Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| East is East |
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| Anonymous |
| 03/25/01 at 18:24:05 |
| Assalamu alaikum, Last night i watched a british movie on cable tv called East is East. It was SO offensive. It revolves around a mixed marriage family's (pakistani male and british female)problems. It works mainly under the assumption that Islam forces arranged marriages. Anyone else seen it? wassalam |
| Re: East is East |
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| Al-Basha |
| 03/25/01 at 23:08:43 |
| [slm] yeah i've heard of it, never seen it, stupid movie. Someone told me it was even very publicized but that the outcry from the Muslims about it, made it more well known? |
| Re: East is East |
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| JustMe |
| 03/26/01 at 03:06:38 |
| I don't think the movie is about the character's religion being Islam. I thought of it more as a pure comedy which did or did not have any intentions of misrepresenting the religion of 1.2 billion people. I thought of it more as a day in the life of very youthful and energetic clowns cast. Clownery with a twist of a serious plot of a weak Muslim character played by Om Puri, who I thought was a very good actor. The reason I'm saying all this is because I know some people who were really offended by this movie. :( |
| Re: East is East |
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| bhaloo |
| 03/26/01 at 09:04:08 |
| slm Speaking of British movies, I heard there was another one called, "My son the fanatic". (I think that was the name) Its about this Pakistani Muslim guy that comes to the UK, marries a non-Muslim, has 3 kids (2 boys and girl), the girl ends up involving her stuff in haraam activities and stuff, one of the boys is extremely disobedient, and the 3rd boy becomes a good Muslim who hangs out with other Muslims that encourage him to do good. I heard that the story basically showed that the father brought destruction to the family, and the one son wasn't a fanatic after all, but a good pious son. Anyone seen this? Maybe someone can clarify. |
| NS |
| Re: East is East |
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| Anwar |
| 03/27/01 at 13:10:17 |
| Aslamu alaikum wa rahmatullah I have not seen the movie but read its review in a Muslim magazine and saw a trailer of it. The British just love making such stories, portraying British practising Muslims living in this country as backward and bigoted because of their religion. They also love portraying the children of Muslim parents who have settled in the UK (particularly from Indian sub-continent) as being repressed, tired of their old fashioned parents and wanting to flee from them and their aged idea's to embrace a more liberal and western lifestyle (ie homosexuality, freemixing, drugs, alchohol and so on). Yes the above is a common scenario amongst Asian Muslims, but the British kuffaar always attribute this common internal family crisis to what they say are "draconian" and "primitive" Islamic rules which the parents are supposedly observing. Which is not a true reflection of the reality at all since it is the complete lack of the observance of the Islamic teachings by the Muslim parents that lead to such family breakdowns. The majority of the Muslim parents who reside in the UK are totally negligent of teaching their children Islam and giving them the necessary Tarbiyah (cultivation) which is absolutely vital for their upbringing, especially since they live in such a depraved and morally bankrupt place. Instead what they teach their children is mixture of Islamic and un-Islamic ideals, stuff like, "You can only get married after you have done your degree and got a good job". Also they send their kids to the masjid to finish the "Quran-e-pak" but not to understand any of it. Anyway far from being interested in the truth the British sill continue to spread this brand of propaganda, and one of the most effective ways to carry this out is through making such movies and drama serials, to drive the message home. There have been countless TV drama's and movies portraying Muslims and Islam in such a way. Actors such as Om Puri make a good living out of role playing such corrupt and hypocritical Muslims, he himself being a HINDU must get great satisfaction as well as money out of role playing such "evil Muslims". Not long ago he starred in this drama serial playing a Muslim cab driver, who loves drinking alcohol, listening to music and enjoys the company of prostitutes. He has a son who breaks up with his girlfriend, turns to his deen, starts praying and gets involved with a religious alim who comes from abroad and (check this) is shown to be a hypocrite con artist just wanting a permit to stay in the country. Now our Hero (Om Puri) is shown protecting the very prostitutes who his son (the villain of the piece) is campaigning to get rid of from his streets. In the climax Om puri leaves his Muslim wife and runs off with the prostitute he has been having an affair with and everyone lives happily ever after... wa salam |
| NS |
| Re: East is East |
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| BrKhalid |
| 03/28/01 at 04:41:08 |
| Asalaamu Alaikum ;-) [quote] The majority of the Muslim parents who reside in the UK are totally negligent of teaching their children Islam and giving them the necessary Tarbiyah (cultivation) which is absolutely vital for their upbringing….. Instead what they teach their children is mixture of Islamic and un-Islamic ideals, stuff like, "You can only get married after you have done your degree and got a good job". Also they send their kids to the masjid to finish the "Quran-e-pak" but not to understand any of it. [/quote] Its sad when cultural practices gets confused for Islam and this perception is then passed on to non muslims. Personally I worry if the children of the first generation of Muslims over here are ignorant of their deen, what will the third generation be like? :( |
| Re: East is East |
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| bhaloo |
| 03/28/01 at 11:05:21 |
| slm [quote]Personally I worry if the children of the first generation of Muslims over here are ignorant of their deen, what will the third generation be like? :( [/quote] I believe it was Dr. Jamal Badawi that commented on this after coming back from a trip to Australia, saying that it takes 3 generations and then the people completely forget their deen (something to that effect). Interesting analysis Anwar, I was not aware of the situation. I know the UK has a larger percentage of Muslims then we do over here in the states. As the population of the US Muslims grows perhaps the same things that are happening in the UK will happen here. :( |
| Re: East is East |
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| BrKhalid |
| 03/30/01 at 05:24:53 |
| Asalaamu Alaikum ;-) [quote]As the population of the US Muslims grows perhaps the same things that are happening in the UK will happen here[/quote] I don't know what Br Anwar's view is but I don't think the problem is country specific. I think parents need to realise that their children are not growing up in the same environment that they grew up in and consequently the difficulties they are facing will necessarily be different. Consequently, the solutions to these difficulties should also be different. The problem with the second generation is that when they become parents, they look to their own experiences as a child to evaluate how to bring up their children. If they were allowed to do things that as a child which not in accordance with Islam, there's a real danger that they won't prevent their own children from doing the same. From then on it's easy to see how slippery the slope could be. Just my ramblings…..although if I was running things, I'd make all prospective parents go on a parenting course on how to bring up their children;-) |
| Re: East is East |
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| Saleema |
| 03/30/01 at 11:54:47 |
| Assalam ualykum, My father always says that in two more generations there will not be any muslims they will all be assimilated. I know so many people like him that have such a pessimistic view of things, I don't agree with this. while there are many things that point that way there are many things that point the other way too, the positive side. wassalam |
| Re: East is East |
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| BrKhalid |
| 03/31/01 at 12:54:13 |
| Asalaamu Alaikum ;-) [quote]I know so many people like him that have such a pessimistic view of things, I don't agree with this.[/quote] I agree Sr Saleema Its all well and good carping on about problems. What's really needed though is solutions. I think you have to recognise the problem first though, then figure out how you're going to deal with it. |
| Re: East is East |
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| eleanor |
| 04/01/01 at 16:20:29 |
| I never saw this film but I heard from my brother and my best friend that it was really funny and that the Daddy got really nasty towards the end. Does anyone remember a couple of years ago when some parents drugged their daughter to bring her to Pakistan to get her married. She had refused to go, so they gave her drugs and when she was totally out of it they tried to get her on the plane to Pakistan. However she woke up in the airport and had her parents arrested. I remember at the time it was reported in all the papers and on TV and the general assumption was that that was an Islamic rule. ie arranged marriages and that the women have no choice in the matter. My mother also told me she read about one woman who ran away from an abusive husband she was forced into marrying. Well the husband called her brother who went out in the car looking for her and when he found her he knocked her down and killed her. It makes me so mad. This isn't Islam or even really culture or is it? I know in the Indo-Pak culture it's very disrespectful to go against the parents wishes..no matter what they want, and also it's very bad to bring any kind of shame on the family. But still..it's stories like this that get my mother all worked up and worried about me because I happen to be married to a Pakistani. sheeeeeesh |
| Re: East is East |
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| Saleema |
| 04/02/01 at 00:09:32 |
| Assalam ualykum, Shame on her parents for drugging their daugher and trying to force her into a marriage! |
| Re: East is East |
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| PacificBreeze |
| 04/03/01 at 16:00:15 |
| salaams, i haven't seen it..but accord to the ppl who have..it's a comedy protraying the paki immigrant experience in england...so..umm..it's supposed to be weird...show the corruption...and weird situations they are involved in when assimilating into the brit sys etc... there's another movie that's up and running here in the US...some say it's funny as well...i've only seen the brief commercials.."american desi" which is also supposed to play on stereotypes..of an abcd who goes back to india or something...one of those ;) what's annoying is that i found out the girls char is supposed to be a muslim...but then again like dad said the whole movie's about washed out kids who dont' practice their religion and/or culture etc...messed up ppl who have fully integrated into society and thentheir experience in going back or something...i don't know..we havne't seen it..someone who saw it said it was funny...? but they're def not about 'good muslims' or anything..it might be pretty stupid..with some comical scenes? comments. wa salaams. |
| Re: East is East |
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| Aeisha |
| 04/08/01 at 10:58:37 |
| Yes I've seen it and I thought it was quite funny in places |
| Generation X |
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| BroHanif |
| 04/14/01 at 18:05:32 |
| Just a question on you folks, how can one measure that aafter two generations, Islaam in that family be of little significane or hold little value. Can anyone elaborate on such estimation or projections like these. Salaam, Hanif |
| Re: East is East |
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| pakiprncess |
| 04/16/01 at 13:03:07 |
| asalaam alaikum friends - [quote]"american desi" which is also supposed to play on stereotypes.. what's annoying is that i found out the girls char is supposed to be a muslim...but then again like dad said the whole movie's about washed out kids who dont' practice their religion and/or culture etc...messed up ppl who have fully integrated into society and then their experience in going back or something...[/quote] yup, pacific breeze sis, i saw it too, and basically your assumptions are right. although the moive had some cultural humor in it ("indian standard time" hehe), it was a major disappointment in terms of explaining islam. the indian guy, saleem, whos portrayed as a muslim is against indian girls from america because they are "corrupt" and he wants to marry a "simple girl from back home." but he ends up falling for this modern muslim girl farah (who, by the way, wears shorts and tank tops, yet shows up at the mosque in a burqa, which leads to saleems love for her)...although saleem seems somewhat a more accurate personification of a muslim - he prays and scolds his friends for bugging him to attend the local bhangra parties - farah is nothing of the sort. her outfits and mannerisms represent a muslimah severly confused about the differences between islam and indian culture. i didnt like that representation AT ALL. its not that the movies about washed up kids, really, but more that its trying to create a link between religion and culture which doesnt really - or shouldnt, in any case - exist. my mom and dad were talkin about it the other night; my cousin is gettin married and her sisters want to make it a huge deal, with all the rasms (traditions) that are of hindu origin. my parents are extremely upset and refuse to participate, which is leading to a huge dilemma: to what extent should people today differentiate culture and religion? and how much do they actually do it? <<just musing here....>> ps...whos dad ? ;) |
| Re: East is East |
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| Rashid |
| 04/16/01 at 21:00:13 |
| slm Well I saw it and I thought it was funny and sad at the same time. It had its humorous moments, but the sadder part was the meaning of the movie. Here is a father who married a british woman and then was worried with running his shop, neglecting the kids, who got close to mom and assimilated to british culture. Then all of a sudden he wants them to follow his traditional Paki ways and of course they rebel. This happens all the time in real life, I've seen it a number of times. I think there's a message in this movie, about how you should pay attention and care for your children otherwise you will lose them. There was one scene where the dad is explaining to his son why he should marry a paki and the son asked him why he married a brit instead, the father flips out and gets all violent. So I think that they did portray Islam in a bad light (it's the movies, nothing new) but at least there was a message in it. |
| West is West |
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| SuperHiMY |
| 04/17/01 at 03:21:19 |
"Film explores Muslim society torn between religious rules and secular pressures" HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer Sunday, April 15, 2001 Breaking News Sections -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (04-15) 09:15 PDT CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Yasmeen, complaining of stomach pains, sits quietly in a corner while the other guests blow out the candles at her cousin's birthday bash. That night, after the guests are gone, the 16-year-old goes into labor alone on the bathroom floor. This scenario of unwed motherhood in a pious Muslim family is provocative stuff, and has won ``Girls' Secrets'' plaudits as a milestone in Egyptian cinema. The film graphically portrays an urban society struggling to balance tradition and modernity, religion and science. ``The greatest value of the film lies in its reflection of the dilemma of Egypt's middle class. It's a major event in the Egyptian film industry,'' Samir Farid, one of Egypt's leading film critics, said in his review. ``Girls' Secrets'' touches on questions that trouble many Egyptians -- indeed many Muslims everywhere: Should women abide by Islam's dress code and cover themselves up? How can parents screen out unwanted influences from the Internet and satellite television? Should schools teach sex education? Should teen-age boys and girls socialize? Has the struggle to earn a living left little time or energy for romance or family? Here and there, the mournful voice of 1950s romantic singer and film star Mohammed Fawzi -- Yasmeen's favorite -- accentuates the girl's alienation from friends who prefer loud contemporary pop. The film also portrays a male-dominated Egypt where a strict and sometimes sinister interpretation of Islam relegates females to second-class status. ``We in Egypt are accustomed to dramas that give audiences something that makes them feel good about themselves or helps them forget their worries,'' said director Magdi Ahmed Ali, 49, told The Associated Press. ``The story of `Girls' Secrets' has a great deal of honesty, but it's the shocking kind of honesty that may even be provocative.'' ``Girls' Secrets'' is Ali's third feature-length drama. His hugely successful ``The World, My Love'' -- the story of three working class Cairo women with serious men problems -- earned him a reputation as an acute social observer. Azza Shalabi's screenplay is not the happy love story Egyptians are used to, and ``Girls' Secrets'' hasn't caught fire at the box office, where Hollywood blockbusters and lighter homegrown films are dominant. ``As a member of the audience, you feel that you're intimately attached to the film in many of its details, but it lacks the element of entertainment, which is important for cinema-goers,'' critic Tarek el-Shenawy wrote the popular weekly Rose el-Youssef. The shy, quiet Yasmeen (17-year-old Maya Sheeha in her debut role) hides her pregnancy for months. After she gives birth and is still unconscious, the doctor, whose beard singles him out as a Muslim fundamentalist, takes it upon himself to circumcise her. Female genital mutilation, a ritual perceived by many Muslims as a way to protect a woman's virtue, is outlawed in Egypt but is thought to be still in practice. ``He is disciplining her properly for us,'' is all that Yasmeen's mother says when she learns of her daughter's circumcision. In contrast, Yasmeen's aunt, an academic, gives the doctor a tongue-lashing in a hospital corridor and threatens legal action, while the mother begs her to shut up and spare the family further embarrassment. ``Religion is above the law,'' the doctor shouts back. ``Girls' Secrets'' skillfully depicts the humiliation heaped on Muslim women who lose their virginity before marriage. The director and screenwriter insist the film doesn't set out to criticize the Islamic revival in Egypt. But it is the girl's devout Muslim family, rather than the relatively liberal family of the aunt, that is portrayed as dysfunctional, even though the film steers clear of stereotypes by showing compassion for Yasmeen's parents, too. Yasmeen's father is briefly tempted to kill the baby by cutting off the oxygen supply to its incubator. Instead he tracks down the father, a teen-age neighbor. The youth is forced to marry Yasmeen. Then the baby dies and he is forced to divorce her. In the last scene, Yasmeen is home from the hospital, looking woefully from her bedroom window at her teen-age lover, while her father busies himself installing a huge metal bolt on their apartment door. [url]http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2001/04/15/international1215EDT0429.DTL[/url] |
| Re: East is East |
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| BrKhalid |
| 04/17/01 at 10:21:15 |
| Asalaamu Alaikum ;-) [quote]Just a question on you folks, how can one measure that after two generations, Islam in that family be of little significance or hold little value. Can anyone elaborate on such estimation or projections like these. [/quote] Br Hanif if you're trying to make the point that it's dangerous to extrapolate, then I'd agree with you. The point I was trying to make was that if parents themselves have a particular mindsight, then they will invariably convey some of this to their children. If some of this is unIslamic, then much work will have to be done by the children and/or the community at large to bring them back to the correct way of thinking. I'm not saying its impossible. I just think we have to be aware of the dangers so we can face them if the need arises. |
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