'Islamic Jesus' hits Iranian movie screens

TEHRAN, Jan 13, 2008 (AFP) - A director who shares the ideas of Iran's
hardline president has produced what he says is the first film giving an
Islamic view of Jesus Christ, in a bid to show the 'common ground' between
Muslims and Christians.

Nader Talebzadeh sees his movie, 'Jesus, the Spirit of God,' as an Islamic
answer to Western productions like Mel Gibson's 2004 blockbuster 'The
Passion 
of the Christ,' which he praised as admirable but quite simply 'wrong'.

[...]

Talebzadeh insists it aims to bridge differences between Christianity and
Islam, despite the stark divergence from Christian doctrine about Christ's
final hours on earth.

'It is fascinating for Christians to know that Islam gives such devotion to
and has so much knowledge about Jesus,' Talebzadeh told AFP.

'By making this film I wanted to make a bridge between Christianity and
Islam, to open the door for dialogue since there is much common ground
between Islam and Christianity,' he said.

The director is also keen to emphasise the links between Jesus and one of
the most important figures in Shiite Islam, the Imam Mahdi, said to have
disappeared 12 centuries ago but whose 'return' to earth has been a key
tenet of the Ahmadinejad presidency.

[...]

But in Talebzadeh's movie, God saves Jesus, depicted as a fair-complexioned
man with long hair and a beard, from crucifixion and takes him straight to
heaven.

'It is frankly said in the Koran that the person who was crucified was not
Jesus' but Judas, one of the 12 Apostles and the one the Bible holds
betrayed Jesus to the Romans, he said. In his film, it is Judas who is
crucified.

Islam sees Jesus as one of five great prophets -- others being Noah, Moses
and Abraham -- sent to earth to announce the coming of Mohammed, the final
prophet who spread the religion of Islam. It respects Jesus' followers as
'people of the book'.

[...]

Full article at "Arab Times" Kuwait
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/client/pagesdetails.asp?nid=10722&ccid=18

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