On Saturday, the Media and Communications Authority in Iraq decided to prevent the broadcast of the Muawiyah series during the month of Ramadan, because it may lead to stirring sectarian records.
The Media and Communications Authority confirmed, in a press statement today, that “the decision to prevent the display of the Muawiyah series is based on the legal powers granted to it and in compliance with its responsibility in organizing the media sector and ensuring the harmony of media content with the national and professional standards adopted in Iraq.”
She pointed out that “broadcasting works of a dialectical historical nature may lead to the provocation of sectarian records, which threatens societal ladder and affects the social fabric, especially during the holy month.”
And called on “all media institutions to adhere to professional standards and avoid broadcasting content that may cause sedition or sectarian incitement.”
The authority explained that it “issued an official letter to the management of MBC Iraq in this regard and asked it to comply with the decision and not broadcast the series, noting that it will take the necessary legal measures against any party that violates the media controls in force in the country.”
The work events revolve around the personality of the Umayyad caliph Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan, the period of great strife in Arab -Islamic history, and the conflicts over the succession of the caliphate after the killing of the caliph Othman bin Affan.
The series was postponed for two years after its filming in 2023, in the “Cartago Film” studios, in the city of Hammamet in Tunisia, along with filming some scenes in northern and southern Tunisia, in cities such as Mahdia, Monastir, and Al -Fida, and some reports indicated that its cost exceeded 100 million dollars.
Religious institutions, headed by Al -Azhar, objected to the offer of work, and one of Al -Azhar scholars announced his categorical refusal to embody the personalities of the Companions, usually “legally forbidden, and called on religious scholars to boycott the work, and not to see it.”
“The embodiment of the personality of Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan is a religiously rejected matter,” said Abdel -Fattah Abdel -Ghani Al -Awari, a member of the Council of Senior Scholars in Al -Azhar, noting that “the Companions are not permissible to embody in any way in dramas.”
He added that “historical differences on judgment and caliphate are a divine affair that should not be converted into a dramatic work that is subject to different interpretations,” according to what Egyptian newspapers reported.
