TEHRAN -- Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini has invited the producers of sacrilegious TV series “Al Hassan and Al Hussein” to make joint productions promoting unity in the Islamic world.

Directed by Syrian filmmaker Abd al-Bari Abu al-Khair, “Al Hassan and Al Hussein” shows Imam Hassan (AS) and Imam Hussein (AS) as having good relations with Muawiyah, the founder of the Umayyad dynasty of caliphs. 

In a meeting with ambassadors of Islamic countries here on Saturday evening, Hosseini said that the TV series aims to provoke dissension within the Muslim nation, the Persian service of Fars reported on Sunday.

Three top Iranian clerics have declared that watching this TV program is “haraam” (forbidden and sinful). In announcements published on Friday by Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, Ayatollah Hossein Nuri Hamedani and Ayatollah Ali Safi Golpayegani, they have asked their followers to avoid watching the serial.

The series is currently being broadcast on many Arab TV networks every night during the holy month of Ramadan.

In a short speech before iftar, (the evening meal for breaking the fast during Ramadan) Hosseini spoke to the guests, saying, “The Sunni Ulema as well as Al-Azhar have deemed the series sacrilegious and asked Egypt’s ruling military council to intervene to prevent the broadcast of the TV series on the country’s TV networks.

“Not only can we express our disapproval, but also we can invite them to make joint productions which encourage peace and not dissension,” he added.

“Ramadan is one of the means for solidarity among Muslims. Muslims need to avoid dissension by means of the Quran and we should remember that the Zionist Regime and the United States are the common enemies of all Muslims,” he added.

He also said that the International Holy Quran Exhibition underway at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla belongs to all Muslim countries.

Palestine’s Ambassador to Tehran Salah Zawawi, also present at the ceremony, said that the major factor for Muslims’ solidarity is the Holy Quran and that Muslims must play a more active role in the world to strengthen their unity.