In a statement on Sunday, the IHRC slammed the screening of the movie, urging the Muslim community to unite to confront such malicious measures.

“With its derogatory portrayal of eminent Muslim personages in early Islamic history including the Prophet Muhammad’s wives, the film represents a blatant provocation and brazen attempt to sow discord and division in the House of Islam,” reads the statement.

“The film’s writer, Yasir al-Habib, is a well-known hatemonger who was imprisoned in Kuwait for pushing hate-filled sectarian narratives. His views and activities have been condemned by Sunnis and Shias alike who have also questioned the sources of his funding and support,” added the rights group.

“IHRC condemns the motives of Cineworld Group in giving a notorious hate preacher a platform to sow discord. Given the strength of feeling against it in Muslim communities, the criminal background of the writer and the pernicious intent of the film, the company should never have agreed to screen it,” noted the statement, adding, “In addition to boycotting the film Muslims should seize this opportunity to come together and put up a united front to demonstrate our unity in the face of this effort to foment division.”

What is ‘Lady of Heaven’ about?

The film, directed by Eli King, is said to be the first film that tells the life story of Hazrat Zahra.

Many renowned Shia scholars have condemned the movie for its poor background research and inflammatory content.

A few years ago when reports emerged about the production of the film, several Iranian sources of emulation, including Ayatollahs Lotfollah Safi Golpayegani, Nasser Makarem Shirazi, and Hossein Ali Nouri Hamaedani, blacklisted it and called on Muslims to desist from watching or promoting it.

“… all Muslims must know that the messages intended to be conveyed by this film are neither the messages of Islam nor those of the Shia school of thought,” Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi said then.

Yassir al-Habib is a controversial Shia scholar who currently resides in the UK. He is the head of the Khoddam Al-Mahdi Organization in London, an organization that stormed the Iranian Embassy in the UK a couple of years ago. Before seeking refuge in the UK, Al-Habib was arrested in the early 2000s in Kuwait for inciting Sunni-Shia division. After being pardoned by the Emir of Kuwait in 2004 Al-Habib fled Kuwait, eventually landing in the UK. In 2010 Kuwait revoked his citizenship after he publicly insulted the wife of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Yassir Al-Habib’s statements over the years have been used to cause disunity between Muslims and hatred of Shia Muslims.

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