Noah film banned: it contradicts Islam

Mar 21, 2014

DOHA: Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have banned the release of the film Noah which tells the story of the biblical patriarch Noah and the building of the Ark. According to al-Azhar University in Cairo, the foremost academic institution in Sunni Islam, the film “contradicts the teachings of Islam” and for this reason cannotbe viewed.

According to the film’s distributor, Paramount, other Arab-Islamic countries will follow the example of the three Gulf states. Most likely they include Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait. Even the authorities of Pakistan, Tunisia and Morocco have expressed doubts about the film. Al-Azhar explained that the Hollywood production violates the principle according to which a prophet of Islam is not to be depicted or represented.

In the past, other movies have suffered Islamic censorship. This is the case of The Da Vinci Code, banned in Egypt after the protests
of the Coptic Orthodox Church. However, Cairo allowed the screening of The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson’s controversial
film about the crucifixion. Noah has already attracted some criticism from some Christian institutions in the United States, for the unconventional portrait of the protagonist, played by Russell Crowe. However, Darren Aronofsky, the director, issued a joint statement with the U.S. National Religious Broadcasters, noting that the film “is a dramatization of the episode narrated in Scripture, not a true reading of the Bible.” -- AsiaNews/Agencies