Week 10: Politics of Indonesian Popular Culture

Ayat-ayat cinta (The verses of Love) is an Indonesian romantic film with a strong Islamic message. It was adapted from a popular novel with the same title by Habiburrahman El-Shirazy. It tells the story of Fahri, a young handsome Indonesian student who attends Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. As a very religious person, he does not believe in the concept of relationship or dating before marriage. In Egypt, he attracted four beautiful women. He chose Aisha, a German-Turkish student whom he met while they were on a bus as his wife. His marriage left 3 other women heart broken. One of the women, Noura, accused Fahri of raping her. The story then took an interesting twist as Fahri had to prove his innocence.


What is interesting about this movie is that it delivered the Islamic teachings successfully. The relationship between Fahri and Aisha was portrayed as simple and pure and was within the Islamic boundaries. Both of them never went on a date even when they fell for each other. Fahri immediately met her family after he fell for her and proposed. 


In Indonesia where they are still striving to achieve the right amount of modernisation without going against the Islamic teachings, this movie definitely found the right balance.