The character of the prophet is never seen, only suggested. 'I thought I should tell the story that will bring this bridge.'Īctor Anthony Quinn played Hamza, the Prophet Muhammad's uncle, in The Message. 'Being Muslim myself who lived in the West, I felt that it's my obligation, my duty, to tell the truth about Islam,' Akkad said in an interview in 1976. But it would prove extremely difficult to make, and faced a backlash in many parts of the Muslim world - and was even linked to a violent event in Washington, D.C. He intended the film as a bridge for understanding between Islam and the West.

He was determined to create a film spectacle about nothing less than the life of the Prophet Muhammad and the birth of Islam in the 7th century. I was so moved by that scene, and I tried to really kind of do similar.'Īkkad embarked on an ambitious quest to create a truly Arab screen epic. 'To me,' Akkad later recalled, 'the scene that I admired most in my life is David Lean's scene when Omar Sharif was introduced. Akkad was riveted as he watched a scene in which actor Omar Sharif emerges from the sands like a wraith on horseback - an Arab screen hero. In 1962, a Syrian-born Hollywood filmmaker named Moustapha Akkad watched the epic film Lawrence of Arabia, directed by David Lean. It is currently being restored by Moustapha Akkad's son Malek for a high definition rerelease. The film was difficult to make and faced a backlash in part of the Muslim world. The Message, directed by Moustapha Akkad, was released in 1976 in both English and Arabic versions.

Film nabi muhammad the messenger