“La Dame du Paradis” revives the eternal debate on freedom of expression

In a press release issued last Saturday, the Superior Council of Ulemas, chaired by King Mohammed VI of Morocco, strongly condemned the content of Eli King’s new film, “La Dame du Paradis”, the first cinematographic work to show a “face” of the Prophet Muhammad. A controversial film that revives eternal debates.

Broadcast in the United Kingdom from June 3, 2022, “La Dame du Paradis” immediately aroused the ire of the British Muslim community. Several demonstrations have broken out across the country, notably in the north, in the cities of Blackburn and Sheffield which are home to a large Sunni community. A petition was finally signed by 119,000 people who demanded the withdrawal of the film, which was described as “disrespectful” and “racist”. For security reasons, the British broadcaster Cineworld has decided to cancel the screening in all the rooms concerned. A House of Lords peer called the cancellations “disastrous for the arts, dangerous for free speech”. A delicate subject which raises the question of the limits of this freedom of expression.

The Cult of Transparency

Transparency today seems to have imposed itself as one of the central norms of post-modern Western societies. The figure of the good goes through the fact of being able to be shown. For a situation to be able to be exposed, it must above all be representable, it must be able to appear. From now on, everything must not only be able to be shown, everything is shaped to be so. And yet, each country has its own legislation that establishes the limits of freedom of expression. The question is the following: where does the freedom of creation stop and where does the right to the respect of beliefs begin? “La Dame du Paradis” is the first film to show a “face” of the Prophet Muhammad. Previously, there were no actors playing this religious character. Nevertheless, faces are often represented by sunbeams, created by computer. This particularity makes it possible to respect, according to the authors of the film, the prohibition of Islam on the visual representation of the prophet.

A woman honored

“La Dame du paradis” retraces the story of Fatima Zahra, daughter of the Prophet of Muhammad and wife of the first Shiite imam. An ambivalent film by its capacity to take up certain consensual codes of the Anglo-Saxon blockbuster, while conducting a piquant reflection on the origins of Islam and the place of women in the history of this religion. An interesting work that honors a female historical and religious figure. The misogynistic replies resonate like gunshots against a thousand-year-old patriarchal system: “Are you going to let a woman dictate to us what to do? “. 1,400 years after the Hegira, a milestone in the history of Islam, we find the orphan Laith, a child from Mosul whose mother was executed by members of the Islamic State because she taught her son a song deemed blasphemous. The orphan is adopted by a soldier and the latter’s mother supports him by telling him the story of Saint Fatima Zahra, whose example should help him endure the difficult moments of his life. “Did your mother tell you the story of the Lady of Heaven?” She was a remarkable, exceptional daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. Peace be with them”.

Not one, but several Islams

The decision of the Moroccan authorities to ban the screening of the film crystallizes the differences between Sunni and Shiite faiths. “The Lady of Heaven” was written by Muslim cleric Yasser Al-Habib who is accused of taking a pro-Shia view of the Prophet Muhammad’s succession struggle. The film depicts Abu Bakr, the legitimate descendant of the Prophet according to Sunnis, as a bloodthirsty warrior who rises to power through trickery and violence. For the Shiites, the legitimate successor of Muhammad is not Abu Bakr but Ali, son-in-law and spiritual son of the prophet. If the high authorities of Shiism believe that the prophet can be represented (not in an insulting way), the Sunni community, on the other hand, is hostile to any figurative representation of Muhammad. It is easy to understand why Morocco, an officially Sunni country, does not endorse this version of the story. Other Muslim countries such as Egypt, Pakistan, Iran, yet the cradle of Shiism in the region, or Iraq have also banned the broadcast of the controversial film on their respective territories.

A film whose content as much as its reception encourages reflection on the eternal debates that are Sunni/Shiite rivalries and the contradictory rights between freedom of expression and the protection of religious sentiment. A divisive film but which draws a spiritual impetus from the origins of religion to fight the detractors of Islam.

Visual: © official poster

“La Dame du Paradis” revives the eternal debate on freedom of expression