The Kha Debacle (taken from Zero Dark Thirty)

Dear American actors playing Muslims or pretending to speak Arabic on screen,

There is no خ in the basmalah, and in general please note that ح is not pronounced with a khaaaaa sound.

So there's no-one called Akhmad or Mokhammed.

We don't include the phrase rakhmatullah when we give salam.

And if it's not too much to ask could you learn a little bit about salah (any madhab will do) before you attempt to pray on screen? Please see Homeland or Lost for more details on how not to pray.

Yours sincerely,

Muslim cringing at the screen

[StygianShade]

The character is based on Michael D'Andrea, who was outed by The New York Times because he is now leading the CIA group investigating regime change against Khamenei in Iran.

[ASO-xhvu]

It seems like orientalism cannot leave hollywood alone. What kind of Arabic was that for facts and professionalism' s sake?

[apriswajaya]

Nice, been looking all over for this clip. Regardless of the error of the scene, I was amazed when I saw this the first time on the movie screen

[kimisdaman]

Apparently, "everyone" knows the Pakistani city's name is "Pa-shower" rather than "Pesha-war", but that didn't ruin the movie for me, either.Believe it, or not, I also have had to endure English-language movies set in "Or-uh-gone" and "Nuh-VAH-duh", too.It's never-ending.

[yeti]

I wish muslims took the time to do as much for everyone else

[FanoftheDucks]

Currently learning Islam in my Religion class for college, it's been so interesting. I find it also disgraceful how people are so quick to judge Muslims on their beliefs.

[michaelphillips]

He looked better with a beard, should've kept it!🙄

[thebestmode]

Is there any relation between Allah and Challah?

[sergiovasquezjr]

And they call it a movie for a reason.
If not having the pronunciation is a problem maybe you shouldn't be watching American movies.

[Clarkecars]

The station chief praying to Allah is John Brennan.

[nintendo]

These aren't even American actors. One actor is Australian and the other is British...

[Rahim]

This scene would have been better if they hired an Arabic speaker to tell the actor how to pronounciate the words. I'm not an Arabic speaker, but I am a Muslim. And ANY Muslim watching this scene will cringe at how horrible the pronounciation is. Keep in mind, since this is prayer, this is VERY common Arabic phrases and things that any and ALL Muslims (practicing or not, native Arabic speakers or not) will know. It seems to me as if they printed off the transliteration from the internet, handed the piece of paper to the actor, and had him memorize it for the scene. I'm almost certain that's what they did. Why not do some research? Why not hire a native speaker to make sure your actor days the words properly? I'm not nitpicking. It is HORRIBLY bad, and it STANDS OUT to any and all Muslims that will ever watch this scene. I think this is an area where the film director or crew got lazy, or was being cheap, or they just outright failed for one reason or another. Hopefully they've learned their lesson. Wow, what a cringeworthy clip!

[ASO-xhvu]

It seems like orientalism cannot leave hollywood alone. What kind of Arabic was that for facts and professionalism' s sake?