Exploitation of religion tackled on the Egyptian big screen
Veteran director Majdi Ahmad Ali is an outspoken critic of political Islam
Al Shaafi wrote. “Producing such enlightening films has become a necessity in view of intellectual and social decline as well as violence that is besieging us.”
Egypt has experienced a series of militant attacks since the army’s 2013 overthrow of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi following enormous street protests against his rule.
Incumbent President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi has repeatedly called on the country’s Islamic scholars to reform the religious discourse as part of the country’s confrontation of radicalism.
“I think this film is the best response to the president’s call because it presents a convincing example of an influential open-minded imam (preacher),” said Hani Mamdouh, a 23-year-old medical student.
Minefield of issues
“The film walks into minefields and breaks the long silence on certain issues such as religious conversion and exploitation of imams by governments to control people,” the 23-year-old man added.
But some in Egypt say the movie “misrepresents” Muslim preachers.
“The author has presented himself as a scholar of religion and dealt with issues of which he knows nothing,” Mansour Mandur, a leading theologian at the Ministry of Waqfs, said on his Facebook page.
Mandur called for removing The Preacher from theatres.
Shukri Al Guindy, a member of the Egyptian parliament, is worried the film will produce a generation of Egyptians who do not respect religion. “The vast majority of preachers are good, moral people,” he said.
Ali, defending his work, suggests the film’s critics perhaps “misunderstood” the message, but he understands why they have reacted.
“Nowadays, everyone in the society feels he is being targeted by the other.”