THE REPRESENTATION OF MUSLIM IN THE PHYSICIAN FILM

A Thesis Submitted to Letters and Humanities Faculty In Partial to Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Strata 1 Degree

MARTIYA NURNI KHAIRITA 1113026000040

ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT

LETTERS AND HUMANITIES FACULTY

STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH

JAKARTA 2017

ABSTRACT Martiya Nurni Khairita, The Representation of Muslim in the Physician Film. A Thesis: English Language and Literature, Faculty of Adab Humanities, State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, 2017.

The Physician (2013) a film directed by Philip Stölzl is a unit analysis of this research. The aim of the research to find out the representation of Muslim in the film. The writer uses the qualitative method and descriptive analysis technique to analyze representation of Muslim. Moreover, the writer uses the theory of representation of Stuart Hall and the concept of ideology by John Storey to reveal the ideology of the film. In the analysis, the writer found that Muslim is represented very advanced, even more advanced compare to England people. The progress of the Muslim is in field of science, especially medical science. In addition, this film illustrates liberal Muslim and fanatic Muslim which contradict between each other. In the end, the writer finds this film wants to tell the audience that even are most advanced in science, they only relearn the Greek wisdom.

Keywords: Representation, Muslim, Liberal, Fanatic

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DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material which to substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any degree or diploma of the University or other institute of higher learning, except where due acknowledgement has been made in the text.

Jakarta, 2017

Martiya Nurni Khairita

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

In the name of Allah the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful

First of all, the writer wants to express her gratitude to the only Creator, Allah

SWT who has given infinite blessings so she can finish this paper. May salutation and benediction be unto the Prophet Muhammad SAW, peace be upon Him, His family,

His relatives and His followers

This thesis is dedicated to the writer parent, her father Risman and her mother

Warnita for their immeasurable affection and the trust so that writer can finish this study. This paper might not be completed without their encouragement, support, advice and the most important is their prayer for the writer. May Allah SWT always protect and guide them in this world and hereafter.

Furthermore, the writer would like to thank her generous supervisor, Mrs. Elve

Oktafiyani, M. Hum., Who has been willing to guide the writer with great patience.

Also for all her advice and encouragement also her time so that the writer can finish this paper. May Allah SWT always give grace to her and family.

Moreover, the author would like to thank to:

1. Prof. Dr. Syukron Kamil, M.Hum., the Dean of Adab and Humanities faculty.

2. Drs. Saefudin, M.Pd., the Head of English Letters Department

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3. Elve Oktafiyani, M.Hum., the Secretary of English Department.

4. All the lecturers of English Letters Department, who have given the writer

knowledge during her study in this department.

5. The writer’s sibling Martiyas Khairi Hadi, Nurul Assiya Khairita, Dian Fitra

Sari Khairita and Layli Jumarita Khairani for their support and jollied the writer

when she felt hopeless during this study.

6. Her best roommates, Ira and Nelfi, thank you for almost four years of joy,

sadness, and amazing experience.

7. Her best classmates Atika and Intan, who always there and thank you for the

guide and support.

8. All of her friends in English Letters Department 2013, especially Eva, Sari and

Adam, thank you for the advice and help so that the writer finished this paper.

9. All the people and friends who helped the writer in completing her study that

cannot be mentioned one by one. May Allah always bless us.

Jakarta, 20 September 2017

The Writer

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TABLE OF CONTENT

ABSTRACT ...... i

APPROVAL SHEET ...... ii

DECLARATION...... iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ...... iv

TABLE OF CONTENT ...... vi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ...... 1

A. Background of the Study ...... 1

B. Focus of the Study ...... 4

C. Research Question ...... 4

D. The Objective of the Research ...... 5

E. Significant of the Study ...... 5

F. Research Methodology ...... 5

1. Research Method ...... 6

2. Technique of the Data Analysis ...... 6

3. Research Instrument ...... 6

4. Unit of the Analysis ...... 6

5. Time and Place of the Study ...... 6

CHAPTER II THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK ...... 7

A. Previous Research ...... 7

B. Theory of Representation ...... 9

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C. Ideology ...... 12

D. Islam and ...... 15

CHAPTER III RESEARCH FINDINGS ...... 18

A. Representation of Muslin through Character ...... 24

B. Representation of Muslim trough Setting of

Place ...... 31

C. Ideology ...... 35

CHAPTER IV CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ...... 36

A. Conclusion ...... 36

B. Suggestion...... 37

WORKS CITED ...... 38

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

According to Cambridge dictionary, the word of Muslim has a meaning “a person who follows the religion of Islam”. Islam is a religion that emerged in the 7th century

BC, which was brought by the Messenger of Allah, the Prophet Muhammad. Since its emergence to the present, Muslims have been through a lot of progress as well as setbacks.

The phenomenal progress recorded in the history books is in the 9th century when the Muslim civilization at that time turned into the center of education. John L Esposito stated in the book The Islamic World: Past and Present “By the 800s, Arabic had displaced local languages throughout most of the empire. Muslim scholars translated classic works of science, literature, and philosophy into Arabic. With going through its so-called Dark Ages, a period of little classical scholarship, Muslim cities became the important center of learning. Many notes medieval Christian philosophers and theologians later studied Muslim works” (2).

Along with the progress of the education and civilization, there are also some factions which appeared in the Muslim community, such as moderate and fanatic group. The word “fanatic” according to R. M Hare in his book The Language of Moral and reason, as quoted by Gettner in his journal with the tittle Hare and Fanaticism,

“Fanaticism is involves the consideration of “interests”. To have and interest is “for there to be something which one wants, or likely in the future to want

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or which is (or is likely to be) a means necessary or sufficient for the attainment of something which one wants (or is likely to want).” (1). On the other hand, the word

“moderate” in Merriam Webster dictionary means avoiding extreme of behavior or expression: observing reasonable limits. These two group of Muslim grew along the progress of the Muslim in the education and civilization in the middle century.

However the triumph of the Muslims slowly fades, even at the very moment,

Muslims receive negative stigma which comes from the non-side Islamic groups. In literary works, especially films produced by non-Muslims, it can be seen how the

Muslims are presented. From the several films that bring Muslim character, mostly those films just show the negative side of the Muslims. Jack Shaheen in his book, Reel

Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a people, after analyzing 900 American films, he found that most of Arab characters which is related to Muslim were depicted as racist individual (Mešić 2).

The example of film produced by non-Muslim that tell about Muslim are The

Kingdom, Jarhead, The Innocence of Muslim and other. The Kingdom reveals the story about American soldiers who uncover the bombing in the American foreign worker compound in Saudi Arabia. In the end of film, they discover that the person behind the terrorism is a community of Muslim. In this film, some Muslims are categorized as “the dangerous man”. These dangerous men are depicted as lustful, pre-modern, and uncivilized. (Aguayo 53)

Unlike the film that shows the negative trait of Islam, The Physician arises the theme with the background when Muslim civilization is more advanced than other

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cultures. This film shows about the prosperity era of Islamic country. The Physician film is directed by Philipp Stölzl and released in German by UFA Cinema, Dageto

Film, Beta Cinema and was distributed by Universal Pictures. This film is starred by

Hollywood and British actors such as Ben Kingsley, Tom Payne, Emma Rigby and other. The Physician got the rate 7.2/10 in IMDb. This film awarded 5 nomination in the German film award.

The Physician film has a setting of time when Muslim civilization is very advanced comparing to European who is still under development era. The comparison of these two civilizations can be seen from several things. Muslim country is described as country with developed science and hospital and doctors. On the other hand, in the

European country, the Greek science has been forgotten resulting there is no doctors or hospitals, only the barbers who treat people with an enormously traditional treatment.

A Christian youth who came from Europe, Rob Cole - disguised as a Jew because

Christians are not allowed in the Arab Countries - ventured into Arab countries namely

Isfahan to study medicine for he had heard that there is a doctor who can treat all kinds of diseases, namely Ibn Sina. In , Rob studies in the medical school called

Madrassa. There, Muslim and Jew students are taught by Ibn Sina and treated fairly.

In a country ruled by a Shah, there is also a group of fanatic Muslim. They assume that Shah had deviated from Islam because he has allowed the to settle in the city.

They also consider that studying science apart from the Islamic religion is a sin.

The writer is interested in analyzing this film because there are not many films produced by non-Muslims that display Muslims in the positive side. Even if those films

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tell about Muslim, it only shows Muslim negatively, such as that Muslim portrayed as a terrorist. However, The Physician takes the background when Muslim civilization is very advanced in science and medicine. Also this film described two different groups of Muslim. The writer analyzes the film with the representation theory by Stuart Hall.

B. Focus of the Study

Relating to the background of the study, the writer will focus on analyzing the representation Muslim through characters and setting in the The Physician film by

Philipp Stölzl and by using representation theory by Stuart Hall.

C. Research Question

In this study, the writer attempts to propose the study into two questions as stated below:

1. How is Muslim represented in The Physician film?

2. What is the ideology implied in the Physician film?

D. The Objective of the Research

Generally, the purpose of this research is to analyze how Muslim is represented in the film The Physician by Philipp Stölzl through representation theory by Stuart

Hall.

E. Significant of the Study

Through the research, the writer hopes this research can expand the reader’s view about how Islam in literary work, since there are merely research about Islam in literally work can be found. Therefore, this research hopefully can enlarge the references for readers who are interested in studying literature and Islam.

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F. Research Methodology

1. Research Method

The method that the writer will use in this research is descriptive

qualitative. Qualitative research has five main features; (1) natural setting as a

main source and a researcher is the main instrument; (2) give the priority to

process, not the result; (3) data analysis inductively; (4) qualitative research is

a descriptive research; and (5) meaning is the essential elements in qualitative

research (Semi 28-32).

The writer choose descriptive qualitative because this research will

describe the characters, the setting in the film The Physician. In analyzing this

film, the writer will use the intrinsic approach because the character and setting

analysis are the elements of the story. Moreover, the writer watches the film

numerous time, then the writer makes a note and analyzes by looking the

evidence to support the argument and relates it to representation theory by

Stuart Hall.

2. Technique of the Analysis

In this study, the writer uses the descriptive analysis technique. In this

analysis, the writer uses the concepts of representation by Stuart Hall.

3. Research Instrument

The instrument of research is the writer herself as the subject to obtain data

by watching the film the Physician repeatedly and reading its scripts to select

data that are important to support this research. Then the writer analyzes the

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data—views by using intrinsic elements of the study such as choosing a

character and setting of the film, in achieving the objective of the study—some

dialogues are also used to support the analysis.

4. Analysis Unit

The analysis unit for this research is the Physician film directed by Philip

Stӧlzl based on novel by Noah Gordon. Released in German by UFA Cinema,

Dageto Film, Beta Cinema and was distributed by Universal Pictures in 2013

and runs for 155 minutes.

5. Time and Place of the Study

This research was conducted on the seventh semester 2016 in the

Department of English Language, Faculty of Adab and Humanities, States

Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, as well as in the other libraries

and places to support this study.

CHAPTER II

THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

A. Previous Research

The writer found a research which examined this film and two other research which discuss about Muslim. The first is The Use of Movies in Teaching the Nature of Science: A Discussion about Two Cases, Lorenzo’s Oil and The Physician

(2016). This research is written by Fatma Taşkin Ekici and Erhan Ekici. The result of the research is that the usage both films in learning is effective method applied to understand the nature of science. On the other hand, Lorenzo’s Oil and the

Physician films are not applicable for the elementary levels. These films are appropriate for secondary and higher education levels.

The second is The Representation of Muslim in the Film My Name is Khan

(2010). This research is written by Siti Zaenap S as a thesis in the State Islamic

University of Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. This study is discussed about Muslim adherent in the united stated. The film is produced by Bollywood film industry

(India Film Industry) directed by Karan Johar, released globally in cinema on 12th

February 2010. This film tells the story about an Indian Muslim who lives in the

United States, There he becomes the minorities for his belief. After the tragedy of

9/11, the Muslim in the United States is treated badly because of their identity as the Muslim.

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The result of this research is that the Muslim is represented differently from the common of Hollywood movie which represent the Muslim. In this film, Muslim is shown as an oppressed minority, peaceful, friendly, tolerant religion. However,

Muslim is also portrayed as a terror for the West (American) people. Moreover, film carries an implied massage, the message is that the Muslim are divided into two group; good Muslim and bad Muslim. The good Muslim is described as a passive and pluralist Muslim.

The third is Representations of Muslim Bodies in the Kingdom:

Deconstructing Discourses in Hollywood. The research was did by Michelle

Aguayo, Global Media Journal--Canadian Edition in 2009. This paper aims to critique and observe the film narrative with the attention racial and gendered discourses which is produced in the film. This research is also relate to Hollywood cinema which Muslim is described as dangerous, pre-modern and uncivilized in

American Popular culture. In her analysis, Aguayo found that the dangerous

Muslim man is showed as lecherous, pre-modern, and uncivilized. And when he is not a dangerous one, this Muslim described as he is odd with himself. In addition, this paper discovered that White Woman are liberated citizen, while women of

Others who come with theocratic, oppressive regimes are needed of protection and salvation.

B. Representation

The word “represent” has three possible meanings as divided by Stuart Hall in the book Studying Culture: a Practical Introduction as following:

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1. To “represent” means to stand in or to stand for, for instance, the Indonesian

flag which is displayed in the UN office indicates that the country of Indonesia

join the UN

2. To “represent” means to speak or act on behalf of. It means speaking on behalf

of someone. In this case the representative of President substitutes for his absent

on independence inauguration.

3. To “represent” means to re-present. It carries the sense that “thing” is being

represented. The director can represent an history in a film, an author can

represent the culture into novel and etc. (Giles and Middleton 56-57)

In this discussion, the writer uses the third meaning of represent that is to re- present something into something different. The reasonable connection between representation and cultural studies, that is cultural studies are understood as using of sign from the representation. The representation of cultural and meaning have certain forms; such as sounds, objects, inscriptions, images, book, magazines and etc. (Barker 8).

Stuart Hall in the book Representation: Cultural Representations and

Signifying Practices argued that the connection between culture and representation is that “culture is about shared meaning.” The necessity instrument when someone makes an idea about something is a language, because language is a medium in which meaning is produced and exchanged among the members of a culture.

Language functioned as a representational system and constructed the meaning.

Someone is able to use sign and symbol in the language such as sounds,

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written words, images, musical notes and etc to represent his notion, feeling, or a concept to convey it to others.

To define the representation, it is important to recognize that “representation connects meaning and language to culture. Representation means using language to say something meaningful about, or to represent, the world meaningfully, to other people”. The representation is a principal process to produce and exchange the meaning between cultures (Hall 15).

In the representation, there are two processes, two representation systems included. The first is “system”, the system is encompassed all kinds of objects, people which are correlated with as set of concepts that are lying in our head. The set of concept also known as mental representation, with concept and system we can interpret the world meaningfully.

The second system in the representation is “language”. Language is involved in the process of constructing the meaning. The function of the language is that language is a tool for representing or exchanging meaning and concepts which lies on people mind. To convey the concept on the mind through language, it can be translated with certain written words, spoken sound, or visual images. These written words, spoken sound and visual images, in the general term is called as sign. The sign will stand for or represent the ideas, concepts, or the intangible connection between them which people carry on their head. So these concepts and conceptual relations will form the meaning-system of the culture (Hall 18).

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According to Stuart Hall in the book Representation: Cultural

Representations and Signifying Practices, there are three approaches in the representation of meaning through language work, such as reflective or mimetic approach, intentional approach and constructionist approach.

In the reflective approach, the meaning of an object or idea represents object or idea itself in the real world. The function of language is to mirror the concept on the mind which is existed in the real world. This approach is sometimes entitled

“mimetic” because the objective of this approach to reflect or imitate the truth that is already settled in the existent world.

The second approach is intentional approach. Intentional approach is that

“the words mean what the author intends they should mean.” It means that the speakers or the writers communicate their sole meaning about the world through the language. This approach is different from the first approach, the previous approach holds that language functioned as the mirror to deliver the concepts on the mind, whilst the intentional approach is argued on the contrary. In this approach, the information means what the speakers intend it should mean (Hall 25).

The last approach is constructionist approach. It means that the personal users of the language and the thing in themselves can construct meaning in language. “things don’t mean: we construct meaning, using representational systems—concepts and signs. Hence it is called the constructivist or constructionist approach to meaning in language.” Consistent with this approach,

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people should not complicated about the material world. The material world here is that the present of thing or the person also the symbolic practices and the processes which gained through the representation works also meaning and the language. Using the constructionist approach, does not mean to eliminate the material world because the conveying of meaning is not the material world.

However, the language system functions as intermediary which used to present the concept on the person’s mind.

From the three approach of representation, the writer uses the third approach, it is the constructionist approach to analyze film the Physician.

C. Ideology

One of the critical concept in the cultural studies is an ideology. Graeme

Turners in the Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction by John

Storey stated that “… the most important conceptual category in cultural studies.”

Storey expounds five definitions of ideology.

The first definition is that ideology refers to a certain systematic concepts which is utilized by some group of people. The example of this definition is “the ideology of the Labour Party.” The political, economic, and social ideas which is the collection of the people of this party, give the information of their aspiration and also their activities (Storey 3)

The second explanation is that ideology propose a certain masking, distortion, and concealment. This definition argued that some texts or practices display the bending of the reality. The distortion occurs between the powerful and

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the powerless. The example related to this definition is capitalist ideology. The capitalist ideology tends to conceal the reality of the dominance powerful toward the powerless, the powerful did not see themselves as the oppressor and the powerless would not see themselves as the oppressed. This definition based on the assumption of classical Marxism that “the cultural products of this so called base/superstructure relationship are deemed ideological to the extent that, as a result of this relationship, they implicitly or explicitly support the interests the dominant group who socially, politically, economically and culturally, benefit from the economic organization of society.” (Storey 3).

The next definition of ideology refers to “ideological forms”, it connected with the previous definition. Ideology here aimed to gain the intention in many texts, such as television fiction, novel, song lyrics and etcetera, always display a certain images of the world. This definition argued that text would take the place between conflict which are happened in the society; consciously or unconsciously.

Related to this definition, the German playwright, Bertolt Brecht stated “Good or bad, a play always includes an image of the world… There is no play and no theatrical performance which does not in some way affect the disposition and conceptions of the audience. Art is never without consequences.” The point of what

Brecht said is can be applied to all kind cultural texts. In addition, some experts said that texts have a political purpose, these texts aim to influence the readers and draw them to which world the texts want to convey (Storey 4)

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The fourth is based on the definition of French Marxist philosopher, Louis

Althusser, ideology is “not simply as a body of ideas, but as a material practice.”

There are some rituals or everyday customs will affect to someone social order, such as wealth, status and power.The last definition of ideology comes from the

French cultural theorist Rolland Barthes. He also mentioned the ideology as Myth, this ideology works in which a hegemonic struggle to limit the connotation, or to correct the connotation and also to create new connotation.

From several definitions about ideology, the writers uses the third definition which is that many texts, such as novel, lyrics, film always show a certain image of the world. This definition is used to analyze how the ideology implies in the film

The Physician.

D. Islam and Medicine

Islamic civilization has gone through several phases of its appearance until the present. In his book entitled “Islam ditinjau dari Berbagai Aspek” Harun

Nasution divides Muslim development into three parts. The first phase is the classical period (650-1250 AD), the second is the middle period (1250-1800 AD), and the last is the modern period (1800-present).

The classical period was commenced at the emergence of Islam in 650 AD ruled by the Prophet Muhammad and was continued by Khulafa Rashidin period, followed by the Umayyad dynasty, then followed by . During the

Abbasid period, there were many accomplishment achieved by Muslim. One

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of the very significant progress is in the field of science. Even the Islamic civilization at that time turned into the center of education. (Hitti 393)

The Abbasid phase started from about 750 to about 1258 AD. In this period, the education began to be noticed. It can be from the efforts made by Muslim scholars in translating the works of Greek wisdom into Arabic (Nasution 68). After the translating period, Muslim scientist initiate to develop the Greek science. “From this time on they begin to rely upon their own resources and to develop from within”

(Arnold 322).

In book “Influence and Impression of Islam” by Sir Thomas Arnold, stated the golden Age of science and medicine in Islam arose from about 900 until 1100

AD. “In medicine, in place pandects compiled from antique sources, we find imposing encyclopedic works in which the knowledge or former generations is carefully classified and set against that the modern.” (Arnold 322).

In this phase, the Muslim scholars began to appear. The first notable of

Muslim scholar is al Razi, known to the Latin West as Rhazes. “His erudition was all-embracing, his scientific output remarkable, amounting to more than 200 works, half of which are medical. Other of his missive treat of separate disease, for example of stone in the bladder an in the kidneys, both very common condition in the East. We have also by him treatises on anatomy. The most celebrated of all the works of Rhazes is that on small pox and Measles. it was translated into Latin and later into various language, including English, being printed some forty time between 1498 and 1866 AD” (Arnold 323).

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One of the most famous Muslim scholars in the period of the abbsid was ibn

Sina. Abu ‘Ali Husyain Ibn Sina is a Muslim physician and philosopher who was born in Afsana Bukhara which is included in the state Uzbekistan at 980 AD. Ibn

Sina has demonstrated his brilliance as his young phase. He was called as al- Shayks al-Ra’is which means the leader of the wise men. There are many upheavals between regions in the area of the Central Asia occurred during Ibn Sina life that made Ibn Sina had to move from one region to another. In 1012 AD he moved to

Georgia, then he visited Rai, in the period Buwayhi dynasty. After that Ibn Sina continued his journey to Isfahan and spent his live about 15 years to produce many important works and built an observatory. Because of the political turmoil, Ibn Sina left Isfahan and returned to his hometown in Hamadan. There Ibn Sina passed away because of stomach illness he suffered in 1037 AD (Nasr 45-48).

There are Ibn Sina works has been recorded. Sir Thomas Arnold said that

“His influence on European medicine has been overwhelming. Ibn Sina concentrates the legacy of Greek medical knowledge with the addition of the Arabs contribution in his gigantic Canon of Medicine (Al Qanun fi at Tibb), which is the culmination and masterpiece of Arabic systematization. This medical encyclopedia deals with general medicine, simple drugs, disease affecting all parts of the body from the head to the feet, special pathology and pharmacopoeia.” (329). Ibn Sina

Canon of Medicine is encoded into Latin language in 12 AD by Gerard from

Cremona. This volume occupied the

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significant place in the medication literature at his figure time and became the text book of medicine study in the West and East of Islam (Hitti 460-461).

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH FINDINGS

In this chapter, the writer would like to discuss the representation of Muslim in

The Physician film through two elements of film which are character and the setting by using the representation theory by Stuart Hall. The Physician is a film that reveals the background of time in the middle of 1021 AD, when Muslim civilization was more advanced than Western civilization. The films takes two places as the background of the place, namely England and Middle East. The Middle East countries include, Syria,

Israel Turkey, , Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and etc. This film choses the city of

Isfahan which is located in Iran as the Middle East background. The film is directed by

Philip Stolz and was released in German by UFA Cinema, Dageto Film, Beta Cinema and worldwide by Universal Picture in 2012.

The Physician tells the story of a young Christian living in England named Rob

Cole. He is very interested in medicine and its study. However, England as Rob’s hometown was still under developed in medicine field because there was only a barber who can treat the sick. This condition did not diminish Rob's desire to study health.

After her mother died of side sickness disease, Rob joined a wandering with the barber.

On one occasion he met a Jewish healer when he wanted to treat the barber who suffered the nearsightedness. The Jewish physician told Rob that in a city in Arabia

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there was one of the greatest physicians in the world. To fulfill his curiosity in medical science, Rob finally left England for Isfahan. However, before entering Islamic territory, Rob changed himself to a Jew by the name of Jesse Bin Benjamin, for

Christians are not allowed to enter the Islamic city. After arriving in Isfahan, Rob studied medicine to Ibn Sina. There he witnessed the life of the Muslims.

The Physician is different from most films which produced by non-Muslim that discuss about Muslims. In some films that discuss about Muslims, Muslim representation that is displayed is their negative aspect. An example of this is a journal entitled Representations of Muslim Bodies in the Kingdom: Deconstructing Discourses in Hollywood, depicting in The Kingdom movies that Muslims are shown as remote, pre-modern and dangerous community, and etc. However the film The Physician represented Muslims differently, that Muslims are developed in science. Also there are two group of Muslim which contradict each other.

A. Representation of Muslim Through Character

The writer finds that there are two kinds of Muslim which showed in the film.

The first is the liberal Muslims who study the medical science and the other is the

Muslims who refuse to learn a knowledge beside Islamic science.

1. The Muslims who study the medical science

The first Muslim that is showed in the film is liberal Muslim. Those who are

described as liberal Muslims are Muslims who study in Madrassa. They are

characterized by using all-white clothes. In addition, liberal Muslims do not only

study religious knowledge, but also general science, specifically medical science.

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The definition of liberal in Islam is that “Islam itself is essentially a set of revealed values designed to guide humanity on the path to enlightenment and virtue. Liberal Islam interprets Islam to emphasize liberal values such as religious tolerance, freedoms of conscience and speech, civil liberties, social justice, public welfare, and educational development.” (Khan 417). As Muqtedar Khan says one characteristics of liberal Muslims is that they respect the values of tolerance in religion in social life, the representation of it in the film can be seen from the diversity of religions in Isfahan. There are other religions outside Islam exist in

Isfahan, such as Zoroaster and Judaism. Even though composed of different religions, the Isfahan people live in peace. It can be seen from the sound of the call to prayer when the prayer time arrives and also the sound of trumpets will be heard if the Jews are about to perform their worship.

Picture 1 (01:03:49) picture 2 (01:04:41)

The two pictures above show that Isfahan is an Islamic city that accept religious plurality. It is marked by the existence of religion other than Islam which is allowed to live in that city. This pluralism indicates that Muslims at that time have become religiously tolerant societies. The principle of tolerance among religious people are:

(1) there should be no compulsion in religion either coercion is in the form of fine

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or done roughly; (2) man has the right to choose and embrace the religion he believes in and worships according to that belief; (3) it would be useless to force a person to follow a certain belief; and (4) God Almighty does not prohibit societal life from unfamiliar or non-religious, in the hope of avoiding hostile attitudes (Ali

82).

In addition, liberal Muslim also pay attention and develop the education. The prominent progress which liberal Muslim achieved in The Physician film is in the field of science. The science that developed at that time in Arab society was the science of medicine. The film takes on the background of time in the 10th century, which is the period when Muslims were in progress. One of the progress achieved by Muslims in that era was in the field of education. Even Muslim countries at that time became the center of knowledge (Hitti 393).

The progress in the knowledge can be seen from the presence of many physicians who are mastering in the medicine study. One of the most notable Arabic physicians who is shown in this film is Ibn Sina. His intelligence made him famous until Europe and his disciples had spread beyond Arabia. Rob knows about Ibn Sina for the first time when he treats a barber who has been treating him ever since his mother died. The barber suffers from myopia that makes him unable to see clearly.

Rob took him to a Jew, who was a disciple of Ibn Sina, who could heal myopia.

From the Jew physician, Rob gets information about a doctor who can treat many diseases. He comes from the Arabian mainland, precisely in a city of Isfahan.

People call him Hakeem. In addition, according to the Jewish physician, there is no

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man on earth at that time could match Ibn Sina in his knowledge and wisdom. It can be seen from the conversation between Rob and the Jew physician above:

Jew Physician : "And here is Ispahan. The greatest physician the world has ever seen teaches there. Ibn Sina. There is no one on earth that can match him for knowledge and wisdom." Rob : "Ibn..?" Jew Physician : "Ibn Sina. Rob : "Ibn Sina. Can he cure the side sickness?" Jew Physician : "Ibn Sina can cure many illnesses." <00:30:40-00:31:01>

One of the liberal Muslim figures in this film is Ibn Sina. He is a kind physician who likes to help everyone. Although he is a renowned healer who is famous universally, he is not snobby and actually is a humble person. In addition, Ibn Sina who became a teacher in Madrassa is a teacher who is close to his students. He does not distinguish between Jewish disciples and students of Islam. Besides being a teacher, Ibn Sina is also a good physician. He serves all patients well and treats them as best he can. The picture below shows how Ibn Sina treat his patient.

Picture 3 (01:01:02)

Those who are described as liberal Muslims are Muslims who study in

Madrassa. They have characteristics by using all-white clothes. Liberal Muslims

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are also the Muslims who obey the ruler. They do not confront Shah who became the ruler of Isfahan at that time. Their obedience can be seen by how they respect

Shah, that is when they want to see Shah, they will prostrate like anyone who wants to meet Shah.

Picture 4 (01:36:45)

The picture above shows liberal Muslim which prostrate to the Shah. They are invited to Shah’s palace for they had saved the country from plague caused by rat.

As a submissive netizen, they show it by kneeling to the Shah to honor him.

Another figure who became moderate Muslim was Kareem. He was one of Ibn

Sina's disciples in . Kareem accepts difference between Jew and Islam and embraces religion diversity in the class he is following. Although Kareem is a

Muslim, he is not a devout Muslim in the Islamic religion. It is shown that Kareem is a Muslim who likes to consume liquor even though liquor is prohibited in Islamic religion. The picture below shows that Karim drinks the alcohol.

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Picture 5 (01:00:27) Liberal Muslim categorically put their attention to education. They build a university as the center of learning in the town. This place of studying is called as

Madrassa. At this school, Ibn Sina teaches his students about medical science. This

Madrasa will also produce physicians who treat patients in the hospital. The pupil at Madrassa is not only from Isfahan, but also comes from all over the world, includes the main character of the film, Rob Cole from England.

Picture 6 (00:32:34) picture 7 (00:53:56) From the picture, the viewer can assume that the progress of science in the

Isfahan is spreading around the world. The first picture shows that Rob Cole inform the Barber that Muslim has a palace for teaching the student. The Barber does not believe Rob’s information, as he thinks it is impossible that a country has a palace for learning the science. In addition, the second picture illustrates the Madrassa building. As we can see, it is a huge university. The existence of big university indicates that Muslim really take a notice to the development of knowledge. The master in this Madrassa is Ibn Sina. This place will generate the reliable doctors in

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the world, one of them is a Jewish physician who tells Rob about information of

Ibn Sina.

Furthermore, Liberal Muslim also concern about the health. To bring it to the reality, they create a hospital. This hospital is used to treat patients and also to take care for patients who need advanced care. In treating patients, these doctors treat their patients very well, inquire politely and take care of them until they are healed.

Rob : "The Jew said that Ibn Sina can cure leprosy, consumption and typhoid.” Barber : "For how much?" Rob : "I don't know, but he is got his huge palace where he treats his patients. And they stay there until they're well." Barber : "How much is he charging?" Rob : "He's got another palace called "madrassa" where he teaches his students." Barber : "He is got two palaces?" Rob : "Yeah, and I want to go there and study." Barber : "A barber with two palaces!?" Rob : "No! I want to become a hakim. The Saracens call their healers "Hakim". <00:32:21-00:32:50>

From the conversation above, we can concluded that in Isafahan there is a place for curing the patient. This place is a hospital which contains physician and the patient. It amazed Rob Cole and Barber because they do not believe that this place even exists. In addition, in Rob hometown, England, the people who want to cure their sickness are only able to visit a “barber”. This barber also works as a doctor even though he is not an expert in medical science.

To cure the patient, this barber only has a modest knowledge about the health.

He also uses a traditional tool and medicine. For example, he will give an herb

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derived from the horse’s urine to cure the patient. This happens because the science of ancient Greek treatment has been forgotten. Because of progress that Muslim achieved in the medical science and heath, Rob is very interested to study the medicine to Hakeem who Saracen calls as their physician. The word Saracen means a name by Christian to call Muslim in the Crusade period.

Moreover, in his book “Influence of Islam on World Civilization” Ahmad

Zainuddin explained that the hospital in Muslim imperium also has functioned as a place for patient hospitalization as well as hospitals in modern times. “the most magnificent ‘Adudi hospital (977 A.D.) was well-planned and scientifically organised on the basis of special wards for fever cases, accidental injuries, ophthalmic case, surgery, and so on. A staff of 44 physicians and surgeons was appointed to carefully look to the medical treatment of each and every patient”

(Ahmad 122).

The physicians working in the hospital are those who provide excellent service to patients. They will politely ask each sick patient and also give their best ability so that the patient can recover from his illness. This film is tells the story in 1021

AD, while Ahmad writes about ‘Adudi hospital in 977 AD. This is the closest time to 1021 AD as the writer found about hospital in Muslim Era.

Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that The Physician film represents liberal Muslim who accept and values the diversity in religion. It can be seen from the existence of many religions beside Islam. After that liberal Muslim

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exceedingly progress in the field of science, especially the medical science. It is proven by the presence of Ibn Sina as the greatest physician at that time.

In addition, to support the science and health liberal Muslims build university to learn the knowledge and establish the hospital to treat the patient. They are also represented obedient group to the ruler. In addition, liberal Muslim is also described as people who do not follow Islamic rule well. This film does not illustrate that liberal Muslims doing the worship to Allah SWT. Moreover, there is a liberal

Muslim who break the Islamic rule. He is Kariim who he drinks the alcohol. For alcohol is considered as a forbidden drinks in Islam.

2. The Muslims who do not study the medical science

The next Muslim that the writer finds is the fanatic Muslim. These Muslim in this film are the opposite of liberal Muslims. The definition of the word "fanatic" in the Cambridge Dictionary is a person who has very extreme beliefs that may lead them to behave in unreasonable or violent ways. According to RM Hare as quoted by Alan Gettner said that "Fanaticism involves the consideration of" interests. "To have an interest is" for there to be something which one wants, or is likely in the future to want or which is Is likely to be) a means necessary or sufficient for the attainment of something which one wants (or is likely to want). "(Gettner 160).

Muslims in this group consider that interfaith tolerance is a sin. They want adherents of religions other than Islam to come out of the city so the one who live in the city are just Muslims. In addition, they also assume that studying general science as well as medical science and art science is incompatible with the

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teachings of Islam that make the perpetrator a sinner. They are described using a black uniform from the beginning to the end of the film.

Muslims who are shown wearing this black uniform do not want to pay homage to Shah. Moreover, unlike Isfahan citizens who salute Shah’s accompaniment by doing prostration to him, this group refused to prostrate to Shah. As a result, they are pounded by the government guard so that they prostrate and pay homage to

Shah. It can be seen in the two pictures below:

Picture 8 (00:52:38) Picture 9 (00:52:43)

The writer uses the fanatic word for this kind of Muslim group because it is shown in a scene when Rob talked to his friend. At that time they saw some people with the black shirts tied to their neck by the palace guards. Rob knows from his friends that those people are fanatic people in religion.

Picture 10 (00:59:43) Picture 11 (00:59:47)

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The two pictures above show the conversation between Rob and his friend,

Mirdin. They are talking about a bunch of people who were tied in their neck and beaten by the guard. Mirdin explained to Rob that they are fanatic Muslim.

Muslims of this group argue that the ruling Shah has violated and is far from the laws of God. This is because they have an interfaith tolerance, allowing Jews to enter and live with Muslims in the city of Isfahan. Moreover, Shah also disobeyed

God’s rules by supporting general science as well as the art of science learned in

Madrassa. Moreover, if the fanatic Muslims are disregarded, they will take over the city of Isfahan. If this happens, then the Madrassa where Rob and his friends study medicine will be closed by them and the Jews have to move out of town. It can be seen in the following conversation between Rob and Mirdin:

Rob : "Why, what have they done?" Mirdin : "They are zealots." "Tolerance against other religions, his support for science and the arts of all deadly sins in the eyes of the mullahs" <00:59:43-00:59:49>

Rob : "Does that deserve such harsh treatment?" Mirdin : "Jesse, if these people come to power, the Madrassa will be closed and we will be driven out of the city" <00:59:59-01:00:05>

The people who wear black shirt are called as Mullah. This group want to destroy Madrassa because Madrassa welcomes tolerance among religious people which they think is wrong. In addition, they assume that Madrassa is one of the reasons of a plague spreading in Isfahan which causes many people died. At one time, a preacher of their group gave a lecture that the Madrassa had been far from the teachings of Islam and had been immersed in ungodliness. It is also the cause

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of the destruction of their city. Finally, fanatic Muslim succeeded in conquering

Isfahan.

Picture 12 (02:14:15) Picture 13 (02:21:25)

From the picture above, we can see that after taking up the city, fanatic Muslim

burn the Madrassa. All the books in the library are destroyed. In the end, there is

no more the progress in the science. All the pupil of Ibn Sina at Madrassa abandon

Isfahan.

In conclusion after analyzing fanatic Muslim, the writer found that the

characteristic of the fanatic Muslim. The film shows this community do not accept

the values of religion tolerance. Also they refuse to study except Islamic knowledge

for the doer of it is a sinner. The fanatic Muslims do not obey to the Shah as a ruler

of Isfahan and in the end they defeat him.

B. Representation of Muslim trough Setting of Place

The setting of place in this film shows the existence of two different places which separated between liberal Muslims and fanatic Muslims. Fanatic Muslims are portrayed setting the mosque for their dominant activities, while liberals are depicted who spend their time in Madrassa.

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Picture 14 (01:04:04) Picture 15 (01:46:32)

The two pictures above shows us that the different location between liberal and fanatic Muslim. The liberal Muslim is represented as a community who give more attention to the science. It is proven that they choose the Madrassa as their prominent basecamp. Here they will learn about general science especially the medical study.

Unlike the liberal Muslim, fanatic Muslim prefer the mosque as their dominant places for their gathering places. The function of the mosque is not only for the worship place, but is also served as the place where the fanatic Muslim learn about Islamic study from the preacher. In addition, each group of Muslim do not cross the place.

Moreover, from picture 15 that Madrassa is illustrated as an illuminated place. The light in the room come from the sunlight which enters the room. The light is indicated with bright, goodness, and positive. On the other hand, the mosque is described as the opposite of Madrassa. There is no light enter the mosque, like it enters the Madrassa.

Here, the mosque is correlated with dark and the dark is correlated with negative.

It can be concluded that the existence of two different areas chosen by each group shows that fanatical Muslims are those who prioritize worship to God, while liberal

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Muslims prefer science above anything else. Also this film wants to tell the audience that liberal Muslim is positive, while fanatic Muslim is the negative one.

C. Ideology

Graeme Turners said that ideology is the most important conceptual category in cultural studies. John Storey in his book Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: an introduction described five different concept of ideology. The writer uses the fourth definition of ideology that is the ideology here aimed to gain the intention in many text and it always displays a particular images of the world. He discloses that every text such as books, magazines, poetry and films has a specific purpose to convey to the reader and viewer

The Physician is also carries the ideology to convey to its audience. The message that the film wants to tell is not seen implicitly because ideology is an idea in which the writer wants to direct the audience or reader to a concept which an author or producer wants to convey.

Indeed, the history book informed that there was a phase of into Arabic from the Greek in the history of Muslim, started about 750 AD to 900 AD (Arnold

315). After the translation period, Muslim scholars developed science which derived from the Latin. Even Muslim scientists also found a new discovery in health science that has never been found and has not been recorded in science books before. However, this film shows that Ibn Sina only relates the lessons which he obtained from Latin books without showing that Ibn Sina develops the science and produces a new

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discovery. This can be seen from Ibn Sina who always quotes from Greek scientists before he gives a statement. It is proven by several monologues of Ibn Sina below:

Ibn Sina: “The Great Aristotle claimed the friction by this motion generates a sound which he termed “the music of the spheres.” <01: 02: 35>

Ibn Sina: “Hippocrates himself. He compares them to the roots of a tree. <01: 24: 09>

Ibn Sina: “When Aristotle said that the world had no beginning, he was not saying there was no creator. He simply wished to absolve the creator of the charge of ever having been idle.” <01: 39: 04>

From Ibn Sina speech the above, it can be concluded that he served only as an intermediary in relaying the science that Greek scientists had discovered to his disciples. Besides, it depicts that Ibn Sina had no original thought or discovered anything new.

In addition, there is an epidemic disaster in the city of Isfahan. The big calamity is the spread of plague caused by rats that have caused hundreds of people die everyday.

The person who finally discovered the cause of the disease is Rob Cole. After Rob Cole finds out the cure of the syndrome that has plagued the community, there is no more death. Then the citizens slowly recover and return to normal health situation.

Ibn Sina's role as a great physician is not significant here. It is proven that this film wants to show again that Muslims have no significant role in discovery in science and health. Rob superiority to Ibn Sina is also can be seen in other scene. When the Shah experienced an appendix, Rob is the one who can cure him. Rob operates Shah to

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remove appendix which affected him. Here, Ibn Sina position is only as a helper for

Rob to treat the Shah.

The film also illustrates that the figure of Ibn Sina is not a person who is obedient to his religion. This happens because ibn Sina committed suicide. When school and library were destroyed by fanatic Muslims, Ibn sina drank poison. Rob Cole ask him to come with him to escape from Isfahan, Ibn Sina refused and said that he would come to an end with the destruction of all knowledge. However, in Islam committing the suicide is forbidden and the doer will get the punishment from God. The end of Ibn Sina’s life is different from what is recorded in the history book. The history documented that Ibn

Sina passed away because of stomach illness he suffered in 1037 AD (Nasr 48).

Furthermore, the film also wants to tell the audience that weakness of Muslim.

Muslim cannot accommodate the glory of knowledge that they possessed. They cannot keep and preserve the progress they have achieved. This is happened because of the conflict between fanatic and liberal Muslim which lead them to the war. The battle left the damage to the Madrassa and also the burning all of the books in the library. As a result, Liberal Muslim and the Jews are driven out of the city. This weakness makes the Muslim community declined which make all that they had accomplished disappearing instantaneously. The setbacks of Muslim is caused by liberal Muslim who got defeated by fanatic Muslim. The liberal Muslim with modern taught, religion tolerance, and progress in science is overpowered by fanatic Muslims who are too fanatic in their religion and do not appreciate the science. In this film, ultimately

35

Muslim experienced the dark age, when there is no science. It happened because science is gone, the book, and library are burnt and the scientist Muslim is driven out of the city.

Barber : “What's wrong? No body's sick in this dump anymore?” Boy : “All the sick are at the hospital.” Barber : “The what? Boy : “The hospital. Built by the physician from the Orient.” Barber : “What physician from the Orient?” Boy : “Physician Cole!” Barber : “Cole?!” Boy : “Him, his wife and a bunch of Jews. They can cure anything.” <02:27:37-02:27:57>

From the conversation above can be identified that ultimately the progress that

Muslim occupied have to shift to the England. This happened because the confrontation between two kinds of Muslim group. In addition, Rob position in the war is as a savior of all the science in Muslim land. After Rob Cole returned to his homeland, he and the

Jews build the hospital which is the first hospital constructed in England.

It can be concluded that the ideology conveys in this film is that although Muslims are very advanced in science, but all the science comes from ancient Latin wisdom.

Muslims just learn again without developing it. Besides, Muslim is depicted as a community who is not able to keep their progress in the science because in the end of film Muslim finally encountered backward in knowledge.

CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

A. Conclusion

The Physician is a film directed by Philip Stӧlzl based on novel by Noah Gordon.

Released in German by UFA Cinema, Dageto Film, Beta Cinema and was distributed by Universal Pictures in 2013. The film tells the story of Rob Cole, a young British man who is very interested in medicine. He went to Isfahan to study medical sciences from the greatest physician, Ibn Sina. In that city, he intercommunicated with the

Muslims and witnessed how the lives of the Muslim, also he creates the representation about Muslim citizen of Isfahan.

The discussion which uses the theory of representation by Stuart Hall draws the conclusion that the film presents the Muslim in the positive side. As it shows that

Muslim is more advanced compared to England people. The progression of Muslim is in the field of science, especially in the medicine study. This is marked by presence of

Ibn Sina who becomes the greatest physician over the world at the time and the existence of University also the library which accommodate many sources of knowledge. In addition, the film represents the Muslim divided into two different group. The first is liberal Muslims who study the medical science, accept the religion diversity and they obey the ruler. Unlike liberal Muslims, the second group, the fanatic

Muslims refuse to study beside Islamic knowledge for it is a sin. They do not accept

36

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the tolerance religion and they do not abide by the Shah as the ruler. In the end, they defeat the Shah and destroy Madrassa and burn all of the book in the library. The setting of place shows the significant divergence between liberal and fanatic Muslim. Liberal

Muslims set the Madrassa as their dominant place, whereas fanatic Muslims choose the mosque. In addition, the writer also finds that the film wants to convey a different message. Although Muslims are highly developed in science, they only relearn the

Greek wisdom without developing it. Besides, liberal Muslim is portrayed as adherent who do not follow their religion well, for example Kariim and Ibn Sina do what Islam forbid to be performed.

B. Suggestion

This research analyzes how Muslim is represented in the Physician film using the theory of representation by Stuart Hall. Based on the data that the writer uses in this research, the writer suggests the reader who are intent in doing the same corpus of this research as unit analysis to use different theory so that give the different ambience of this research. In addition, the writer suggests the reader to analyze this film by using the identity theory to explore the main character of this film that is Rob Cole. Further research is required to analyze this movie to enrich the literature.

WORKS CITED

Film

The Physician directed by Philip Stölzl, Performances by Tom Payne, Ben Kingsley, Emma Rigby, 2013

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Esposito, John L,. The Islamic World: Past and Present. London: Oxford University Press, 2004. Print.

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