Indonesian Movie an Antithesis to FITNA

An Indonesian movie is being touted as the antithesis of the Qur'an-bashing FITNA ("Strife," see previous post). VERSES OF LOVE (Ayat Ayat Cinta), attempts to show the compassionate side of Islam. Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation.

More than three million people, including the president and top government officials, have flocked to cinemas to watch the Islamic romance, VERSES OF LOVE, released in the middle of January. The movie deals with many sensitive issues, such as Islam's treatment of women and multiple marriages, through the story of Fahri Abdullah Shiddiq, an Indonesian graduate student at Egypt's Al-Azhar University, and his struggle to deal with life's problems through Islamic teachings.

The filmmaker, Hanung Bramantyo, 33, who has won two Citra awards, Indonesia's equivalent of the Oscars, is quoted as saying his mission is to present Islam as a tolerant and peaceful religion, and that there are people who are hip, fashionable and capable of socializing, but at the same time do things in an Islamic way.