As many expected, the satellite channel’s announcement, a few days ago, of its intention to produce a film entitled “The Courage of Abu Lulu’a” sparked a storm of controversy and discussion inside and outside Iraq.
It seemed that the production of this work represented a direct response to MBC’s willingness to show a series on Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan, which might cause a state of sectarian and sectarian tension in Mesopotamia.
Questions arose.. Why Abu Lulua? What is the relationship of the Shirazi reference to the film? And how did the events develop until you decided to stop showing the movie in the end?
Why the character of Abi Pearl?
The story of Abu Lulu’a was mentioned in many Islamic historical sources. For example, al-Tabari’s “History of the Messengers and Kings,” Ibn al-Atheer’s “The Complete History” and Ibn Katheer’s “The Beginning and the End.” These sources call him Fayrouz al-Nahawandi, and give him the nickname Abu Lulu’ah.
According to the traditional Sunni narrative, Fayrouz was a Persian who was captured by the Muslim “conquerors” of Persia during the reign of the second caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab. Sources differ in determining the religion of Abu Lulu’ah: some books mention that he was a Magian, while other sources mention that he was a Christian who was raised in a city controlled by the Byzantine Romans.
Abu Lulu’ah was a boy with the companion Al-Mughirah bin Shu’bah, and he used to practice a number of professions and trades, such as carpentry and blacksmithing. Abu Lulu’ah came to Medina and met Caliph Umar, and complained to him of the heavy fines imposed on him by his master, al-Mughira. Omar listened to him and asked him about his work, and he told him that these fines are not great in view of the multiplicity of crafts and industries in which he works.
Abu Lulua contained this in himself and resolved to assassinate the caliph. Indeed, as someone who had him in the Prophet’s Mosque one night and surprised him while performing the prayer at night, he stabbed him several fatal stab wounds, before Fayrouz was killed after that by some of the companions on the twenty-sixth of Dhu al-Hijjah in the year 23 AH.
The story differs in the Twelver Imami Shiite sources. For example, Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi mentions in his encyclopedic book Bihar al-Anwar that Fayrouz was a Muslim man among the companions of Ali ibn Abi Talib, and that he believed in the right of the Prophet’s cousin to assume the position of imamate and caliphate.
Ibn al-Mutahhar al-Hilli mentions in his book “Minhaj al-Karama fi Ma’rifat al-Imamah” that Abu Lulu’ah’s killing of Umar did not occur because of hatred or anger, but rather was a form of revenge for Fatimah, the daughter of the Prophet, who was “robbed of her right” in her inheritance from her father.
From here, many Shiites celebrate Fayrouz al-Nahawandi, and know him as Baba Shuja al-Din. And they used to visit the shrine attributed to him in the Iranian city of Kashan. In this context, Abu Lulu’ah was described by the Shi’ite sheikh Abdullah al-Afandi in his book “Riyad al-Ulama wa Hayad al-Fadala” as “he was one of the greatest Muslims and Mujahideen, but rather one of the faithful followers of the Commander of the Faithful, peace be upon him.”
What is the relationship of the Shirazi reference to the film?
The Shirazi authority is considered one of the most important Twelver Shiite authorities in the world, and it is the main financier of the “Al-Sha’er” satellite channel, which announced its intention to broadcast the movie “Courage Abu Loulou’a”. This reference has supported many controversial TV and film productions.
The Shirazi authority is attributed to the historical authority, Ayatollah Muhammad bin Mahdi al-Husayni al-Shirazi, who played an important role in the Iranian revolution in the seventies of the twentieth century. He was a clergyman close to the leader of the revolution, Khomeini.
Al-Shirazi disagreed with Khomeini regarding the theory of the guardianship of the jurist, as the first believed that the guardianship should be for all scholars (the Shura of the Jurists) and that it should not be confined to the hand of Khomeini alone (the guardianship of the jurist). This dispute led to restrictions on the Shirazi authority until he died in 2001 AD, and his brother, Sadiq al-Husayni al-Shirazi, succeeded him in the position of reference.
In general, the Shirazis do not hesitate to clash with the Sunnis, and criticize their symbols at every opportunity.
For example, Mujtaba al-Husayni al-Shirazi – who is the younger brother of Sadiq al-Shirazi – traveled to England in 1994 AD, settled in London and became famous for his harsh criticism of Sunni historical figures in his lectures and lessons.
The same applies to the Sheikh of Kuwaiti origin, Yasser Al-Habib, who also belongs to the Shirazi reference. Al-Habib was known to hold a large number of ceremonies commemorating the death of the Companions and Mothers of the Believers, including the commemoration of the death of the Prophet’s wife, Aisha. And Yasser Al-Habib caused controversy between Sunnis and Shiites in many cases until the Kuwaiti authorities took a decision to deprive him of Kuwaiti citizenship.
Yasser Al-Habib launched the “Fadak” channel in September 2010 AD, on the Atlantic Bird 4 satellite. Then, he launched the “Sawt Al-Itra” channel, and it began broadcasting on the Nilesat satellite in 2013 AD. The Afghan Shiite Sheikh Hassan Allah Yari followed the same path when he founded the “Ahl al-Bayt” channel, which broadcasts from California, USA, and used to be subjected to insults and curses of the symbols of the Sunni sect.
The Shirazis produced controversial historical films, the most famous of which is the movie “Lady of Paradise”, which was shown on cinema screens in the United States for the first time on December 10, 2021. Its budget amounted to fifteen million US dollars, which was collected from the proceeds of donations on the Sawt al-Atra and Fadak channels.
At the time, the film was criticized by both Sunnis and Shiites. Four of the most senior Shia religious authorities – Nasser Makarim Al-Shirazi, Hussein Nuri Al-Hamdani, Jaafar Sobhani, and Lotfallah Safi Al-Kalbaykani – declared their clear rejection of this film.
Between the movie Abi Louloua and the Muawiya series
It was only natural that the controversy escalated in the past few days about the movie “Shujaa Abu Lulu’ah”. The film was attacked by both Sunni and Shiite figures. For example, the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, linked the two series “Muawiya” – which will be shown in the coming month of Ramadan – and the movie “Abu Lulu’a” and said: “Both of them are false and incite sedition, and (the two characters) do not represent the Sunnis and the Shiites.”
After that, the general manager of Al-Sha’ir satellite channel sent an official letter to the Iraqi Media and Communications Commission. In this letter, it was stated, “We will commit not to broadcast the movie Shujaa Abu Lulu’ah, which we promoted earlier, out of respect and implementation of the decision of the Communications and Media Commission, in return for the commitment of the MBC channel not to broadcast the Muawiya series, which detracts from the religious beliefs of a large group of Muslims, especially With the religious and popular rejection of showing this series.
After a few hours of consultation, the Media and Communications Commission in Iraq decided to ban the broadcast of the series “Muawiya” and the movie “Abu Lulu’a.” The Iraqi News Agency stated, “The directive comes within the framework of the desire not to broadcast any works of art dealing with controversial historical topics, including the two aforementioned artworks.”