Before the Light Movie {Product Review}

If you’ve ever heard of the movie Muhammad: The Last Prophet, then you are familiar with the quality cartoon movies that Fine Media  Group puts together. When I bought Before The Light, it was one of the newest releases from Fine Media Group, and I was excited to give it to Aamina for Eid!

Before the Light is described on Amazon:

From Badr International comes the long-awaited series, Animated Stories of Islam, relating some of the great stories that took place before, during and after the Prophet Muhammad. Before the Light, the first film in the 3-part series, relates significant events that took place before the birth of Prophet Muhammad. It is a story of miracles – the miraculous discovery of the well of zamzam, and then, centuries later, the miracle of its rediscovery by the Prophet’s grandfather Abdulmuttaleb; the miracle of his father Abdullah’s life; and finally, the miracle during the Year of the Elephant, the year the Prophet was born. There miraculous stories – all works of God – prepared the way for the message of Islam to shine bright during Muhammad’s Prophethood, and for centuries to come.

Prophetic History

One thing I really enjoy about this movie is that it brings to life stories that you don’t find in typical Islamic children’s books. We have numerous stories of prophets and companions of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), but the story of Zam Zam from origination to today is typically glossed over, if not skipped entirely. Some history and a little variety in children’s media is a good thing, in sha Allah.

Before the Light is made for an audience a bit older that Aamina, but even at two years old, she enjoys watching the movie and chooses it herself when asking for a “foofie”. There is a little bit of background music, but no full-fledged songs for those who choose not to listen to music.

Depiction of the Prophet (sws)

Fine Media Group does a great job of not depicting any prophet, and never having a prophet talk in the first person while making the cinematics smooth. If you weren’t watching for it, you may not even notice how a prophet never speaks or is pictured!

The only downside I can think of (if it is one) is Before the Light will have a hard time competing against more commercialized movies in terms of climax in the story and and engaging material. When put against something like Wall-E, most kids will choose the movie with music and a climatic story. There are areas in the movie that would be considered climatic, but there is not much time given to the story leading up to it, so the effect is minimal. Still, I don’t think all movies need to be an emotional roller coaster, so it may not be a concern.

Overall, I highly recommend it for any Muslim family’s movie library. I look forward to purchasing more of their movies and have my eye on Women of Islam for Aamina this coming Eid, in sha Allah!