Depicting the Prophet ﷺ in film is both disrespectful and forbidden in Islam, as is the portrayal of his noble Sahabah (companions), particularly with distortions of well known events and fabricated stories which taint their honourable character. The film entitled “The lady of Heaven” which has been released this week in British cinemas, is a feeble attempt to incite sectarian division within the Muslim ummah. Yet the bond of aqeedah and brotherhood that binds all Muslims from all of our madhahib (schools of thought), will remain intact, with Allah ﷻ’s permission, as it has for hundreds of years.

The Muslims of Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen lived alongside each other in peace for centuries, without one group declaring the other non-Muslim. They intermarried, prayed in the same mosques and fought together against enemies of the state. Since the arrival of colonialism, Western imposed secular systems have exploited differences for political aims, creating a sectarian disunity where none had previously existed.

The hate preachers who peddle the vile narratives portrayed by the film hope to exploit the ignorance of those who may give weight to such lies.

إِذْ تَلَقَّوْنَهُ بِأَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَتَقُولُونَ بِأَفْوَاهِكُم مَّا لَيْسَ لَكُم بِهِ عِلْمٌ وَتَحْسَبُونَهُ هَيِّناً وَهُوَ عِندَ اللَّهِ عَظِيمٌ 

“ When you received it with your tongues and said with your mouths that of which you had no knowledge and thought it was insignificant while it was, in the sight of Allah, tremendous.” [An-Nur: 15]

Their aim is to drive a wedge between the Muslims who follow the Shia and Sunni madhahib hoping that each will accuse the other of kufr (disbelief), such that we forget that it is the colonialists that keep us divided with their amplification of sectarian differences and imposition upon us of regimes that subscribe to no Islamic madhab, as they are all utterly secular and in servitude to Western interests.

Muslims in Britain, from all madhahib, must condemn in the strongest terms any and all attempts to belittle our noble ancestors, the companions of the Prophet ﷺ as well as the attempts to divide the Muslim ummah into Shia and Sunni sects.

The foundation of our aqeedah is clearly stated in the Qur’ān:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا آمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَالْكِتَابِ الَّذِي نَزَّلَ عَلَىٰ رَسُولِهِ وَالْكِتَابِ الَّذِي أَنْزَلَ مِنْ قَبْلُ ۚ وَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِاللَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَالًا بَعِيدًا

“O you who believe – believe in Allāh and His Messenger, and the Book which He sent to His messenger and the Book which He sent to those who came before him. Anyone who denies Allāh, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers and the Day of Judgement has gone far astray.” [An-Nisaa, 4:136]

Hence whoever believes in these matters is a Muslim and it is forbidden to declare them as non-Muslim, although they can be disputed in any innovated additional beliefs that they may hold.

It is therefore incumbent on all Muslims to expose the colonialist plans to divide us, and to call for the political authority that will truly unify us in obedience to Allah ﷻ, the Khilafah (Caliphate), and not in service to Western powers that seek to exploit us and keep us divided.