THE PATH OF JIHAD IN THE YACOUBIAN BUILDING

Abstract

The field of religion and film is growing steadily. Films are the most popular cultural productions in today’s global world. In some cases, the 7th art is used to further the cause of religiopolitical ideologies. This article analyses the theme of Jihad in the film Yacoubian Building (2006): the most important Egyptian production to date. The film is based on the best-selling novel of Alaa Al-Aswany originally published in Arabic (2002). The film presents the Yacoubian building (located downtown Cairo) as a moral microcosm of Egyptian society. In substance, the film is a harsh criticism of Egyptian society during Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The film describes the life of several tenants of the building among which is Taha El-Shazli. The character personifies how an average Egyptian becomes an Islamic fundamentalist and how he later became a martyr in the spirit of Jihad. Seen from this angle, the film serves the cause of Egyptian Islamic fundamentalist movements; it is a call to raise the people against President Hosni Moubarak’s regime in order to establish an Islamic state based on Sharia.

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