Muhammad: The Messenger of God

On 2015, the audience were astounded when ‘Muhammad: The Messenger of God’ hit the
Turkish cinemas. The movie was directed by an Iranian director, Majid Majidi, in hopes of
bringing out the history behind the origin of Islam. Everything in the story line lies within the
book of Qur’an, which is also the main reason why the movie captured widespread attention. The
3-hour long movie depicts the life of the Prophet Muhammad as he delivers the message of God
to the people, despite the challenges encountered by opposing forces. Focusing on the early years
of Muhammad, the film follows the Pre-Islamic period, where we’d witness the battles of
Muslims against different armies to fight for the message of the Prophet.

The film starts with the scene of the Muslims, being chased out of Mecca by pagans. Abu Talib,
a witness of the events between Mecca and the Muslims recalls how everything started. Abu
Talib goes back to his house to reminisce the earlier years, just when his nephew Muhammad,
was given birth by Amina. Muhammad al-Mustafa, the last Prophet of God was born in Mecca,
member of the Banu Hashim. During Amina’s pregnancy, a series of unfortunate events
bombarded the city of Mecca, such as the plans of King Abraha to destroy the temple of the
Muslims, which is the Ka’bah. Abraha, the Aksumite general and the king of Yemen, wanted to
tear down the temple, in hopes of authorizing the city and to increase his profits. Muhammad’s
family is also a part of the Quraysh tribe, which counts the most honorable Arab families. Abdul
Muttalib, Muhammad’s grandfather and the chief of Banu Hashim, happens to be guardian of Ka
’bah.

As for the infant years of the Prophet, maternal issues stir around her mother when Amina’s
husband’s family shames her for not being able to feed milk to Muhammad. This drama is
almost solved when Amina hired a wet nurse to do the feeding for Muhammad, but her in-laws
just keep getting in her business. They decide to send Muhammad to a nomad family to keep him
away from the intrusive people who thinks he is the messenger. Meanwhile, the films follow the
scenes where Abraha’s army raids the Ka ’bah. The troops didn’t even get near to the city when
a huge flock of birds came flying around Mecca, in the intention of scaring away Abraha’s
elephants, which they used for battling. Moments later, the whole Abyssinian army of elephant
riders were killed by the rain of stones which fell from above. These events made Abdul
Muttalib praise Allah more, as he believes that God sent defense himself to protect his temple
(Ka ’bah).

After the retreat of the Abyssinians, chief Muttalib proceeded to introduce his grandson to the
public. He aims to show the Muslims that God sent Muhammad to save the city and spread His
word. The people of the city screamed in glee after the introduction of Muhammad, they went to
celebrate the arrival of God’s Prophet. Majidi’s exquisite work on the angelic scenes is a success,
wherein he thrived to create a special bond between the angels and Muhammad. There is a scene
where the little Prophet was walking on a hill, and his clothes got stuck in a plant with spikes.
For me, this symbolizes the connection between nature and the messenger of God.
During these scenes intertwined with angel beings, the famous A.R Rahman score plays.
Rahman is a famous Indian composer who was assigned to create original music for Muhammad:
The Messenger of God. Many critics praise Rahman’s score for the film, due to its raw
exquisiteness and the way it blends with the emotions in the scenes. His melodies accompanied
with the most important details of the story makes the best combination. In addition, the praises
for the film will never end, with the help of cinematography director, Vittorio Storaro. He
successfully created a view from the very eyes of the Prophet through the use of his camera
skills. The touch of Storaro’s lens is very evident throughout the whole film, which resulted in
many award nominations for the cinematographer.

As recorded in the writings of Qur’an, Muhammad grows without his biological mother after
Amina dies when the Prophet was at age six. Although before she died, she was able to introduce
her six year-old son to the family of Banu Hashim as a Prophet. That is also when she starts to
get ill and extremely weakened. Four years after that, Muttalib also dies, in front of the whole
Banu Hashim. At his deathbed, his son Abdul Uzza witnesses the affection his father has for the
Prophet. Before closing his eyes, Muttalib calls Abu Talib and gives him the privilege of taking
charge of Muhammad’s welfare. Years later, the movie opens with a scene wherein slaves are
sold in auction, and the Prophet was there to witness how the businessmen wanted to sell a
mother. Muhammad felt sympathy for her, so she requested to his uncle Abdul Uzza, to halt the
bidding and to release the mother. Uzza insists that the woman has debts to pay, so he can’t give
up the auction, but Muhammad offers years of his own service to guarantee the woman’s debt to
his uncle Uzza. Envy was shown in Abdul Uzza’s perspective, as he realizes that the city honors
Abu Talib and Muhammad more than him, the chief of Quraysh.

Through the guide of his uncle, the Prophet grew with wisdom and a great sense of
responsibility, especially for people with limited means(slaves). Although he wasn’t able to
study, Muhammad was gifted with natural intelligence, and he was known for that specialty.
Before even the Prophet was an adolescent, he was taught by his uncle Abu Talib by letting him
join caravans. One time, Abu Talib led the Arab caravan to the city of Kanis, where the high
priests were aware of Muhammad’s identity. Their informant is Abdul Uzza, who sent a message
to Samuel (lives in Kanis) to tell him about the Prophet. When the caravan arrived in Kanis, they
weren’t welcomed pleasantly, but when the officials recognized Muhammad, they even offered
the guests to come to dinner. A priest came to talk to Abu Talib regarding the fate of the Prophet.
He enlightens Talib about Muhammad’s mission, and warns to take extreme care of the child,
away from the prying hands of intruders.

After Kanis, the caravan stops by a rock shed and sees Samuel, ill and injured in the middle of
the heat. Nevertheless, Abu Talib’s group proceeds to a city, just along the coast. The whole
community is suffering and lacks the resources, so the Prophet decides to share their stock for
everyone. Meanwhile, Abu Talib goes into a cave and discovers that the people in the city
worship a statue which they call the Juraysh. Suddenly, everyone panics and looks for a woman
and his son, which the people called “the sacrifice to the sea”. They believe that the mother and
his child should be offered to provide for the whole city. The problem is, Muhammad who is
known to comfort the poor, is with the sacrifices and he broke them free from the ties. This
results to the sudden panic of the crowd, wherein they tried to throw Muhammad to the sea for
his interference. Before they could even try, the waves intensified, scaring the people away, and
also to protect the Prophet. Moments later, the shore swarmed with fish, ending the years-long
famine inside the city. These events just claimed that the seas embrace the messenger of God,
and it is Muhammad who saved everyone that day.

Thus, Abdul Muttalib is right, and the whole Prophecy did really identify the Messiah that Allah
sent to save everyone from their sins. Despite the evil and the wrongful doings of some Arabs,
the true God prevailed, and Muhammad delivered his message loud and clear: that there is no
other God but Allah, and we shall submit all of ourselves under his authority. To sum up my
overall opinion in the film, I’d say I’m really impressed with the story of Islam. Watching this
masterpiece can not only entertain us, but this is a great passage to understand the faith of the
Muslims. For others audiences of the movie who doesn’t know a bit of the Muslim culture, I
advise they read a bit in order to catch up with the events of the story. The cinematography also
amazes me, because the special effects felt realistic or true to life. Also, due to its wide theatrical
release and sensitive religious subject, the movie claimed a lot of criticism. However, this
doesn’t cover the fact that ‘Muhammad: The Messenger of God’ won as the Best Foreign
Language Film in the 88th Academy Awards. Big applause to the whole staff and actors who
participated in this award-winning film for their efforts, energy, and determination to finish this
3-hour long gem, which they filmed for three years.