Perspectives on a supernatural drama - 4

Starting with the name of The Merciful, this series of articles explores ‘Coma’, a supernatural drama broadcast on ifilm; the review will include evil as a theme in the drama. Here’s excerpts from interviews with the theology adviser to the screenplay development.

Note: the article series will explore the topic of Satanology from the outset, as the main theme of the series broadcast on ifilm; however, after talking about a major obstacle on the path to God, the path itself, as well as themes such as love for God, The Merciful, will come to the fore in the article series. So, pictures used all the way through will be predominantly of a positive theme; hence suggestive of the ultimate goal of the humankind, i.e. reaching God.

Devil, Islam’s version

Question: there’s the question of where the Islamic version of Satan comes from, and is depicted in the series ‘Coma’; it’s whether this has made a pop-culture version of the creature, and that the folks out there have developed a folkloric understanding of the Devil, one that is good-looking, horrible, or at times, possessing supernatural powers. What is the true picture the series has tried to illustrate?

The screenwriter: it’s the same image detailed and scrutinized in Islam, both the Quran and the sayings of the infallibles of the prophet’s household (Peace Be Upon Them all). There are times you want to portray a Devil, who has got claws, a tail, and so on and so forth; that’s not what we had in mind, and its manifestation isn’t like that. What we wanted to show was what it would be like if the Devil could depict a human figure.

Question: don’t you think the spread of such a version of Devil would cause distrust and pessimism among people? For example, I could consider the person next to me, to be the Devil.

Read the answer to that question, in the upcoming episodes.

Stay with ifilm on the supernatural side of ‘Coma’.

MF/MF