JEDDAH, 23 October 2006 — The American producers of the documentary “Muhammad, Legacy of a Prophet” are set to receive awards, together with various other celebrated personalities, for their creative and artistic efforts that “affirm the meaning of love and peace as urged by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).”
Americans Michael Wolf and Alex Kronimer have been listed among individuals who are to be honored at the Al-Mahabba Awards Festival to be held in Dubai next Thursday.
According to the organizers, the award comes in recognition of the film’s role in showing the humanitarian dimension of the Prophet (pbuh).
Prominent people who are set to receive the awards include (posthumously) the late director of The Message Mustafa Akkad, the celebrated Syrian scholar Sheikh Mohammed Said Ramadan Al-Bouti and the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan.
According to Wajdi Emam, head of the Al-Mahabba Awards Organizing Committee, an award ceremony will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Dubai in which prominent Nasheed singers — including Rabie Hafez, Native-Deen and Wama — will perform.
Emam said, “The festival, which is to be held at the Bani Yas ballroom at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Dubai and supervised by a select group of science and culture celebrities, will give the top award posthumously to the late Mustafa Akkad. The award will be received by his son Malik Akkad.”
Other winners include Sheikh Al-Bouti, who will receive the Best Book Category Award for his Fiqh Al-Sunnah (Jurisprudence).
Emam said that Sheikh Abdullah Al-Nahayan has been chosen for the Personality of the Year award for his services in establishing the Al-Borda Award, which honors poets who praise the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
The documentary “Muhammad, Legacy of a Prophet” has been celebrated as an excellent attempt to summarize the entire life of the Prophet.
The film showcases the role the Prophet plays in the lives of contemporary Muslims from all backgrounds including men and women, converts and born Muslims, scholars and simple believers, and living in both the East and the West.
According to the organizers, the Al-Mahabba Awards was set up among many other things to affirm the message of love and peace as urged by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), to increase awareness about the Prophet and to encourage artists to express their affection for him.
The award consists of songs, advertising, movie, documentary film, book, general photography and painting, multimedia and personality of the year categories.
