Film on Quran Contemporary Connections screened at KU

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Panelists term film maker a ‘soft revolutionary’

Director Faruk Masudi’s Hollywood film Qur’an Contemporary Connections, on the Major Themes of the Qur’an was screened Friday at Kashmir University Ibn-i- Kaldune Auditorium. Galaxy of Islamic scholars, KU students and university teachers were present at the screening event organized by GK Foundation in association with International Resource Cell Allama Iqbal Library.

The KU Vice-Chancellor Professor Riyaz Punjabi presided over the event and the panelists in the discussion after screening included Islamic scholar Prof Hamid Nnaseem Rafiabadi, Columnist Z G Mohanmmad , faculty MERC and columnist Mrs Syeda Afshana , anchor and Media studentDanish Abdullah, and Dr Mohammad Fazlullah..

The KU Vice-Chancellor Professor Riyaz Punjabi in his speech said that as numerous interest groups are busy in portraying a distorted version of Islam and Qur’an around the world , a humble but significant attempt has been made by Kashmiri film maker to dispel such myths about the fastest growing religion of the world.

VC called for a rationale approach to deal with situations that come our way in the changing scenario of the world and he expressed hope that we become more willing to listen to others point of view.

Islamic scholar Prof Hamid Naseem Rafiabadi said that we are in deadlock and not dialogue neither our ourselves nor with the rest of the world. Prof Naseem called for opening up all communication channels with an attempt to clear these misconceptions about Islam by going directly to the fountainhead of Islam-The Qur’an.

Dr Syeda Afshana faculty MERC KU termed Mr Masudi the film maker as a soft revolutionary and praised the film for its balanced approach. Librarian Riyaz rafuai in his welcome address described the film maker as an acclaimed scholar and director of the Indian subcontinent . Rufai said that with thirty years of experience in mass media Mr masoodi has two thousand episodes of TV serials to his credit as writer.

Replying to queries from panelists and Faruq Masudi said that the film has tried to reshapes and reframe the distorted perspectives of Islam and Qur’an. "It de-constructs the Islamophobia raging across the United States and Europe," The film, according to Masudi is an attempt to clear these misconceptions. He said that the narrative in the film runs "Allah is not a Muslim-specific God but he belongs to all creation.

Greater Kashmir Editir Fayaz Ahmad kaloo and the film maker were felicitated by KU Vice-Chancellor Professor Riyaz Punjabi on the occasion on behalf of Kashmir university. .

It is important to mention here that The film was produced in Hollywood with seasoned all-America cast and crew comprising Syed Nasr Hossein, Bruce Lawrence, Maria Bakake and Jonathan Brown. The movie has also made it to the 34th Golden Crest International Film and TV Festival in Prague wherein reputed directors of international fame from the US, Italy, China, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Greece, Russia, Hungary, Prague and Switzerland competed for the coveted prizes in one of the oldest and the most reputed film festivals of Europe. It broke on the International Film Festival circuit in Canada where it was the official opening film for Muslim Fest 2009.