The Lady of Heaven (2021)Directed by Eli King (pseudonym)
When a controversial figure like Sheikh Yasser Al-Habib writes the script of a movie, one can be pretty sure that it will kick up some dirt. Just for the record, Al-Habib, a Kuwaiti Shia cleric, was imprisoned in Kuwait for 35 years when he insulted the companions of the Prophet back in the early 2000s. After obtaining a royal pardon from the Emir of Kuwait, he resided in the UK. He lost his Kuwaiti citizenship in 2004 when he stated in his speeches that the Prophet died not because of an ailment but after being poisoned by His wives! Al-Habib apparently has made a hobby out of insulting Sunnis.
In the UK, he continues his controversial stance and has been accused of being a divisive figure and one-minded in creating a rift between the Shia and Sunni denominations of Islam. As a head of the Shia community, he regularly appears in the media for all the wrong reasons accentuating the Shia-Sunni divide.
This movie is pregnant with so many points that beg to be picked up by detractors as offensive. No one gets away depicting Islamic holy figures in flesh and bones and gets away scot-free; what more if it is the Prophet and his daughter Fatima. The filmmakers got around it by using CGI and light deception for this purpose.
We know that the Shia-Sunni divisions started as early as when the Prophet was on his deathbed. The selection of His successor was the bone of contention. Ali, Fatima's husband, was apparently favoured by the Prophet but His tribe members felt someone from the tribe should continue the Caliphate duties.
That is where things get murky. Both denominations have their own version of what actually transpired at that time. To tell stories of a dark-skinned mob, who eventually became Sunnis, waiting to burn down the house occupied by Ali and Lady Fatima is just too much for the Ummah to stomach.
To further fuel, the anger is the comparison of the ISIS mob in Mosul during the Iraqi invasion of 2014 to the time surrounding the Prophet's succession. The film compares the pioneers of the Sunni sect as one-minded, aggressive and as resolved as the ISIS men in creating mayhem. The narration tends to imply that the first Islamic terrorism started way back in the 7th century! Lady Fatima was its first victim.
The story is told from the perspective of the Shias on the turn of events around the Prophet's death, but it ended up hurting the sentiments on both sides. It equated the Abu Bakr and Umar (Sunnis) to the dark-skinned Arabs, while the Ali and the Shias were fair-skinned, stirring up racial sentiments.
Muslims worldwide have condemned this movie for spreading false information about the religion. Widespread demonstrations in the UK prompted cinema halls to cancel this film's screening, fearing their staff's safety. Morocco, Egypt, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq denounced the flick as blasphemous and banned it in their countries.
It narrates the tale of Lalith, a young Iraqi boy whose mother was killed by ISIS soldiers. He is picked up by an Iraqi soldier. The soldier's mother nurtures him to escape his PTSD by telling him the story of Prophet Mohamad's daughter, Lady Fatima, who sailed through her difficult times with patience and calmness. A mob was outside her house, threatening to burn her house and demanding for her husband, Ali, who was earmarked to continue the Prophet's journey.
