Religious Scholars Condemn Iranian Television Series for "Insulting the
Companions of the Prophet"

28/12/2010
By Waleed Abdul Rahman.
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=23589

Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat – The Sunni community in Iran has called on the
Iranian regime to ban a television drama that "insults the Prophet's
companion Abdullah Bin Zubayr [Ibn al-Awwam]" and other companions of the
Prophet. Religious scholars at Egypt's Al-Azhar University have condemned
the Iranian regime allowing the broadcast of the Persian-language series
"Mokhtarnameh" [Al-Mokhtar's Message] on Iranian television. The scholars
said that this televisions series includes "insults to the companions of the
Prophet, including Abdullah Bin Zubayr." The Al-Azhar scholars also stressed
that "Al-Azhar University does not accept any insult of the Prophet's
companions."

For his part, official Al-Azhar spokesman Mohamed al-Tahtawi told Asharq
Al-Awsat that Al-Azhar University categorically rejects any insult of the
companions of the Prophet, or the Prophet's wives.

He also called on the Iranian authorities to take immediate action "to
prevent the outbreak of sectarian violence."

For his part, Dr. Mohamed Rafat Osman, a member of Al-Azhar University's
Islamic Research Academy said that "under the provisions established by
Islam…it is prohibited to insult any human being, whether he is present or
absent, alive or dead, and this is something that is agreed upon by the
Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet."

Dr. Osman added "we must always keep in mind that the companions of the
Prophet were the intermediaries between us and the Prophet, for we would not
know the Quran without them, for it was through them that God preserved the
Quran after they learned the word of God Almighty by heart, preserving it
for those who came after them…therefore they deserve to be held in respect."
He also added that the companions of the Prophet had recorded the Prophet's
life and sayings, which form the basis of the Hadith and Sunnah, and
represent the "second source for Islamic jurisprudence, after the Quran."

Osman said that "we understand this insulting of Abdullah Bin Zubayr by some
Shiites in light of their insults towards the mother of the believers, Lady
Aisha, for Abdullah Bin Zubayr was the son of her sister…and in fact he is
better known as Zubayr Ibn Al-Awwam, who fought against Imam Ali in the war
between Imam Ali on one side, and Talha Bin Ubaidallah [and Lady Aisha] on
the other, at the Battle of the Camel."

For his part, Sheikh Mahmoud Ashour, former al-Azhar Deputy and also a
member of the Al-Azhar Islamic Research Academy said that "the Islamic
Research Academy, which is the most senior doctrinal body at Al-Azhar
University, has previously announced its rejection of the portrayal of the
Prophets, or any of the ten companions promised paradise, in any artistic or
dramatic work." He added that Al-Azhar's Islamic Research Academy had
previously decreed that it is not permissible to portray these figures and
that portraying the Prophet's companions [on television] could cause
controversy. The ten companions promised Paradise included Abdullah Bin
Zubayr and Talha Bin Ubaidallah, who are both portrayed in Mokhtarnameh.

This series has [also] been the subject of controversy in Iran between
Shiite religious scholars over the portrayal of certain historic Islamic
figures. Whilst Sunni groups have condemned this series, with the Imam of
the Ahl Al-Sunna group in the Sistan and Baluchistan province of Iran
issuing a fatwa prohibiting people from watching this series, and calling on
the Iranian authorities to ban it from television.

Mokhtarnameh is a television series based upon the life of al-Mokhtar Ibn
Abu Ubayd al-Thaqafi who sought to avenge the death of Imam al-Hussein at
the Battle of Karbala, killing many of those who took part in this battle
before being killed, along with many of his supporters, outside of Kufu,
Iraq. Mokhtarnameh has a season-run of 40 episodes, and has a huge cast of
approximately 140.