The fabricated fuss that was provoked this year as well as last year regarding the television series “Khaled Bin Walid” is pitiful. People are upset because the director chose a Christian actor to play the role of the Islamic character who was known for his military exploits. The director had to replace the actor in the second series. I honestly never heard such idiotic talk in the Arab world before.
In 1976, the English version of “The Message” that was directed by Moustapha Akkad, chronicling the life and times of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), had Muslim as well as Christian actors. Anthony Quinn played the role of Hamzah, and Michael Ansara played the role of Abu Sufyan to name a few. In the Arabic version of the movie, the role of Somayya — Yasser’s ibn Amir’s wife and the mother of Ammar ibn Yasser — was played by the Christian Egyptian actress Sanaa Jamil.
Back then, no one created any gossip or became agitated over the movie even though it was shown in different parts of the world. That was because art is governed by competence and not by the cast’s beliefs or religions.
The genius of an actor Anthony Quinn portrayed the role of Hamzah ibn Abdul Mutalib in “The Message” with great competence and professionalism. Then he played the real-life Bedouin leader Omar Mukhtar who fought Mussolini’s Italian troops in the deserts of Libya.
Would it have been possible to have hired a Muslim actor who would have portrayed both characters in a better and more convincing way to the audience than the Christian Anthony Quinn?
The importance in these cases lies within the historical credibility in addition to pure artistic factors such as directing and shooting the movie, writing the script, handling decor, costumes, makeup, lighting and performance. These are the basic elements that should be taken into account whenever any historical work is about to be presented. Other things are superficial and not related to art or professional competence.
In fact, they might harm the Islamic-Christian relationships for there is a large percentage of Arabs who are Christians and contribute to their countries as much as Muslims do.
