A brand new TV collection airing for the holy month of Ramadan is stoking sectarian tensions within the Center East with the story of a divisive determine in Islamic historical past who’s revered by Sunni Muslims however reviled by many Shiites.
The collection, “Muawiya,” tells the story of Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, a serious determine in early Islam. He was one among Islam’s early rulers and the founding father of the Umayyad dynasty — the primary hereditary rulers in Islam the place energy handed down throughout the similar clan. He was additionally a reputed companion of the Prophet Muhammad.
The present chronicles occasions within the seventh century that led to Islam’s first civil conflict between Sunnis and Shiites.
The present was produced by a media conglomerate in Saudi Arabia, which, like most different Center Japanese international locations, is dominated by Sunnis. Some in Shiite Iran and Iraq, one of many solely Arab international locations with a Shiite majority, are balking.
Iraq’s media regulator mentioned on March 1, the primary day of Ramadan, that it would block broadcasts of the collection.
“The airing of traditionally controversial content material may provoke sectarian debates, threatening social concord and disrupting the material of society, particularly throughout Ramadan,” the regulator mentioned on the time.
Ramadan, when many Muslims quick each day from daybreak to nightfall, can also be peak television season in the Arab world, when households watch exhibits late into the evening after breaking their quick.
The controversy over “Muawiya” started two years in the past when the Saudi-owned MBC Group introduced plans for what it mentioned could be a groundbreaking collection and billed it as some of the costly exhibits ever produced within the Arab world.
The drama appeared to be headed for air throughout Ramadan 2023. However the Iraqi authorities demanded that its Saudi counterparts cancel the published, citing issues that it may stir sectarian tensions.
The influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr weighed in on the time. The collection was “opposite to the brand new, reasonable insurance policies pursued by the brotherly nation of Saudi Arabia,” he mentioned.
“There isn’t a want to harm the sentiments of your Muslim brothers,” added Mr. al-Sadr, who largely stepped again from lively politics in 2022 however nonetheless commands a significant following among Shiite Muslims.
The Saudi authorities then postponed the published, saying the collection was nonetheless in manufacturing.
However since 2023, the geopolitical dynamics of the Center East have shifted.
Iran, a longtime Saudi rival for energy and affect throughout the Center East, has been weakened over the previous yr and a half. A superb variety of its regional proxies and allies have both suffered setbacks in wars with Israel or, within the case of the Assad dictatorship in Syria, fallen from energy totally.
This month, the Saudi broadcaster MBC started airing “Muawiya.”
After Persian-subtitled episodes surfaced on-line in Iran, the nation’s media regulatory company announced a ban originally of Ramadan on dubbing and streaming the present throughout all on-demand platforms, web sites and social media accounts.
Some Sunni non secular leaders within the area have additionally voiced opposition to the collection.
Abdel Fattah Abdel Ghani al-Awari, a senior scholar at Egypt’s al-Azhar, probably the most influential heart of Sunni Muslim studying, mentioned the portrayal of Prophet Muhammad’s companions on-screen was haram, or religiously impermissible.
Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan is seen as a key opponent of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph and a central determine in Shiite Islam.
The Sunni-Shiite divide may be traced again to the yr 632 after the demise of the Prophet Muhammad. The central dispute was over who ought to lead the Muslim world.
Sunnis wished management to be determined by consensus, resulting in the appointment of Abu Bakr as Islam’s first ruler or caliph. Shiites, nevertheless, believed that management ought to keep throughout the prophet’s household, favoring Ali — the prophet’s cousin and son-in-law — as his rightful successor.
Muawiya would play a central position within the first civil conflict in Islam following the assassination of the third caliph, Uthman ibn Affan.
After Ali was killed in 661, Muawiya challenged Ali’s son, Hasan, for management of the caliphate. Hasan would later surrender his declare to keep away from additional bloodshed.
The ability wrestle was central to the Sunni-Shiite break up, shaping tensions that also ripple by means of the Center East as we speak. The present’s efforts to focus on Muawiya’s legacy have been interpreted by some as a press release in favor of Sunni dominance.
The present’s author, Khaled Salah, defended the collection, insisting it didn’t take sides.
“Our essential objective with this undertaking was to not emphasize the narrative of the victor over the vanquished,” Mr. Salah instructed The New York Instances on Thursday. “As a substitute, we produced this collection to current future generations within the Muslim world with what occurred, from a humanitarian side, throughout previous Islamic civil wars and the teachings we will be taught from them as we speak.”
The Saudi manufacturing firm MBC has confronted criticism up to now for fueling sectarian tensions between Saudi Arabia and Shiite international locations.
Final yr, Iraqi authorities suspended MBC’s broadcast license within the nation after a information report labeled former leaders of the Iran-backed militant teams Hamas and Hezbollah as “faces of terrorism.”
Quickly after, Iran-linked Iraqi militias stormed MBC’s offices in Baghdad, damaging gear, footage on social media confirmed.
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