Terrorism nearly killed Saladin

Malaysia plans to break into the lucrative animation industry in a big way, by tackling no less a personage than the great Saladin al-Ayubbi himself.

Saladin's chilvary, courage and military brilliance are well-known both inside and outside the Muslim world. Little wonder then that Moustapha Akkad (The Message: The Story of Islam) had chosen the Kurdish commander as the theme of his latest film, with the ageless Sean Connery playing what might have been a leading role. Akkad explained,

"In the light of unjustified accusations of terrorism directed towards the Arab world, Saladin is- in my perspective- the most suitable character to present to the West as our mouthpiece. Is there a more barbaric example of religious terrorism than the medieval Crusades that Saladin confronted? However, nobody accuses Christianity of breeding terrorism."

This was all before the hotel bombings in Jordan, of course. Along with sixty other civilians, Moustapha Akkad and his daughter were killed by bombs strapped onto a troupe of suicide bombers. An al-Qaeda website later clarified that those hotels were valid targets because they had become the favorite haunts of, amongst other things,

"American and Israeli intelligence and other Western European governments."

I suspect that the newfound interest in Saladin was sparked by two relatively recent developments. The first was Steven Spielberg's splendid Prince of Egypt, which showed how good animation could be used to tell even the most careworn stories. The second was the positive potrayal of Saladin in Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven.

Nonetheless, Malaysia wades into the Saladin franchise with what seems to be a unique narrative.

According to the feature's official homepage,

...the series proposes a fictional period in his life as a young adventurer, the experience of which shaped the great leader he would become. 18 years old and ready to take on the world, Saladin leaves his home city of Damascus with his lifelong friend Tarik...

Dare I say it? There seems to be a healthy dash of Ibn Battuta thrown into the series.

No matter how historically inaccurate the animated feature turns out to be, it's a monumental step for a country many Muslims once considered to be an outpost of the ummah. The trailer doesn't look half bad, either.

View the trailer