Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi,
Greetings,
As you are aware, one of the Arabic TV channels based in England has been fundraising, for a few months now, for the production of a feature film called “Yawm al-‘Adhāb” [i.e. The Day of Torment] and it has received millions of pounds from the Shias all over the world. The manager of this TV channel, who has a long precedent in insulting the sanctities of our Sunni brothers, has announced his purpose in producing this film as follows:
“This movie which will be produced by the most prominent western directors and filmmakers will aim at narrating the life of Lady Fatimah al-Zahra (a), particularly after the demise of the great Prophet of Islam (s). By watching this movie, the people of the world will see for themselves, for the first time, how the first caliph and his agents attacked the house of Lady Fatimah (a) and how they violated her respect as the Prophet’s daughter! This movie will break the mythical characters created for the first two caliphs [i.e. the Sheykhayn] … this movie will demonstrate clearly the difference between the genuine Islam and the distorted Islam [i.e. the Islam based on Saqīfah] … we have sworn that we will avenge Lady Fatimah Al Zahra (a)” [Part of the remarks made by Yasir Habib in Fadak TV channel on 2016.04.10].
Now, considering the huge amount of publicity that has been going on about this movie, and the huge amounts of money currently being raised for its production, we request that you issue your religious ruling about supporting, publicizing, and watching such movies.
A group of your followers
1395.03.25 SH
Answer:
In His Name Almighty
Without any doubt those who help to produce and release this film, as well as those who watch it have committed a mortal sin. This is particularly true under the current circumstances, where any sort of attempt at creating disunity among the Muslim people will be helping the enemies of Islam to succeed in their sinister plans against the religion. Such divisive acts do indeed entail severe divine penalty for those who perpetrate them. It is quite likely that the enemies of Islam [who will be the ones to actually produce this film] have a hand in all this and they have planned to incite a lot of bloodshed among the Muslims through this film. Therefore, all those who help in the production of this film will also be responsible for any Muslim blood that is spilled on its account. You must announce to all Shias that those who intend to produce such divisive films are not one of us. These are some liars who seek only to manipulate the religious feelings of some of the followers and adherents of the Ahl-al-Bayt (a), and in particular their affections for the great Lady of Islam, Lady Fatimah Al Zahra (a). Thus, all Muslims must know that the messages intended to be conveyed through this film are neither the messages of Islam nor those of the Shia school.
May Allah bless you all
