Individual Assignment: Film Critique—Verses of Love

Do a research based on the given theme and identify interesting subject matter or phenomenon that are related to the theme.

VERSES OF LOVE/AYAT - AYAT CINTA (2008)

The official poster of the movie.

INTRODUCTION

Fahri is the kind of husband you wished you could have. He’s a student in Al-Azhar University, handsome, kind-hearted, a gentleman, respects women, and most importantly, he never misses his prayers. Oh, bonus, he never dated any women in his life. That’s what makes him extraordinary though. Or maybe not... (we’ll know later).

In Egypt, he lived together with his Indonesian colleagues. Living above his flat is Maria Girgis, a friendly Coptic Christian neighbour who always offers help in his studies. Little did he know, she was admiring him in silence. Oh, trust me, Maria wasn’t the only one.

Ayat-ayat Cinta or Verses of Love (2008) is an adaptation from the best-selling novel of Habiburrahman El Shirazy with the same title. This film was directed by Hanung Bramantyo, a popular director with many award winning films such as Habibie & Ainun 3 (2019), Kartini (2017), Surga Yang Tak Dirindukan 1 (2015), Surga Yang Tak Dirindukan 2 (2017), Perempuan Berkalung Sorban (2009), and more. Though the main genre of this film is a fusion of drama and romance, I can say it is more than that. I believe this story is more than just a normal drama or cliché love story like others. This film has caught my eyes because I have learned deeper about my faith through the film with its unique way of portraying love in many forms— love for the Creator, love for our faith as well as love towards humans.

ANALYSIS

As mentioned earlier, Fahri is living in Egypt as a Master’s Degree student in the well-known Al-Azhar University. His character is portrayed as a pious young man, he is seen to never skip the daily prayers for Muslims and he goes for tallaqi with his teacher, Syeikh Ustman. Not only that, Fahri also is respectable among his Indonesian colleagues in Al-Azhar as well as his housemates and this can be seen in the scene where he would always be greeted with smiles by them. Though with all the popularity, he always kept it down to earth and that is one of the factors that contributed to him having admirers around him. However, being naive, he never actually noticed them. As a perseverance and discipline man, he always ensures he is on the right track which is to finish his thesis so he did not bother to think about marriage until his mother asked about it through a phone call. Fahri hesitates. He even seeks advice from his friend, Saiful on this matter. Fahri believed in the concept of  jodoh. He once talked about it with his neighbor, Maria about this too. Surprisingly, Maria also had the same view. A quote that I remember she said from the film which left me in awe was—

“Aku rasa Sungai Nil dan Mesir itu jodoh. Kalau gak ada Sungai Nik, pasti gak ada Mesir. Gak ada peradaban. Yang ada, hanya gurun pasir.”

In translation, Maria believed that the Nile river and Egypt was meant to be. Without the Nile river, there wouldn’t be Egypt, and civilization won’t happen. There will only be the desert. Maria was seen as a unique human being through Fahri’s eyes. He adored her intellectual view and some other unique personality of her which will later be revealed in another paragraph.

Throughout the film, I was astonished with both characters of Aisha and Maria, the main and second-lead heroine. Their portrayal as a strong woman in daily lives and revolving in a conflict that tied them two together and the method to resolve it were really amazing. Fahri first met Aisha Greimas, a beautiful young lady who inherits a Germany-Turkish bloodline in a metro unknowingly that this beautiful lady would be the one changing his destiny. The character of Aisha was portrayed as someone who is beautiful but also educated. Just like how the saying goes, beauty is with the brain. Aisha was also portrayed as a very noble Muslim lady and a great wife to Fahri. In the film, Aisha had fallen for Fahri from his way of showing the beauty of Islam to the Americans tourists inside the metro. She overheard him going for talaqqi with his uncle’s teacher, Syeikh Ustman. Aisha then seeks help from her uncle to arrange a meeting with Fahri and to propose to him as well. Thus, Fahri asked for a taaruf session or also can be put as getting to know each other for the first time in a proper way with family or closed ones only. This is because he was strict to the compliance of no dating between a man and a woman before marriage but believed there is only taaruf. After the taaruf, Fahri was confident that Aisha was the one meant for him from Allah. He agreed for the marriage. From here, the image of Fahri as an obedient Allah’s servant and religious person was truly shown. He had faith with Allah and with his choice of getting married to Aisha after their first official meeting. He believed in the concept of jodoh. If I can compare it with the real life situation or our real daily lives, most men would definitely agree to dates first then only proceed their relationship to marriage. However, I still believe there is a small percentage of men that have the same thinking like Fahri. 

Moving on to Maria, I have introduced a little of her background earlier. In the novel, she lived with her father and brother but in the film she lived with her mother. Maria was attracted to Fahri and this was proved as seen in the film, she wrote it in her diary. She never confessed her feelings to Fahri. I personally was attracted to Maria’s character more than Aisha because she was born as Christian Coptic but she adores Islam. It was proven both in the novel and the movie that she memorised Surah Maryam and she read it well too. I really was a little taken aback by her character because I, as a Muslim myself is not that good in memorising and understanding my own holy Quran. She also showed the good side of her as an obedient and religious person by willing to help Noura who was abused after Fahri convinced her. The character of Maria in the novel and also the film was portrayed to be wearing loose clothes to protect her dignity as a woman, making her different from other Christian women in Egypt that wore tight and exposed clothes. The fact that Maria seems to be looking like a perfect and angelic character in the story—that may make a better choice than Aisha for Fahri, her character was inserted with a shortcoming which is that she was diagnosed with being depressed. In the film, she first had blood dripping from her nose when she was writing in her diary after she found out about Fahri’s marriage. From a bright to a gloomy character, Maria has become weak day by day and that stayed until the day she was married to Fahri. Throughout the whole scenes of Maria’s sorrowness, I really want to praise the director and the production crews for successfully bringing those scenes to “live”. It definitely left so many impacts on myself. I was also able to feel what Maria felt at that moment. It sometimes felt like I was in her place, so much emotions were poured out for those heartbreaking scenes. Several scenes that were my personal favourites was the one when Maria held and brought the cross symbol close to her chest as she cried out loud while her mother watched with sympathy from outside of the room. Another one was when Maria’s mother prayed inside a room with a background of a mosque’ tomb outside of the window and I truly think the shot was magnificent. For me, those scenes have given me a message where there is nobody you can rely on and turned to except for Him. Maria, as a Christian Coptic, she relied on Him too when she was devastated. The same goes to her mother when she was sad seeing her daughter to be in that weak state and nothing else she could do other than praying and hoping that God will guide them to the path of happiness. From here, Maria’s character can be concluded as an obedient servant of God in her faith.

Fast forward into the movie, the conflict started when I was still admiring the wedding ceremony of Fahri and Aisha. Fahri was accused of raping an Egyptian girl, Noura, the girl whom he rescued with the help from Maria after Noura was beaten and abused by her step-father, Bahadur, which later was revealed that she was switch since birth. There goes all the happy days and dreams for both newly-wed. Aisha, who had already lost half of her trust to Fahri, is now tested with a bigger problem. Nevertheless, being an obedient wife, as she still loves her husband and believed in him, she tried her best to find proof and witnesses to release her husband from jail. Then, her trust was tested again as she found the truth behind the girl named Maria Girgis. Throughout the process of releasing Fahri from the accusations, I truly salute Aisha because of her character as a very strong woman was shown especially during the time she begged Fahri to marry Maria to let her stay alive although he doesn’t want to do it. To add on, Aisha was also pregnant at that moment. Wow! I don’t think I could do that. The thoughts of allowing my husband to marry another woman has never crossed my mind. However, Aisha was extraordinary. In fact, I think her character as a good Muslim and showing the beauty of Islam through her actions are very much respected and it is definitely something to be bragged. Why do I say this? It is because from the first appearance of Aisha we can see that she displayed many good examples and following from Islam such as treating everyone with kindness despite races and religions. This happened in the metro, she gave her seat to the American tourist while other Egyptians were being hard-headed and treated the Americans like an enemy. As for her character as a wife to Fahri, she showered him with love, she still had faith with him although their relationship was on the edge of a cracked glass. She allowed and she was the one who begged Fahri to marry Maria to save him and she invited Maria to live together with them after during her recovery term. From my visual, Aisha sacrificed her feelings as she believed there would be a rainbow after the storm. She struggled with her feelings but she kept it to herself. She was happy to see Maria and Fahri happy. Both Maria and Aisha and their husband can be seen tangled in an uncomfortable situation after they moved in together. This led both Aisha and Maria to (again) sacrifice their feelings for the love of their Creator. 

The awkwardness and uncomfortable situation trapped around the characters were a sign for a climax in the plot. It had me wondered if Fahri will later have to only pick only one between both of his wives. My question was answered in the resolution. Considering Maria’s character was already sick, I guess the director had to make it fair and equal for the viewers by ending her character eventually. Fair and equal written here is meant that I believed that there were some women out there who didn’t agree with what Aisha did, which is allowing her husband to marry another woman or do polygamy. This kind of woman like Aisha probably exists in a parallel world or only a small percentage of them. The flow towards the ending was the most important part and I can say that Hanung Bramantyo did a great job. Fahri and Aisha finally achieved their dream life—living as a happy couple together striving for a better life as a Muslim as well.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, Verses of Love has left me with many unforgettable scenes and made me want to improved my life as a better Muslim. This story definitely succeed in capturing my heart by making me looking through Islam with new perspectives and best believe, I don’t think I was the only one. Though the movie was only like 20% from the novel, it still managed to portray the beauty of the whole theme of religion as well as love. This movie is totally recommended for those trying to search for the meaning of true love and the best way to compliment the search can be done by understanding the novel too.

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