Ar-Risalah (The Massage), made in 1986, is a historical film based on the biography of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The 3-hour-long film was made by Syrian-American director Mustafa Akkad. In this epic film, the history of the early period of Islam from the time of Prophethood to the conquest of Mecca has come up. This is the most important of the few films that have been made to present the history of Islam intact in the international arena. Let's find out how this film finally came to light after overcoming various obstacles.
Director Mustafa Akkad
Mustafa Akkad, the director of The Massage, was born in 1930 in Aleppo, Syria. He was interested in making films since childhood. After graduating from Aleppo American College, he studied filmmaking and directing at the University of California (UCLA) in Los Angeles. When he left Syria for the United States in 1950, he had only 200 and a copy of the Qur'an.
Akkad quickly adapted to the American way of life. But he never abandoned his Arab and Muslim identity. His friends often advised him to change his name to US. But he always said that he was a Syrian and a Muslim. There was no inferiority complex in him.
After graduating from UCLA, Akkad earned a master's degree in film production in 1962 from the University of Southern California (USC). Through co-production in various films and the production of some documentaries, Akkad gradually solidified his position in the American TV network and in Hollywood.
Although he is best known in the United States and the Western world for his commercially successful Halloween series of films, he will also be remembered in history for his immortal creation, The Massage, an early history of Islam. While not a groundbreaking contribution to the genre, it has become a classic.
In a 1976 interview about making a film about the history of Islam, Mustafa Akkad said that he made the film out of a sense of personal responsibility. He himself is an Arab Muslim, but has lived in the Western world. So he always thought it was his duty to inform the Western world about the true nature of Islam.
He said there are 700 million Muslims in the world (at the time of the interview). But surprisingly, the outside world knows very little about this religion. That is why he has decided to present the history of Islam to the Western world, to bridge the gap between the two societies, to create a kind of cultural bridge between them.
Not only the Prophet (peace be upon him), Akkad also made a film called ‘Lion of the Desert’ about another Muslim hero, Omar al-Mukhtar, the great hero of Libya’s liberation struggle against Italian colonialism. He was also preparing to make a film about the famous Muslim general Saladin Ayubi. But he has spent most of his life making ghost films for the 'Halloween' series. In an interview with the New York Times, he explained that it was difficult to raise the money needed to make a film of religious origin. That's why he leaned towards the horror genre.
The story behind the creation of 'The Massage'
Religion is a very sensitive issue. It involves matters of faith, respect and passion of millions of followers. Mustafa Akkad was also aware of this. So in order to avoid all controversy and to make the film out of respect for Islam, he enlisted the help of several Muslim experts in composing the screenplay.
He had every page of the screenplay screened by the Al-Azhar University authorities in Egypt. Al-Azhar's authorities allowed the film to be made because it did not find anything in conflict with Islam in the film's story and imagery.
Al-Azhar, however, allowed Saudi Arabia to oppose the Muslim World League. Mustafa Akkad wanted to shoot the film in and around Mecca, Saudi Arabia. But without King Faisal's permission, he was forced to look for an alternative location. With financial support from Kuwait and Morocco, he began work on the film in 1984 in Marrakesh, Morocco. It only took him four and a half months to build the set of the seventh-century cities of Mecca and Medina!
To make the film more acceptable to both the Arab and Western worlds, the producers decided to make it in two languages simultaneously. Each scene in the movie is captured twice in a row. The original English version was first performed by international crew, and then in the same location, on the same set, exactly the same scene was re-enacted by Arab actors and actresses.
In the original English version, one of the main characters was played by Rasul's uncle Amir Hamza, played by Mexican-American actor Anthony Quinn, and Abu Sufyan's wife, Hinda, played by Greek actress Erin Papas. In the Arab version, these two characters are played by Egyptian actor Abdullah Geith and Syrian actress Muna Wasif. The English version is called 'The Massage' and the Arabic version is called 'R-Risalah'. The word risalah means message. In Islam, the name is used to denote the revelation or message that came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) from the Almighty.
The biggest challenge in making the film was to portray the character of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Because in Islam, making any kind of picture or portrait of the Prophet (peace be upon him) is completely forbidden. Somewhere in the whole movie, so the picture of the Prophet (peace be upon him) is far away, his shadow is not shown even once. The same applies to his close relatives and the Khulafa Rashedins. Therefore, Amir Hamza, the uncle of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his adopted son Zayed have emerged as the main characters in this film.
The director has resorted to some unprecedented tactics to explain his role in the film without showing Rasool (sa). Whenever a Companion or someone else speaks to the Prophet (peace be upon him), he looks directly at the camera and speaks. The answers do not directly show the statement of the Prophet (peace be upon him), but Hamza, Belal or Zayd put his statement on his behalf. Sometimes no one answers, but the accompanying actors look at the camera in such a way and shake their heads, as if they are just looking at the Prophet (peace be upon him) and listening to him, which the audience cannot hear.
Most of the time in movies, his point of view is shown through the camera to indicate the presence of the Prophet (peace be upon him). In the movie, when he is riding his camel, the viewer gets to see the surroundings through the eyes of the camera mounted on the back of the camel. The whole movie shows only two things directly related to the Prophet (peace be upon him) - his camel ‘qaswa’ and the stick in his hand.
Gaddafi's contribution to the film
When Mustafa Akkad first went to Libya to raise money before The Massage began, he was not allowed to enter. He was flown back to the United States from the airport. He later started making the film with financial support from Kuwait and Morocco. Al-Azhar University initially funded Morocco and Kuwait with the approval of the authorities, but Kuwait withdrew from its position when Saudi Arabia later objected.
King Hassan II of Morocco continued his support. But in the end, he too succumbed to Saudi pressure. After six months of shooting, Morocco stopped shooting The Massage and arrested Mustafa Akkad first and then expelled him from Morocco. Financially, the entire unit, including foreign crew, spends the day in a low-quality hotel with no air conditioning.
Seeing no way out, Akkad returned to Libya and showed Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi the scenes he had been shooting in Morocco for six months. According to People magazine, Gaddafi was overwhelmed by the scenes and cried emotionally.
He entrusted Mustafa Akkad to make the rest of the film in Libya and provided the rest of the money to complete the film. Gaddafi recruited 3,000 members of the Libyan army to fight the battle for Badr. In addition to acting as extras, these soldiers also helped build movie sets. Gaddafi's government also pays each of the actors in the film an additional 25 percent of their original salary in Libyan currency.
Eventually, with the funding of Gaddafi and the support of the Libyan army, the film "The Massage" was completed after six months of shooting in the southern Libyan city of Sabah.
Al-Azhar University initially gave permission, but they condemned it after the film was made. Several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt, have banned the film for showing the Prophet's camels and sticks. But Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran's supreme religious leader, praised the film and allowed it to be shown in Iran.
Lebanese Shiite authorities also praised the film. Later, other Arab states gradually lifted the ban. Over time, it became a classic in the Arab world. The film is still aired on television channels every year on various Islamic days.
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