Ulemas council calls for ban on 'Al Muhajir'

Ulemas council calls for ban on 'Al Muhajir'

JAKARTA (JP): The influential Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) yesterday appealed to the government to ban the film Al Muhajir (Emigrant), a Franco-Egyptian production, because it personifies the prophet Yusuf (Joseph) and his father Yakub (Jacob).

The film portrays the two prophets, who are revered by Islam, MUI chairman Hasan Basri told the Antara news agency yesterday. "Islam forbids the impersonation of any of its prophets, and MUI has already issued an edict on this," he said.

The film, by Egyptian director Yussef al-Shahine, was a box office hit in Egypt until it was banned last week on the recommendation of Al Azhar, the country's highest religious authority.

Set 3,000 years ago, Al Muhajir deals with the adventures of a young man who decides to leave his arid tribal homeland for the Pharaoh's Egypt, in order to learn farming.

The young man, played by Egyptian film star Yuseff Humeida, struggles against his enemies and also against his passion for the wife of his Egyptian master. In the original version of the film the young man was called Yusuf (Joseph), but its director later changed the name to Ram to avoid personifying the prophet.

On a separate occasion, Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher had refrained from commenting on whether or not the film should be banned in Indonesia, because he had not seen it yet. "But if the film actually personifies a prophet revered by Moslems," he said, "then it is not appropriate for Indonesian viewers."

Last year the MUI was influential in the government's decision to ban two American films -- the Oscar-winning Schindler's List and the action-comedy True Lies.(emb)