‘The Passion’ a success among Arabs

Though the Quran says Jesus’ crucifixion never happened, Mel Gibson’s new film, “The Passion of the Christ,” has enjoyed widespread success in the Arab world.

The Quran, Islam’s holy book, says in sura (chapter) 4, verse 157: “They said ‘We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah’ - but they killed him not, nor crucified him. But so it was made to appear to them. And those who differ therein are full of doubts with no knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not.”

Muslims believe another man was crucified in Jesus’ place.

But despite Islam’s clear teaching against the Christian truth of Christ’s crucifixion, the film has drawn large audiences in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and other Arab countries that have approved it for screening.

The movie’s success is a bit puzzling since other religious-themed movies have been banned in the Arab world. When the 1998 animated movie “Prince of Egypt” reached Cairo, censors banned it. One reason given: Islam reveres Moses as a prophet, and many Muslims recoil at seeing their prophets portrayed as flesh-and-blood characters.

Muslims also consider Jesus a prophet, yet “The Passion” was approved by Egypt’s censors with no changes. They have not explained why “The Passion” was allowed.

“The Passion” is also being welcomed by the Middle East’s Christian communities, according to the Associated Press. Some Egyptian churches and Christian bookshops were selling pirated versions of “The Passion” for less than a dollar even before the film opened in that country.

In the United Arab Emirates, a Gulf News editorial extolled the film for being “so close to the human condition in its depiction of betrayal, greed, falsehood, forgiveness and love. As Pope John Paul II has put it, ‘It is as it was!’”

The Vatican denies the pope ever endorsed the movie with those words, and kept out of the controversy. But Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, head of the Maronite church in Lebanon, waded right in.

“It is not exaggerated and portrays reality as it is. It is a very sad film and we did not feel there was any anti-Semitism there,” Sfeir told reporters after watching the film at a private screening.

Part of the film is spoken in Aramaic, an ancient language still spoken by a small minority in Syria.

Salim Abraham, 37, a Christian journalist who speaks fluent Aramaic, told AP, “I was so very happy to see my language, for the first time ever, being spoken on the big screen and in such a powerful movie.”

“I think there is nothing anti-Semitic in it,” Abraham added. “It gives the facts as they are, though they may be slightly exaggerated in some instances.”

— E.P. News