An Associate Professor of English, University of Ilorin (Unilorin), Dr. Mahfouz Adedimeji, has  charged Muslims to get involved and invest in the movie industry.

Adedimeji gave the charge recently while reviewing a film produced by Dr. Faoziyah Sulaiman of the Department of Biochemistry, Unilorin, at African People's Hall, Onikanga, G.R.A., Ilorin.

He said Muslims’ engagement in the film industry would be a way of projecting the beauty of Islam and correcting the negative depiction and denigration of Muslims through the screen.

In his review, entitled “Give Little, Get Plenty: A Review of Ojo Ogundoju’s ‘Charity’”, Adedimeji observed that the global media including the movie were partly used to subject Muslims to physical, cultural, economical and psychological warfare.

According to the erudite Cultural Ambassador, the Western films were fond of portraying Muslims wrongly “through name calling, character assassination, sheer propaganda and negative framing which all seems to justify vilifying Muslims, occupying their lands and generally tormenting them,” with a typical Muslim portrayed as a “bad guy” and a Muslim woman as “oppressed”.

He gave examples of films in this category to include “Exodus” (1960); “Cast a Giant Shadow” (1966); “Network” (1976); and “Black Sunday” (1977).

Also, other Hollywood movies like ‘The Wind and the Lion’ (1975), ‘Under Siege’ (1986), ‘Delta Force’ (1986), ‘Iron Eagle’ (1986), 'Death Before Dishonour’ (1987) and others released subsequently like ‘True Lies’ (1994), ‘Homeland’ (2011-2013), ‘Innocence of Muslims’ (2012), ‘World War Z’ (2013), ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ (2014) and ‘American Sniper’ (2014) have the same anti-Islamic focus.”

According to him, Islamic names, symbols, and identity were caricatured and denigrated in movies by both Muslim and non-Muslim movie producers in the Nigerian movie industry.

Backing his claim, the former Deputy Director/Head of the Directorate of Corporate Affairs Directorate, Unilorin, said that the production of “Asewo to re Mecca” in 1992 was detestable to Muslims, just as the more recent titles like “Basiratu Baseje”, “Aminatu Pa-pa-pa”, “Osanle Modinat”, “Sikiratu Sindodo”, “Jelili Oniso”, “Awalu and Awawu”, are a dent to the good names of Muslims portrayed in the movies.

He therefore lauded the effort of the script writer, producer and the Film Project Shareholders in representing Islam and its virtues rightly through virtuous characters and messages passed through the multi-million naira movie project.

Also speaking, the Head, Department of the Performing Arts, Unilorin, Prof. Rasheed Abiodun Adeoye, commended the film producer’s good initiative and urged the public to obtain copies of the film and ensure they watch it, as such would sustain the vision behind the project.

According to him, “If we refuse to produce our own film, we will allow our children to watch films which they would ordinarily not watch.”

The chairman of the occasion, the Abowaba of Offa, Chief Yunusa Oyeyemi, who described the film producer as a hardworking woman and was impressed by her dedication to impactful projects, congratulated her on the success of the production.

Chief Oyeyemi who believed that those who wished to make positive impacts on the society needed to be encouraged, thanked and prayed for the sound health of the attendees and urged them to contribute their quota towards the project as “little drops of water make the mighty ocean.”

Earlier in her address, the film producer, Dr Faoziyah Sulaiman, noted that her motivation for embarking on the project with her partners was to contribute their little quota to the education of the society through the popular film industry.

The coordinator of the film appreciated God for making the film project a reality through the efforts of three women personalities who did not want to be mentioned, noting that the launched Islamic film entitled “Charity” was an adaption of her book of the same title.

She solicited the support of other stakeholders, adding that about 10 movie projects were in the pipeline with a view to providing alternative entertainment, which would not compromise morality in the society.

“Of course, there are so many stories that Unilorin have not given me time to complete. There are other stories we are waiting to convert. We still have ten in the pipeline waiting to be converted to film.”, she disclosed.

She also reminded the Muslims in attendance of the importance of giving charity to the needy as it's the act of worshipping Allah, stressing that giving charity also involves smiling and loving people and not only through sharing material wealth.

“Thank God Ramadan is around. No matter how small, we should assist. Islam has taught us to assist even the non-Muslims… Smiling is sadaqah,” the film producer said.

She noted that a percentage of the proceeds from the project would be earmarked for the less privileged.

The event, anchored by the Director of Programmes, Unilorin FM, Alhaji Idris Aloma was well attended by academics, scholars and public figures such as Prof Musbau Adewumi Akanji,  former Vice-Chancellor, Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin as well as the Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna; Justice Mustapha Akanbi (retd.), represented by Dr Usman Oladipo Akanbi; Engr. Adeniyi Aremu, Managing Director, Niger River Basin; Mal. Lucas Bashir of ACADIP International; and former Kwara State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Alhaja Asiata Ayinke Saka.

By: Abdulhafeez T. Oyewole