DUBAI (Al Arabiya) The Dubai-based MBC group on Thursday signed a deal with Qatar’s public media group to produce a television series about the autobiography of the second Caliph of Islam Omar bin al-Khattab, scheduled to be aired during the holy month of Ramadan 2011.
The agreement was signed during a press conference at MBC’s Dubai headquarter and was attended by the group Chairman Sheikh Waleed al-Ibrahim and senior officials at the MBC group. The event was attended from the Qatari side Sheikh Fisal bin Jasem Al Thani and Qatar TV chairman Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Kawari.
Sheikh al-Ibrahim said the series will be dubbed into languages mostly spoken by Muslims and subtitled into other languages such as English and French.
The significance of the TV series depicting the life of Caliph Omar lies in the fact that he had played a very important role in the history of Islam and its spread after the death of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).
Such a TV drama would become an important reference in the whole Islamic history.
Addressing the participants in the press conference, Sheikh al-Ibrahim said that Caliph Omar represents a very good model that should be followed by all Muslims.
He added that the main purpose of producing such an important dramatic work is to correct the wrong and misunderstood parts of the Islamic history – whether intentionally or unintentionally – at a time when there is controversy going on everywhere about all the Islamic beliefs and concepts.
“We are in dire need, now more than any other time in the past, of imitating such a great character as Caliph Omar and taking it a good model to be followed,” he said.
The MBC group chairman said that the drama will be written by TV dramatist Dr Waleed Seif and will be directed by TV director Hatem Ali.
He pointed out that the TV drama will be revised by prominent clerics and professors of Islamic law (sharia) as Dr Yussef al-Qaradawi, Dr Salman al-Ouda, Dr Abdul Wahab al-Tariri, Dr Ali al-Salabi, Dr Saad Matar al-Otaibi and Dr Akram Diaa al-Omary.