| Muhammad: The Last Prophet | |
| Director: | Richard Rich |
| Producer: | Richard Rich Terry L. Noss Thomas J. Tobin Mowafak El-Harthy |
| Narrator: | Brian Nissen |
| Starring: | Eli Allem Nicholas Kadi |
| Music: | William Kidd |
| Editing: | Joe Campana |
| Studio: | RichCrest Animation Studios |
| Distributor: | Fine Media Group Badr International |
| Runtime: | 95 minutes |
| Country: | United States Egypt Lebanon |
| Language: | English Arabic Turkish Malay |
Muhammad: The Last Prophet is a 2002 American animated religious epic film,[1] produced by Badr International and directed by Richard Rich. The movie was released in limited cinemas in the United States and the United Kingdom. The film focuses on the early days of Islam and Muhammad.[2]
In accordance with Islamic law and tradition, Muhammad and the first four caliphs (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali) are not depicted in the film or any of its prequels. Scenes that include Muhammad are shown from his perspective, with his words paraphrased by the narrator. The film has been approved by the Council of Al-Azhar Al-Shareef (Islamic Research Academy in Egypt) and the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council of Lebanon. All of the characters, such as the main character Malek and the rest of his family, are fictional.
The film has been dubbed into several languages including Arabic, French, Turkish and Malay. The dialogue of the Arabic version differs from the English version of the film, and the dialogue of the Arabic version is more consistent and similar with traditional Islamic historical narratives.
The film follows Muhammad's first years as a prophet starting with Islam's beginnings in Mecca in which the Muslims are persecuted, the exodus to Medina, and ending with the Muslims' triumphant return to Mecca. A number of crucial events, such as the Battle of Badr, the Battle of Uhud, the Battle of the Trench, and the Conquest of Mecca are depicted.
List of cast members and characters of this film, as well as the prequels:
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Three short prequels were released in 2012, all directed by Rich:
On Metacritic the film has a score of 47% based on reviews from 4 critics.[3]
Dana Stevens of The New York Times gave it 3 out of 5 and wrote: "Faithful to Islamic law's prohibition against representing its title character, this movie gives a prophet's-eye-view on the story."[4] [5] Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide gave it 2 out of 5 and described it as: "firmly within the long tradition of bland, upbeat and earnest religious instructional films."[6]
