Introduction

Let's be honest, the greatest need of the Ummah and the world at large today is to liberate ourselves from oppression. But in order to achieve this there are multiple steps that the people of the world must take together. After much thought the scope within which we have chosen to operate and dedicate our life's work to is a legal and peaceful one in which we will be taking a courageous step into the battlefield of hearts and minds in which our weapon of choice will be the medium of film production.

Why are we doing this?

We believe that by reconnecting with the great scholars and revivers of Islam, Muslims in particular, will be able to reclaim their identity not on nationalistic grounds but via a connection to a trusted “founding father of their homeland” who ultimately has a unifying connection to the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). If one of these series' became popular enough then it could go as far as reaching a state level in which a Muslim nation state parliament may start to discuss who their "founding father" is.

This project will also enable Muslims to take control of the narrative in which they are currently portrayed to be savages and “human animals” in the words of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Finally in the same way that non-Muslims have taken interest in Islam by witnessing the bravery and faith of the people of Gaza we truly believe that they will also take an interest in Islam by watching docu-drama style TV series' on some of the classical and contemporary heroes of Islam mentioned above. In multicultural cities such as London and New York non-Muslims, after watching an episode from one of our dramas, would then be able to communicate with their peers who may be Arab, Bengali, English, Nigerian, Pakistani, Somali, Turkish etc and spark a conversation about a real life Muslim hero from that person's ancestral homeland. This has the potential to completely change the dynamics of casual Muslim non-Muslim interactions in which they would now have an opportunity to talk about something that they both enjoy and like in common, a popular TV drama about a real-life Muslim hero and not a fictional character such as DC’s Batman, Marvel’s Spiderman, Tyrion from the Game of Thrones or Tommy Shelby from Peaky Blinders. This could then lead to further intimate discussions about Islam as a complete way of life and it's ability to free people from oppression on a mass scale.

How you can help

The first docu-drama series we intend to produce is Shah Jalal Al-Yemeni. In order to produce the first 14 episodes of season 1 we need a budget of £400,000. That's roughly £28,500 per episode.

And lastly an Ayah from the Qur’an which should help you understand, if you ponder over it, why we Muslims must continue to narrate our stories:

Surah Yusuf is the only chapter in the Qur’an that has a chronological order, it has a beginning, middle and end. Something typical of all stories. From the story of Yusuf and from ayah three of this surah in particular we learn that stories are important and serve a great purpose in the Deen of Allah. Allah knew in his infinite wisdom that story telling would one day be a key means of communicating ideas in society and therefore showed us the best way to present a story from this Surah. From the theatres of ancient Greece to Netflix TV shows, we can see the impact that story telling has had on entire civilizations past and present. Stories can change the thought patterns and ideas of an entire population. Although we Muslims are a bit late on the scene we have the best stories to offer. So let’s come together and support this initiative to help present our stories to the world.

Crowdfunding Progress

I remember my grandmother mentioning his name a long time ago but unfortunately I do not recall what she said about him. After some Googling around I found out that there was a Madrasah in the village also named after this individual which some of my relatives funded. And to my surprise Shah Suleiman Koroni was actually buried a few minutes away from that Madrasah.

So who was this man who is likely to be my direct ancestor? And what was a person from Koron doing buried in Sylhet? Well after some investigation it turns out that he was one of the 360 disciples of the great Shah Jalal Al-Yemeni, a revered Islamic scholar, warrior and preacher who gathered Muslims from across the world in Delhi from where he eventually brought Islam to the Bengal region after waging jihad and defeating the tyrannical king Gour Govinda in the 8th century AH.

“Sounds like an amazing story”, I thought. “The inspiration from this story is exactly what the Ummah, especially those from the subcontinent, need today with all that is happening in Palestine and Gaza. Someone should write a book or produce a TV series about it”. To my surprise it turns out that such a thing does not exist and so there I was on the prayer mat making du’a that Allah puts barakah into this endeavour and allows it to be a success and a means of me honouring the person that brought Islam to my ancestors. I intend for this to just be the beginning of my legacy and contribution to the Ummah. I hope that someone will watch this series, and the many other series’ that I intend to produce thereafter, and be inspired to follow in the footsteps of the great scholars, mujahids and revivers of Islamic history.