it got them deported.
And note that it is now explicitly in the power of the Home Secretary to deprive a citizen of their citizenship, so this was no accident.
@Charles
Subsequent changes in the law took this away from them and all were informed personally and by ads over many years to apply for citizenship, but some couldn’t be bothered and now squeal racisim.
Funny how all they EU peeps (iirc ~4 million) that wanted to stay managed to in one year
Some good articles
A win for the film critics of Bradford
It seems Cineworld was unprepared for this meeting place between the 21st and 7th centuries
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-win-for-the-film-critics-of-bradford
.
The Lady of Heaven and the racism of identity politics
By giving in to the protesters, the elites have shown that they do not consider British Muslims to be ‘like us’. They are judged to be too unsophisticated, too 7th century
https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/06/10/the-lady-of-heaven-and-the-racism-of-identity-politics/
.
Essential viewing: The Lady of Heaven
Roger Watson is not sure all Muslims or Cinema chains have got the hang of tolerance and free speech.
https://thenewconservative.co.uk/essential-viewing-the-lady-of-heaven/
@Pcar – “all were informed personally”
That’s impossible. They arrived long before we were a surveillance society, when people were free to live and work without having to report everything to the government, so there were no records capable of identifying them. And in any case, if there were such records, that would mean that the government knew that these people were entitled to various rights and still violated those rights.
“Funny how all they EU peeps that wanted to stay managed to in one year”
Funny how much it helps having one of the world’s major trading blocs looking out for your interests. Plus, of course, in the modern surveillance state there are plenty of records to prove who was here on whatever date they need proof for.
@Charles
There were sufficient records way before “surveillance society”. They didn’t have “Rights” removed, they were asked to apply for “right to remain”, same as EU immigrants and foreign UK military.
Where is this “world’s major trading blocs looking out for your interests” EU campaign telling EUers to apply for right to remain in UK? MSM were constantly screaching it wasn’t promoted enough
On Topic:
Imam dismissed as No 10’s islamophobia adviser after backing calls to cancel ‘blasphemous’ film
The Government says it had “no option but to withdraw” Qari Asim’s appointment after he backed the protest against The Lady of Heaven film
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/06/11/imam-dismissed-no-10s-islamophobia-adviser-backing-calls-cancel/
Islamic fundamentalists are using woke tactics to crush free speech
The recent ‘Lady of Heaven’ protests show how extremists can tap into progressive fixations like victimhood and fragility, says Inaya Folarin Iman
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/11/islamic-fundamentalists-using-woke-tactics-crush-free-speech/
Elite sacrificing freedom to appease mob of religious fanatics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa84u3e1TPE
@Pcar – “They didn’t have “Rights” removed, they were asked to apply for “right to remain””.
They did have rights removed as they already had a right to remain and this was removed unless they made a successful application. While this is similar to EU citizens needed to apply for settled status following Brexit, it’s not the same because the affected EU citizens were never citizens of this country, while those affected by the Windrush scandal had been citizens until their citizenship was removed.