Love In Islam
The Straits Times
People have been flocking to the cinema to watch an Indonesian film
that, as usual, involves a love story. But this movie has a central
message=97that Islam is a compassionate religion.
More than three million people, including President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, have seen Ayat-Ayat Cinta, or Verses Of Love, since it
opened in mid-February in the world=92s most populous Muslim country.
After watching it over the weekend, he tearfully hailed it as the
country=92s answer to the stereotyping of Islam in the West.
"I wiped away my tears several times. It=92s a touching movie...,"
Yudhoyono told reporters after watching it at a cinema at Plaza
Indonesia. "This movie taught us good values about how we should
uphold tolerance and peace in life."
Yudhoyono=92s spokesman called the film an "antithesis" to a movie
accusing the Koran of inciting violence, made by Dutch lawmaker Geert
Wilders and released on the Internet two weeks ago.
Ayat Ayat Cinta is a break from the kind of teen romances that pull in
crowds in Indonesia. It pointedly addresses a host of sensitive
issues, such as Islam=92s treatment of women, polygamy and inter-faith
marriages.
All are woven into the compelling story of Fahri Abdullah Shiddiq, an
Indonesian who goes to Cairo to study at Egypt=92s Al-Azhar University.
Fahri is a handsome 27-year-old who finds himself forced to choose
among four beautiful but distinctly different women who fall in love
with him.
Eventually he marries a veiled, dark-eyed woman named Aisha, a rich
German-Turkish student.
That breaks the hearts of the other three, two of whom wear the Muslim
headscarf, and a Coptic Christian neighbour named Maria.
Fahri=92s life is turned upside down, though, when he is falsely accused
of rape and faces death by hanging.
Ironically, the only person who can prove his innocence is Maria.
Lovesick, she agrees to testify on Fahri=92s behalf if he agrees to
marry her.
Aisha, desperate to save her husband, urges Fahri to take Maria as a
second wife and he reluctantly agrees to do so.
Fahri struggles to be fair to both women while practising polygamy,
which is allowed in Islam but remains controversial in predominantly
Muslim Indonesia.
The movie, set in modern-day Cairo but shot in Central Java and India,
is part of a trend whereby Islamic teachings are reaching popular
culture via movies, books and songs.
Director Hanung Bramantyo said he wanted to show a face of Islam that
is distinctly different from Hollywood blockbusters, which associate
it almost exclusively with terrorism and intolerance.
The film is based on a best-selling novel of the same name by
Habiburrahman ElShirazy, an Indonesian, that presents Muslims as
people who are peaceful, patient, sincere and honest.
Dr Syafii Anwar, of the Jakarta-based International Centre for Islam
and Pluralism, said: "The movie is a breakthrough in addressing
sensitive issues in the community like the treatment of women and
polygamy, besides showing Islam as a religion of tolerance."
It deals with interfaith marriage too, which is also controversial in
Indonesia, as Fahri marries the Christian Maria. She eventually
converts to Islam=97not at her husband=92s insistence but of her own
accord.
Inter-faith marriages are frowned upon by the Majelis Ulama Indonesia,
the highest religious authority, and are the subject of much debate.
But a growing number of liberal Muslim Indonesians see such marriages
as acceptable, as Christians =91are People of the Book=92 mentioned in the
Koran.
"Interfaith marriage between Muslims and Christians is still
controversial here but the movie is able to address the issue well,"
said office secretary Veronica Sihotang, a Christian, after watching
the movie.
The film also touches on anti-American sentiment in Indonesia. In one
memorable scene, an Egyptian man lashes out at a veiled woman who
gives up her seat on a crowded Cairo train to an elderly American
tourist, and calls the woman "an infidel whose nation has waged war
against Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq".
But Fahri steps in and tells the man his actions are against the
teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, who preached tolerance.
That, as Fahri tells the man, means that all foreigners entering the
country should be welcomed.
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