Islamic Historical Figures Drama as a Tool in Promoting Islamic Virtues

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INTRODUCTION
Muslims nowadays are losing their identity, particularly by the turbulence of secularism, as has been discussed by various Muslim scholars around the world since the 1970s. In Kamus Dewan's 2005 edition, secularism can be defined as a doctrine, beliefs, and anything that rejected any religious values in the human social life which later on rejected the metaphysical aspect. Netherlands theologist Cornelis Van Peursen (Cox H,2013) defined secularism as "freeing human firstly from religious belief and then the metaphysical belief which arranges his thought and language". This destructive ideology has penetrated all aspects of life and created so many confusions especially on the metaphysical aspects. The metaphysical aspect is generally neglected in mainstream epistemology which mostly adapted idealism and empiricism as the source of getting knowledge in "modern" days which resulted in poor engagement between Islamic belief within the community. Muslim world suffers so many social diseases and they can be traced back to secularism which is the root of the crisis. Therefore, this later resulted in the loss of identity which is the core of many other untangled problematic issues that envelops the Muslim ummah nowadays (Al-Buti, 2018).
To worsen the scenario, manipulative media can be seen in many circumstances where Muslims are portrayed as religious fanatics, expressing hate against Jews and Christians, heartless, brutal, and uncivilized. These negative stereotypes appear repeatedly in Hollywood films and dramas (Shaheen,2003). As a tool, media can be used in many ways -whether for justice or corruption; and it has become a voice, and for those who own the media, the voice reflects the perspective of the owner. The media has now become a tool in controlling the opinion of the masses because the film as an example, has the potential to reinforce, challenge, overturn or crystallise religious perspectives, ideological assumptions, and fundamental values (Martin, J and Ostwalt, C E, 1995).
Research on culture in Korean dramas that hugely influence Malaysian audiences, found that the acceptance of Korean drama in Malaysia is closely related to dominantly on human aspects such as lifestyles, values, and family that transcends all language barriers. The similarity of the lifestyles and cultures has fulfilled the void of Hollywood movies which is so alienated from our culture and beliefs (T.A Juliana, A.B Hassan, Y. Nor Hafezah,2018). Thus, when similarity is the main point, the "Muslimtheme-drama" should be in the same categories of acceptance too since approximately there are 1.9 billion Muslims in the world, sharing this beautiful faith.
On the same note, this phenomenon also arises in the reports from the Global Islamic Economy Index 2020/2021 where Muslim-theme TV series and films show strong signals of opportunities amidst the pandemic COVID 19. This seems to be a wake-up call for media practitioners when looking at the Turkish historical drama Dirilis: Ertu-grul TV series which has become so popular recently with viewers reaching unprecedented levels attracting 133 million viewers in Pakistan. The Indian Express on 28 May 2020 said that Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has been openly asking Pakistan to watch Dirilis: Ertugrul as the series teaches about "Islamic values" and "cultures". Dirilis: Ertugrul -which is a biopic drama series based on Ertugrul Ghazithe historical figures back in the 13 th century, the father of Osman 1, who later on succeeded as the founder of the Ottoman Empire. Another biopic series depicting historical giant Islamic figures ever made includes Muhammad: The Messenger of God (2016) The most successful Islamic historical figures drama among many others is "Umar Al Khattab", a series which is directed by Hatem Ali and co-produced by MBC TV and Qatar TV. The series has been marketed globally and the broadcast rights have been authorized to a few television networks around the globe including Turkish ATV Network which was dubbed into Turkish later. With the background of Mecca 1400 years ago, Umar Al Khattab was portrayed as a religious, firm leader, charismatic, strong character, as an individual in leading the Islamic world through many challenges. The 30-episode series shows how Umar Al Khattab, the second caliphate of Islam played by Samir Ismail, Syrian born actor, expanded the Islamic empire during 634 -644 AD. This series is said to be the biggest Arab production ever with a US 50 million budget and took two years to complete as reported in https://www.thenationalnews.com/. The series was produced according to the seerah of the Prophet Muhamad and Saidina Umar Al Khattab where a board of committee members was created to maintain the historicity of the script. The board includes prominent scholars of Islam Professor Dr. Yusuf Al-Qardawi and Syeikh Salman al-Ouda.
Despite the fact that Islamic scholars across the Muslim world are divided on the shows, in the social media around the region "Umar Al-Khattab" is winning praises among Muslim viewers, especially on how it carries lessons for the Arab world. Salam Sarhan, a columnist of the Lebanese newspaper Diyar in https://www.reuters.com/ said that the show was "Part of the gradual trend for the Islamic world to re-examine its heritage more critically, and would open the door for more television and cinema productions depicting central figures in Islam".
Typical drama and film which are polarized to only a popular genre needs to be examined because the viewers need to be educated with better content as the film is an explanation of the mentality of a nation which translates through visual and audio directly to the public (Kracauer,1960). Thus, responsible filmmakers need to take a bold step in advancing the intellectuals and adab of the public with the content that can contribute to human progress. As the world becomes borderless with the emerg-ing of the internet and various media, maybe it is time for the Islamic world to open doors to the filmmakers and producers to produce more Islamic historical figures dramas or films -which will help the digital community to be engaged in Islamic belief or values using creative media. It is hard to see these days, people who have never heard of Captain America, Iron Man, The Hulk, Batman, Superman, and many more but have no idea of Islamic historical figures. Islamic teaching offers a complete guide of akhlak and adab, which is the necessity in building a good society.

LITERATURE REVIEW
The moral collapse crisis around the globe is rooted in the loss of adab in the community, rooted in the confusion of epistemology (which dealt with the source and the truth of knowledge). Undeniably, this is the condition that is affecting the whole world right now. In building an adab in one individual, we cannot neglect the role of education because it is the root of all crises. Educating humans is crucial because humans as rational animals can understand and also can articulate their thoughts, which make us the only species with that kind of capability. With the advancement of technology, screen-based education has become important and necessary amidst the covid-19 pandemic recently. Vygotsky argued and identified the significance of the arts and creative education as important factors for prolific human development. In fact, he identified the essential role that drama could play in helping students by taking everyday materials of human existence into drama or arts and thus having experiences which could change their identities, their worlds, and future (Davis S. et al, 2015). Based on that statement, creative education needs to play its role in changing the community for the better by instilling good values in human beings, rather than pure entertainment which has zero contribution to human progress as we have seen in the mainstream film and drama nowadays.
In life, people learn important attitudes, values, and beliefs using role modelling, a process that impacts the learner's emotions (Ruiz R.,1999). Technical knowledge and skills can be acquired through training with little reflection on individuals but it is different set of skills when it comes to the refining attitudes and values because in order to get it, one needs to incorporate them through reflection. Other than that, one needs to refine his or her attitudes, build up the identities, develop holistic qualities and learn to be a human being (Blasco P.G et al, 2015). Classical Greece in ancient cultures uses the art of storytelling when teaching ethics and human values to their people and it is proven to be a powerful resource in teaching (McIntyre A.C,1984). Narratives of life stories are rooted dearly to the human experiences, thus it helps in enhancing emotions and setting the foundation in conveying concepts. When the learning process adapts this constructive approach and creatively incorporates it within the context, emotions can be developed by understanding the empathetic language of the learners. In addition, learners' affective domain can be reflected in his or her attitudes based on familiarity environment of the stories (Blasco, P. G. et al, 2015).
History, as life stories, can give a great impact on society because of the mutual interaction between society and its past. Conveying history onto a screen can broaden the perspectives of the viewers as it facilitates the senses and perceptions. The importance of knowing history is rooted in the fact that the past can foresee the contours of the present thus we should better equip ourselves to make smart decisions about difficult public issues (Tosh J,2019). Adapting historical figures in a drama or movie plays a deeper meaning rather than only for amusement and fun. The biography of famous figures usually creates big inspirative events, that is why it always becomes a source of stories (Armantono and Paramita, 2017). It is different from "superheroes" dramas because the historical figures are real people whose lives can be imitated. The dramas or films in this category fill with ideological order loaded with icons and symbols that represent idealisms from mimetic from the particular era (Bambang A.K et al, 2019).
Building a good character can be done by perfecting the adab, which is the main component of education in Islam, as discussed profoundly by Syed M.Naquib Al-Attas which he argues that adab is the recognition and acknowledgment of one's proper place concerning one's physical, intellectual and spiritual capacities and potentials ( Al Attas, 1980). As a prominent scholar of knowledge, he redefined the concept of education that mould into an Islamic framework, which he argues the loss of adab has plummeted the Islam civilization to the never-ending conflicts. Adab was defined by Al-Attas as the purpose of seeking knowledge where Islamic civilization views the purpose of seeking knowledge as mainly to instil goodness in an individual (Al-Attas,1980). This resulted in a good individual, which contradicts western views of a "good citizen". The good individuals in Islam comprise both material and spiritual aspects which acknowledge Allah as a God, as we took the covenant with God before we were born into this world as being stated in Holy Al-Quran: Islam tradition views human education as a two-way process, as the first process was the admission of the meaning of an object of knowledge into one's soul and secondly the arrival of the soul to that meaning (Al-Attas, 1980). This shows the nature of the individual's reality about his role and responsibility in this world and the hereafter thus proving that the metaphysical aspect was the ultimate reality of God and the human species (Daud W. M. N. W, 2005). This approach was the main component of Islamic education before secularism spread widely in this world thus changing the ways on how the world understands education. The distorted views of education have led to the dichotomy of religion and knowledge which then resulted in worshipping the material world and rejecting the metaphysical world, where the soul was denied as our central component in a human species. Building a good character relies strongly upon the metaphysical world where a character is deeply rooted in the heart. Islamic civilization views the heart as a centre of a human being as opposed to western understanding (which said an intellect is a centre of the human species). A good character in Islam will be a cause of admission to paradise and this is why Islam has laid down the criteria and rules to govern one's behaviour in every aspect of human life. In the holy Al Quran, there are many verses on the importance of good character, as an example:

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research employed qualitative methodology, where it used content analysis procedure which is described as interpretative social sciences (ISS) (Neuman, 1997). A descriptive qualitative analysis was employed to analyse "adab" from the Umar Al Khattab series which is related to the good virtues in the teaching of Islam. The data were collected from the representation of the virtues in Umar Al-Khattab series both in actions and spoken words. The research was also supported by other Islamic literatures as well as western literature on virtues. Relevant journals, articles and websites were also consulted to get the needed and relevant data.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Many Islamic virtues can be learned from the series which the Muslim community can re-instil the long-lost values, particularly during our times now. Among virtues that can be found throughout the series are:

Justice
One of the most successful portrayals of Umar Al Khattab is in the series is his justice attributes. Umar Al Khattab for the first time in history established a court of justice and appointed judges, established army departments and allocated salaries for the soldiers. He also buildt a food treasury where he together with his son, usually Abdullah Ibn Umar, would provide for the needy. In one scene, when Umar Al Khattab in Hirah, they saw a woman cooking water, and her kids were crying. Umar (r.a) asked the woman why the kids were crying and she replied: "They are starving. I am deliberately cooking water, just to stop them from crying, so that they will fall asleep while waiting for it...." The woman, who did not know who was Umar Al Khattab continued: "How does Umar ignore us while he should be taking care of us?" Umar (r.a) and Aslam went back to Madinah and brought back the wheat from the Muslim treasury for the woman. Umar (r.a) instructed Aslam to put the wheat sack on his back, and Aslam refused because Umar (r.a) was rather old for that job. Nonetheless, Umar (r.a) insisted and said: "Do you want to bear my sin in the hereafter?". Both of them went back to the woman, cooked for her, and fed the kids. Such beautiful quality seems to disappear in our leaders nowadays. In another scene, one of the Egyptians came to Umar (r.a), complaining that he was beaten by the governor's son at that time -Amr Bin Al Ash (r.a) because the Governor's son was defeated in one of the horse racing competitions. Umar (r.a) instructed Amr (r.a) to go back to Madinah from Egypt and the Egyptians then were told to beat Amr (r.a) because "he failed to teach his son".

Empathy
The next virtue that can be seen in the series is empathy. Empathy is defined as "the ability to share someone else's feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in their situation" (Cambridge advanced learner's dictionary, 2008). This characteristic practice by assuming him in others position as the saying "put him in another person's shoes". Empathy or understanding of another's feelings can be seen from 'Umar's (r.a) character especially during the year of Ashes (Ar-Ramadah) when the famine, drought, and hunger struck Madinah. People could not find food to eat, some of them died due to the famine, and he vowed not to eat ghee and yogurt as usual. One of his wails, "How can I be concerned for the people, if I do not suffer what they suffer". Empathy also can be found through the character of Abu Bakr As Siddiq. When Bilal Bin Rabbah was tortured because he accepted Islam secretly by his Master Umayyah Bin Khallaf, Abu Bakr bought him and freed him from slavery. Abu Bakr also bought and freed many other slaves such as Zinnirah, also gave protection to the poor and widows around Mecca.

Altruistic
According to Cambridge Advanced Learner's dictionary (2008), altruism can be understood as "a person who cares about others and helps them despite not gaining anything by doing this''. This quality can be found excessively in the character of Abu Bakr As -Siddiq. Abu Bakr As -Siddiq was the first caliph of Islam. He was among the earliest persons accepting the teaching of Prophet Muhammad and his best friend. When Prophet Muhammad was praying in front of the Kaaba, Abu Bakr (r.a) protected him from being harassed by the Quraish leader. However, they still insistently wanted to harass the Prophet. Abu Bakr (r.a) tried to stop them, but they beat him unconscious. His tribe was so worried about him but when he woke up his first question was "Was Prophet Muhammad alright? Where is him now?"

Foresight
Even though Umar (r.a) was the youngest leader of the Quraishy clan, he was very charismatic and wise. As-Sallabi in his famous book Umar Ibn Al-Khattab published in 1963 declares foresight as one of the characteristics of 'Umar's (r.a). This is true when we look at the series attentively on how Umar (r.a) can solve many issues faced by Quraysh. His approach was so rational, giving deep consideration and able to distinguish the issues clearly and very professional. While the older leaders fought among themselves on the issues of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Umar on the other hand critically examined the issues without prejudice.

Living moderate life
Umar Al Khattab lived his life of the caliphate very differently even though the Islamic continent was so big and many parts of the world have fallen into Islamic territory. He was very poor, only had two clothes, and was far from an accumulation of wealth. In one scene, Umar came across a fat camel at the grass field designed for Madinah's citizens for their livestock and asked whose camel is that? The camel belonged to one of his sons. He was very angry and asked his son to sell the camel and take money from the sale of the camel as the original price when he first bought it and returned the profit to the treasury (Baitul-Mal). Even though most of Madinah's citizens felt that the issues were not big since his son did nothing wrong, Umar (r.a) did not want his family to be treated differently from the rest of the citizens. Umar Al Khattab always reminds us that he was nobody other than just a steward managing the affairs of the Ummah.

Bravery
His firm character echoes throughout the series when Umar Al Khattab from the beginning was known as a diplomat, leader, and a distinguished man from the reputable Quraysh clan. Islam at the beginning was accepted only by the weak and poor people. They practised Islam secretly were afraid of torture from the prominent non-Muslim Quraish leaders, including Umar Al Khattab. Even though some of the important and rich people accepted Islam such as Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, Usman Bin Affan, Abdulrahman Bin Auf, and Saad Abi Waqqas, they did not have the same characteristics as Umar. Abu Bakr As Siddiq for example was very polite, soft-spoken, softhearted, and generous. They were brave as well but chose to be patient even though being harassed and belittled at the beginning of the Prophet Muhammad's da'wah. Islam after Umar (r.a) reverted was so different. In one scene, Umar was praying in front of the Kaaba, amidst the torture and hindrance from the Quraysh leaders, in the middle of Mecca citizen and nobody dared to stop him. Upon his reverting, he bravely went to his uncle Abu Jahl -the most notorious leader who fought Islam and told him that he already accepted Islam. Umar Al Khattab also went to the second enemy -Al Walid Bin Mughirah, one of the important leaders of Quraysh, and informed him that he had already reverted. During Umar's reign, Jerusalem fell to the Islam army. Not only that, Bahrain, Iraq, Persia, Syria, and Egypt also fell into Islam sovereignty. Umar was also involved in the war, especially in the most important war -Badar and Uhud. This brave quality is also depicted from Khalid Al Walid's characters -one of the most prominent sahabah. Khalid (r.a) accepted Islam quite late, together with his best friend Amr Bin Al Ash (r.a). He was the main commander who led many Islamic battles and had never been defeated. Khalid's (r.a) character was so strong and determined especially when he led the Islam army in defeating the Persian kingdom. In the battle of Uhud, when he was still not a Muslim yet, he led his army against the Islam army at that time -resulting in the defeating of the Muslim army and the death of Prophet Muhammad's most beloved uncle Hamzah Bin Abdul Mutalib.

Humble
When Islamic territory reached Jerusalem, Umar Al Khattab went to the Al Aqsa Mosque, riding his camel. The Christians who lived there were waiting impatiently for him -with curiosity they wanted to see how incredible this Muslim leader is. Like most leaders or kings during that era who lived in luxuries and wealth, they assumed that Muslim leaders were like them. When Umar Al Khattab arrived, the sahabah felt quite embarrassed because he looked like nothing they expected. He looked as if he was so poor, wore nothing expensive, while many of the sahabah were wearing better outfits than him. However, that is how Umar Al Khattab was. No wealth in this world could allure him from being a righteous servant of God. Umar Al Khattab in the movies also can be seen sleeping anywhere -in the mosque or under the tree without any bodyguard or army. One of the Persian kings who was a captive by the Islamic army was brought to Umar and felt surprised by his action. Later on, he said "now I can understand why you can sleep everywhere without worry because you treat your people with justice.."

Honesty
During the famine in Madinah, many Islam territories offered support in terms of food and clothes. When everyone had received the food and the condition was getting better, the servant then served Umar Al Khattab with a bowl of camel's heart, which was considered as the finest part at that time. When Umar Al Khattab saw the meat and realized that Madinah's people intentionally gave the best delicacies to him, he became upset and asked the food to be returned to the people. Another scene shows how Umar Al Khattab was resting on the wall of one home due to exhaustion when he suddenly overheard one young woman saying to her mom about the prohibition of mixing milk with water. This family was a milk seller and adding water to milk increased the quantity of the milk but reduced its quality. When her mom insisted on doing so, she told her mom that God the all-seeing and will know whatever we do even though the wrongdoing is hidden from the people or caliphate. Mesmerized by the woman's faith, Umar Al Khattab visited the house the next morning, asked the young woman if she agreed to marry one of his sons.

Not afraid of admitting mistakes
Umar Al Khattab was the leader of his tribe before he accepted Islam. As a noble Quraysh and one of the influential leaders, he used to be very strict with his tribe, he tortured them because a few of them secretly accepted Islam, especially the poor ones. He did that to protect the tribe from being separated. The day he accepted Islam, Umar went out and called out his tribe Bani Adiy, and found the person he used to torture. He sought forgiveness from them, asked them to torture him in return. He admitted that what he did was a mistake and he was ready to bear the consequences. He gave the stick in his hand and waited for them to beat him. But none of them beat him and they sincerely forgave him.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS
Bringing back the identity as a Muslim can be done at the core level by restoring adab and akhlak in an individual by showcasing influential individuals in Islam through drama or film because media are powerful tools in changing people's opinion and way of thinking. Re-installing the identity as a Muslim need to be actively promoted through media especially in the modern times where people are glued to their gadgets and screen-based media. Looking at the success of a few Islamictheme-series particularly "Umar Al-Khattab" gives hope to us on promoting the virtues of Islam through Islamic dramas or movies. In Malaysia or southeast Asian context, we need to have a critical examination on the life and characteristic of our prominent scholars of Islam such as Prof Syed M. Naquib Al Attas, Tan Sri Zainal Abidin bin Ahmad (Zaa'ba), Syed Syeikh Syed Ahmad Al Hadi, Syeikh Abdullah Fahim, Syeikh Tahir Jalaluddin, and many others. Our neighbour Indonesia, however, has seen a promising trend when there are few films produced based on the Islamic influential figures such as Kiyai Ahmad Dahlan (Sang Pencerah), K.H. Hasyim Asy'ari (Sang Kiyai) and Professor Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah (Buya Hamka) compared to Malaysia which has none. We have many prominent scholars or individuals in the Islamic civilizations that need to be put in the limelight. These great individuals deserve respect for their contributions to the Islamic world. Sadly, most of their books and ideas are kept on shelves without having a critical examination. The main reason is they are not known, especially by younger generations. Media as a tool of giving information and educating the viewers should be taken seriously in order to solve this issue. The confusion faced by the ummah can be decreased with the synergy among all individuals in the community. The ummah is dying, moral collapse prevails around the globe, and injustice is prevalent. This is the right time we should actively take part as Muslims. Profit should not be the only driving factor in producing film and drama but filmmakers should critically examine the impact of the messages they bring to the viewers as a whole. No civilization can surge without knowledge and have a strong base in their values, be proud of their identity, and be pioneering rather than following another civilization.