Roland Emmerich, the director of the 'end of days' disaster movie, had wanted to depict the destruction of Islam's holiest site, but was persuaded not to
He blew up the Empire State Building and the White House in Independence Day, sent a giant monster careering through the heart of Manhattan in Godzilla and destroyed the famous Hollywood sign in The Day After Tomorrow. But it seems there are places even Roland Emmerich will not go - the German film-maker has revealed he abandoned plans to obliterate Islam's holiest site on the big screen for fear of attracting a fatwa.
For his latest disaster movie, 2012, the 53-year-old director had wanted to demolish the Kaaba, the iconic cube-shaped structure in the Grand Mosque in Mecca that Muslims the world over turn towards every day when they pray and which they circle seven times during the hajj pilgrimage.
But after some consideration, he decided it might not be such a smart idea, after all.
"I wanted to do that, I have to admit," Emmerich told scifiwire.com. "But my co-writer Harald [Kloser] said I will not have a fatwa on my head because of a movie. And he was right.
"We have to all, in the western world, think about this. You can actually let Christian symbols fall apart, but if you would do this with [an] Arab symbol, you would have ... a fatwa, and that sounds a little bit like what the state of this world is.
"So it's just something which I kind of didn't [think] was [an] important element, anyway, in the film, so I kind of left it out."
Read more @ The Guardian
I love it when an 'artist' doesn't make compromises out of fear.
Don't just do something! Stand there.
LOL
he knows not too!
ermm what does he mean by fatwa, like what kind of fatwa would it be :S
"How many people find fault in what they're reading and the fault is in their own understanding" Al Mutanabbi
"off with his head" type of thing.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
Lmao!! Hahaha! The guys knows his place at least, fair play to him...its a good thing he had the sense to listen to his co-workers opinion.
It should show them though that Muslims give a damn about the consecration of our Holy landmarks / symbols unlike most "Christians"
Pow: fatwa is an Islamic legal opinion / ruling (more opinion me thinks). The fatwa he would have had issued on a "lucky" day would be "ban the film in all Islamic lands", worst case scenario would be the same fatwa which was "bestowed" upon Salman Stupid Rushdie for his Satanic Collection of Crap (satanic verses). Now who in their right mind would wanna be in the same predicament as Rushdie was for years (although said fatwa has been said to have been lifted since some years)
Thing is... they shouldn't.
The Ka'bah is just a building and while respected, it is worth less than an individual life.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
Clearly, the director just made this comment off the cuff. The Guardian is just giving it undue prominence.
But, isn't the destruction of the Ka'aba one of the signs of the end of the world?
If he's making an 'end of the world' movie then depicting the destruction of the Ka'aba wouldn't be out of place.
Would an Arab or Turkish director making a similar film be scared of a fatwa for creating a such a scene?
Somehow deep inside me my soul refuses to accept that, no offence to You though, my opinion differs.
If the Ka'bah is worth less than a human life then ppl would deem it worthless flocking to or aspiring to go to such a place for pilgrimage and is also not worth being seen as the House of Allah. I can't accept it as being worth less than a human life when millions of human lives to be there and hope that if they die then where better than at the House of Allah.
I'm glad they decided against using the Ka'bah in the film in a destructive light and stand by it.
The Ka'bah is sacred. Human life is also sacred. None of them should be belittled.
However if you look in the farewell sermon I think you will find evidence that the sanctity of human life is greater than the sanctity of the Ka'bah.
Gentleness and kindness were never a part of anything except that it made it beautiful, and harshness was never a part of anything except that it made it ugly.
Through cheating, stealing, and lying, one may get required results but finally one becomes
Yup. But this is just a film and a) I think the director was right that there would be huge protests and mauybe violence from many Muslims and b) such violence would be completely stupid.
Don't just do something! Stand there.
Im so glad that bit is left out!
Islam has clear evidence/proof that it is the TRUE religion, with historical marks/buildings e.g the Kaaba, Muqam-e-Ibrahim (footprint of Prophet Ibrahim as)
This mark should not be destroyed.
Allahmdolillah, MashAllah.
Thanx for posting.
Very interesting.
The ka'bah has been destroyed many a time.
There used to be market traders next to the ka'bah at one time, and once a stall caught on fire and burnt the whole building down behind it. That was not the only occasion - it has been built any times and even its current shape is down to before the Prophet (saw)'s time when they were repairing it/rebuilding it, they did not have enough funds to rebuild it to the old dimensions... (the hateem was a part of the ka'bah originally.)
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
Yep
hate to say it... but it has already been destroyed. A few times. SURPRIIIIIISEE
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
"the ka'bah will be destroyed" << could that be more metaphorical and less spectacular, as in people abandon the place?
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.