A Muslim's Take on 'Traitor'

As a devout and convinced Muslim, who hates Islamic extremism for the twisted and sick ideology it is, I thought “Traitor” would be one movie I’d enjoy watching. Let me explain why.

Firstly, real people act in it, which is, as I explained in my post on “Kung Fu Panda,” a definite pro for me. Secondly, “Traitor” deals with an incredibly hotly debated subject; the war on terrorism. Thirdly, the main character is a Muslim American who helps fight extremist Muslims; it is a subject seldom explored in books or movies. It is a grand, novel and innovative idea, especially from my perspective.

And it was. The actors perform sublime. They draw you into the movie immediately and convince you that they are the characters rather than pretending to be them. The special effects are great and the movie was exciting; it keeps you off-balance. It is not until the very last moment that you understand the plan and the way in which it was executed.

But there is more to the movie than the superficial aspects described above. What made this movie so interesting – and from my perspective resulting in a mixed review nonetheless – are its major themes.

*Some Spoilers Coming*

Let’s start with the good stuff: The main character, Samir Horn (Don Cheadle), is depicted as a Muslim who worked for the FBI but fired after his colleagues complained about his devotion to his religion. He is “the reluctant fundamentalist” but more violent. Although that theme can hardly be called innovative, everything changes after those first 30 minutes. At that moment it becomes clear that the firing was a cover-up. Instead of being fired he became an undercover agent who had to infiltrate terrorist networks and prevent them from executing their plans.

The above was quite surprising because his project is depicted as just and as the act of a religious Muslim who, we find out later, considers extremists his secular and religious enemy, an opinion many Muslims, including myself, share. It has, however, seldom been made clear in movies or books.

That his fight is portrayed as ‘just’ is also surprising because Hollywood often produces rubbish about the war on terrorism portraying the good guys as the bad guys and vice versa. “Traitor” shows reality as it is and how it should be: a devout Muslim opposing extremism and even fighting it, and Americans as those who are protecting freedom against the enemy who wants to destroy all we hold dear.

There are certainly some minor points of criticism with regards to the first part of the film: for instance, at the very start of the movie, one sees the father of Samir teaching his son how to perform the ritual prayer. Ironically enough, the ‘devout Muslim’ performs the ritual prayer incorrectly. Instead of saying “as salaamu aleikum wa rahmatulaa” twice at the end he says “Allahu Akbar.” This is a frustrating mistake to make for a Muslim because both sentences have entirely different meanings. “Allah Akbar” means “God is Great” while “as salaamu aleikum wa rahmatulaa” means “may the peace and blessings of God be with you.” If the main character of a film is a devout Muslim, at least teach the actor how to perform our ritual prayer correctly.

The American government too is generally shown in a favorable light. An example: Samir’s superior cares deeply about him and does everything in his power to protect the undercover agent. Additionally, one of the two FBI agents, impressively enough the one who also happens to be a devout Christian , tries to understand terrorists and is open to a different interpretation than the most obvious one with regards to Samir’s actions. Agent Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) is passionate about fighting terrorism, but he does not use “all means necessary.”

Clayton’s partner is an entirely different agent, the embodiment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney’s approach to the war on terror Hollywood-style. This man is not open to reasonable arguments, all he wants to do is to capture or kill terrorists. If torture has to be applied, so be it. If innocent civilians have to die, who cares as long as they are Muslim?

Luckily, the partner plays only a minor role in the film, so the viewer is not really bothered by him.

As said, there is certainly room for criticism of “Traitor” but its main themes are refreshing, inspiring and of fundamental importance: the war on terrorism is a war between good and bad, between freedom and oppression.

Especially the message that you can be a devout Muslim yet a good American nonetheless, is inspiring. It has not been said often enough in the last couple of years that one can be both at the same time. Many pretend that in order to be a good American a Muslim has to ignore a large part of his religion. “Traitor” shows that this is not the case; you can be a devout Muslim, yet a supporter of America, of freedom, and of democracy nonetheless.

Unfortunately, the above changes radically in the last few minutes when Liberal Hollywood could not resist to once again portray the good side in the war on terrorism as the bad side.

Where Samir Horn is portrayed as a religious and devout Muslim fighting the good fight in the first 90 minutes of the movie, he ends up with absolutely nothing in the end. He tortures himself by reciting a famous verse in the Qur’an in which God says about those kill one innocent: “It would be as if he killed the whole of mankind” (5:32). Samir makes clear to agent Clayton that it may finally have been clear to all involved that he was acting in America’s interest, but he has lost his confidence in himself and in his moral authority. In short, the devout Muslim fighting extremists ends up a broken man.

If there’s one thing we (liberal Muslims) do not need right now, it is for others to tell us that our fight is not worth fighting. We need encouragement , not discouragement. We are fighting the good fight and standing up for what we believe in. We are doing everything in our power to prevent the hatred disguising itself as religion from taking over our communities, our mosques, our families, our cities and our countries. We know, and we need to know, that it is the extremists who are the villains and that is us who are the good guys.

Samir is a hero in every sense of the word; he is a secular American hero and a true Muslim hero; we need more of those. The film should have had a happy end for that would have sent a positive and inspiring message, instead of giving everyone the impression that the war on terrorism is not truly worth fighting.

Worse, according to “Traitor” we are no better than Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and other extremists if we decide to take them on. If someone would say this to your face, you would laugh at him. But for some reason, Hollywood considers it perfectly OK to put this idiotic message in one of its top productions. It defies reason.

Samir made mistakes in the movie, but this does not make him a bad guy. Even good guys make mistakes in the real world. We should learn from those mistakes but they should not cause us to lose our confidence in ourselves and our goals. The mistakes made by proponents in the war on terrorism – say Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib – were grave, but what differs us from the real bad guys is that these acts are mistakes for us while they are normal for the enemy. The enemy does not beat itself up after seeing evidence of a prisoner being tortured; it happily publishes videos of the (innocent) person being tortured and eventually murdered on the Net. The enemy is proud of it. We are not – and that’s what makes us different.

Perhaps some big shot in Hollywood will read this pos, and do something with it. I know it’s easy for these people to dismiss everything conservatives say, but I’m also a Muslim which should make it harder to ignore me considering liberals’ adoration for minorities. If Hollywood wants to make a positive difference in this world, it should use “Traitor’s” themes for a good cause: to encourage rather than discourage, and to build rather than destroy.