Arabic movie debuts in Nigeria
As saturated as the movie industry in Nigeria is, no movie had been shot in Arabic language and sub-titled in English or any Nigerian language. However, that has become part of history, as a youthful Arabic scholar, Sheikh Ibrahim Ebunoluwapo (Al-Hareery), has taken up the challenge by pioneering Arabic Movie Production in Nigeria. Sheikh Ibrahim Ebunoluwapo, popularly called Al-Hareery by friends and close associates hails from Dalemo in Kwara State of Nigeria. He had his Arabic education at Darul-Irshad Wal-Is’ad, an Arabic College located at Orile area of Lagos State where he finished up in 2013. Since then, Al-Hareery has been a lecturer in the same college. Married with a child, he is also an Islamic preacher. The Kwara State-born producer spoke with The Nigerian Xpress in Lagos:
Razaq Bamidele
What motivated you into delving into Arabic movies production in a country where English language is like a lingua franca?
Thank you for that beautiful question. However, I can actually say I was motivated by two things: I used to read a lot of Arabic stories and I pictured how more interesting it would be, having such characters in a movie and in a Nigerian setting but in Arabic language. Second reason, we used to pay to watch old Indian and American movies at cinemas while I was very young. I had the dream of having a cinema where movies are being acted and shown to people in Arabic and subtitled in English or even in Yoruba language for viewers to enjoy. Moreover, as an Arabic Scholar, I realised, rather sadly, that most graduates of Arabic language in Nigeria have little opportunities to work with their discipline and course of studies. This forces them to consider some other indecent means as sources of livelihood. We have, therefore, put Al-Hareery Arabic Movie (AAM) in place for them to showcase their talents to the world and build their careers in a beautiful new dimension. So, I founded the Al-Hareery Arabic Movie Production Industry in the year 2016. It was formally named ‘TISLAM’.
Can you let us know the initial challenges you faced at the beginning?
Expectedly, the natural challenge is about the language of the movie, which is Arabic. Naturally, in the sense that majority of Nigerians misunderstand Arabic as either foreign or as language of Islam whereas Arabic is not a foreign language in Nigeria. Rather, it is an indigenous dialect in Nigeria. It is an open fact that a tribe in Nigeria speaks it as its dialect. The tribe is called Shuwa in the northern part of Nigeria. Besides, Arabic is an international language used in international fora like in the African Union (AU), United nations (UN) as well as in at the sporting events like the World Cup, African Cup of Nations and the likes. In fact, Arabic language ranks among the top four languages in the world like French, English and German.
Truly, it is a language with which the Qur’an, the Muslim’s scripture is written; it is on record that there are other non-Muslim native speakers of the language across the globe.
Other challenges include sponsorship because of our newness in the market. We know it would take time for sponsors and advertisers to patronise us. However, to God be the glory, we are moving forward. Every route has its own challenges. We are also faced with the challenge of getting to imbibe and familiarise people with an Arabic speaking movies being the first of its kind in Nigeria. But with God, we are assured that these are going to be stepping stones for us to greater heights.
For now, we are looking forward to having some sponsors. We only have few people who have been supportive in major ways for us. One of them is our Hon. Alhaji Abdul-Hakeem Atilade, one of our frontline fans based in the United Kingdom (UK). May God be with him and every other person that extends any form of assistance to us. We still need more sponsors.
Are there samples of your work in the market?
Sure; we have a couple of them already in circulation. We have produced Al-Yatim (the Orphan), January 2017, Al-Maalu (Money), that featured the frontline Islamic singer, Alhaji Qamarudeen Odunlami Ayeloyun, The Hero (full life story of my rector, Sheikh Saheed Olawumi), Al-Qodohu (Destiny). We are also awaiting the production of Sodeeqoti (My friend), a movie, comprising only ladies and also, Al-Amir (The life story of Sheikh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory), the late founder of the famous Markaz Arabic Centre, Agege, Lagos.
Are you sure the movie style would suit non-Muslim viewers?
Yes. The movies are designed to suit all segments of the society except the ones dedicated to the lifetime of heroes. Besides that, all our movies suit all kinds of viewers irrespective of their religions or tribes. In fact, one of our movies, Al-Maal (Money), talked about people that wanted to perform money rituals but at the end could not acquire the money. They even ran mad. All viewers can watch our movies, enjoy and learn from them.
Can your efforts go beyond the shore of Nigeria?
Yes, I believe so because with consistence and prayer, I don’t think anything is impossible; in addition, remember some African countries speak Arabic as a lingua franca. Countries like Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, Morocco, Libya and Somalia are very comfortable and familiar with the language. Our movies can appeal to them if we can get them down to them. Interestingly, we are in the digital world where we can go viral at the snap of the fingers.
Can non-Muslims be employed as part of your crew?
Why not as far as they can speak Arabic and abide by our policy? And remember in the production processes, there are some technical aspects that require experts to handle whether they speak Arabic or not. As a production team, we are one.
What other benefits are you deriving from the industry?
As I told you earlier, I am an Islamic preacher. And it is a well-known fact that well-guided movies can be used to teach morals to cleanse up the decadent society. And that is part of what our movies are handling.
Again, we expend small proceeds from our efforts on the empowerment of some indigent members of the society through another scheme: Learn Arabic Online Foundation (LAO Foundation). We started it in 2019. We have organised two empowerment outings in January 2019 and December 2020 where close to a million naira was spent on about 200 beneficiaries. The programme, for now, is not about sharing money or distributing equipment. It is about training on trades like bag making, graphic designs, event planning, shoemaking, soap making and make-up artistry. We provide materials for the training and after the training. Occasionally, we purchase JAMB forms for prospective university candidates. We do all these to give back to the society what it had given to us earlier. And we aim at keeping a lot of the youths off the street by getting them gainfully engaged and reduce the crime tendencies in them.
