''Muhammad: The Last Prophet'' is a 2002 American

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

religious epic film, produced by Badr International and directed by

Richard Rich Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich (July 1496 – 12 June 1567), was Lord Chancellor during King Edward VI of England's reign, from 1547 until January 1552. He was the founder of Felsted School with its associated almshouses in Essex in 1564. He wa ...

. The movie was released in limited cinemas in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The film focuses on the early days of Islam and

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

. 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.

Plot

The film follows Muhammad's first years as a prophet starting with Islam's beginnings in

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...

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.

Consultant

Khaled Abou El Fadl Khaled Abou el Fadl ( ar, خالد أبو الفضل, ) (born October 23, 1963) is the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law where he has taught courses on International Human Rights, Islamic jurisprude ...

* Sheikh Ayman Jabalagi * John Esposito

Cast

List of cast members and characters of this film, as well as the prequels:

Fictional characters

* Brian Nissen as Malek (Arabic version:

Bassam Kousa Bassam Kousa ( ar, بسام كوسا; born 7 November 1954 in Aleppo) is a Syrian film and TV actor. He played many important roles in popular TV series including ''Bab al-Hara'' and '' Old Times''. He is also an accomplished film actor. Persona ...

as old and Mansour Salti as young) * Catherine Lavin as Arwa (Arabic version: Laura Abou Assaad) * Tiffany Johnson as Siham (Arabic version: Bahla Hegazy) * Mark Hunt as Jahm (Arabic version: Muhammad Mustafi) * Catherine Lavin as Jalilah (Arabic version: Thara Debsi) * Lauren Shaffel as Huda (Arabic version: Youmna Halabi) * Anthony Micheal Jr. as Hadi (Arabic version: Muhammad Al-Arabi Tarqan) * D. Hunter White as Amahl

Historical figures

Arabic version additional voices

* Anjy Al-Yousif * Fadwa Souleimane * Mofeed Abu Hamda

Prequels

Three

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

prequels were released in 2012, all directed by Rich: *''Before the Light'' (relating to events in Arabia before the birth of Muhammad, with his grandfather, Abdul-Muttalib, as the main character) on 24 July 2012 *''Salman the Persian'' (the story of Salman's quest for religious enlightenment) on 24 July 2012 *''Great Women of Islam'' (pertaining to the roles of women in Arabia before and after the birth of Islam) on 24 July 2012

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

the film has a score of 47% based on reviews from 4 critics. Dana Stevens of

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

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." Maitland McDonagh of

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

gave it 2 out of 5 and described it as: "firmly within the long tradition of bland, upbeat and earnest religious instructional films."

References

External links

* * *
Fine Media Group

Images from the film

archive.ph
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad: The Last Prophet 2002 films 2002 animated films 2000s American animated films 2000s children's drama films American children's animated drama films 2000s adventure films 2002 drama films 2000s English-language films Religious epic films Films about Muhammad Islamic animated films Films directed by Richard Rich Films with screenplays by Brian Nissen Animated adventure films Films set in the Arabian Peninsula Saudi Arabia in fiction Animated films set in the Middle East