Muslim Imam Responds to "The Passion"

February 25, 2004

Source: The Orange County Register

http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=82623

On February 25, 2004 The Orange County Register reported that "four Orange County spiritual leaders got together Monday for an early look at 'The Passion,' and, at the Register's request, described what they saw and how the movie affected them.

Each of the four - a Christian evangelist, a Jewish rabbi, a Muslim imam and a Catholic priest - offered a personal perspective on the film, Mel Gibson's focus on the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus Christ." Imam Yassir Fazaga said, "Jesus is not the possession of Christians only.

There are 1.4 billion Muslims that do believe in Jesus, peace be upon him. Maybe not in the exact same way as Christians, but he is a very important figure in Islam.

I thought that I would come to this movie and learn more about the values that he taught and the principles that he lived by.

I appreciated the suffering that he has done, but as an 'unchurched' person or an outsider, I really do not think it has added any more knowledge to me about the character of Jesus, except his commitment to his beliefs...

I liked that they would show the suffering of Jesus ... and then Jesus would say: 'Love your enemies.' It was skillfully placed in the midst of the suffering, but I think that message was lost in the violence."