One of the writers here asked why there are not movies about Allah, and the respondents here did a good job at explaining why there were no movies about Allah. In the same way there are not movies about Allah, there are not movies about 'God" in Christianity and "Yawah" in Judiaism. "God" is not physical - He (and this is a gender neutral term used in the Arabic - Armaic language upon which Arabic is based) - can neither be seen or heard.
Now, there is a movie that does give the history about the rise of Islam. It was made in the 1970s by a Syrian producer in Hollywood - he later went on to produce the Halloween horror films. This film is called "The Message" and stars Anthony Quinn and Irene Pappas. It's a very well made film describing how Islam came about. Intially they had someone play the part of the Prophet (PBUH), but that did not got down very well. The producer worked with a team of directors and the end result is an excllent film that is able to "show" the actions of the Prophet and his faimly w/o showing him on screen and deliever.
The Syrian producer, Moutapha Akkad, wanted to show the world that Islam was a religion of peace and was determined to present to the world a positive image of Islam and Muslims. Tragically, he and his daughter were killed by a terrorist bomb in 2005 while in Jordan attending a wedding.
Egyptian tevelision recently did take a bold step and this Ramazan produced a series illustrating the life of one of the Prophet's companions, Umar. They actually had someone play the part which is not what is typically done. Apparently it did not meet with the same controversy as expected.
I also think it is really important to respect the fact that among Muslims we do have great diversity when it comes to practicising. Many of us might not agree with the practices of others but to refer to anyone here as commiting shirk is not acceptable.
Finally, here is something interesting...the word "Allah" is simply the Arabic word for God. "Allah' is also used by Arabic Christians during their prayers - so to use the word interchangably is not wrong. A lot of South East Asians do not know this...it was during a prayer recitation by a Lebonese Maronite Priest that I came to learn this some years ago. The term Khuda (Persian word) means 'omnipent and everlasting" and was used to refer by Persians/Iranians to express the power of God/Allah. Hope this helps.
The term "Allah Mian" is not something I'd ever see a girl from New York - who raised there - ever use. "Ya-Allah' may be...but not "Allah Mian."
Cricket
