Quranic Proverbs – Cherity – Animation

**Short Film Concept on the Concept of Charity (Infāq)**

**Introduction**

In every sacred religion of the world, there are valuable, categorized concepts. Although these concepts are not among the foundations or, more clearly, the jurisprudential principles of that religion, they are considered commendable and recommended moral values within that faith. These values are not doctrines of religion, nor are they jurisprudence—but they are principles of morality. And perhaps this is why they can be generalized across the entire world and among all human beings, because humans often share more common ground on moral concepts, and their views tend to align more closely.

Examples of the concepts we are discussing include values such as kindness to animals, helping fellow humans, self-sacrifice, respect and reverence for elders, and so on.

In the Holy Quran, alongside general rulings and other religious commands, there are many verses concerning each of these moral values. For instance, there are several verses about charity (infāq), each clarifying a part of this concept’s vast dimensions. Just as Islam gives importance to jurisprudence and outward rituals, it also places great emphasis on moral principles. It is essential that media owners and religious educators put as much effort into teaching and conveying the moral teachings of the religion as they do into insisting on and establishing jurisprudential doctrines. After all, was the Holy Prophet not sent to perfect and complete moral excellences (makārim al-akhlāq)?

Nevertheless, over the years, two characteristics have been evident in the way Islamic moral teachings are taught and presented, which, like an Achilles’ heel, have hindered the creation of a magnificent and lasting work—one worthy of the concept it seeks to convey:

1. **Technical weakness** of the produced works.2. **Reliance on the surface** (the initial, somewhat raw layers of concepts and words, exactly as mentioned in the apparent meaning of the Quran or hadiths) and a **lack of attention to depth and interpretation** of the concept.

**Approach of the Production Team**

Given the subtleties and potential pitfalls of producing a work with moral content, the present team, after thorough research among the valuable moral topics discussed in the Holy Quran, selected the theme of charity (infāq) and focused on it. In the next step, they collected all the verses concerning charity, along with their authentic explanations and interpretations. During the ideation phase, each verse, together with its interpretation, while being connected to a single concept under the title of charity, had its unique meaning and core point considered. Based on this, an idea was designed to produce a short film in the form of animation.

From among twenty proposed ideas, one was selected for production.

**Selected Idea**

The chosen idea is based on the following noble verse of the Holy Quran:

**Verse 261 of Surah Al-Baqarah:**

*”The example of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is like that of a grain that sprouts seven ears, in every ear a hundred grains. And Allah multiplies [the reward] for whom He wills. And Allah is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing.”*

**Translation of the Verse:** The parable of those who spend their wealth in God’s way is that of a grain that grows seven ears, each ear bearing a hundred grains. God multiplies [the reward] for whom He wills, and God is All-Embracing, All-Knowing.

**Explanation of the Verse:** Sometimes a person experiences a certain state or feeling—for example, a state conducive to prayer, supplication, or charity—but it is not permanent. If these states increase in frequency and are maintained over time, they transform from temporary states into a permanent disposition (a habit of the soul). At this point, it becomes an intrinsic quality of their soul, elevating it. This very quality becomes one of the integral components and inseparable characteristics of their being.

**Synapse One**

The sky is slowly getting dark. Wind and storm have churned up the earth and sky. The fisherman, who has managed to catch no more than one small fish, ties his boat’s rope to a thick post, rotted and blackened by the water. He is thin, withered, and tired. His clothes cling to his body because of the rain. But his eyes sparkle at the sight of the fish he has caught. (The fisherman’s body parts are incomplete.)

The fisherman walks through several winding streets and alleys to reach his home. There is no one in the streets; only a few shadows lurking in the darkness of the alleys. Everyone is inside their homes, and the glow of lamps lights up the wet cobblestones.

It is a poor coastal town.

The man lives in a modest two-story building. In his home, there is a bed, a table, a chair, and a mirror on the wall. On the table is an unfinished puzzle. He also has a pot of ivy. On the plaster wall of the house, there is a colored photo frame of the fisherman’s wife, and another photo of his younger self. On the fisherman’s kitchen counter, inside a fishbowl, a crumpled chocolate wrapper floats on the water.

The fisherman changes his wet clothes into warm, dry ones. He goes to the mirror to tidy himself up. From the omniscient point of view, the fisherman is an incomplete man, but in the mirror, he sees himself as normal and natural. The fisherman takes off his wedding ring and begins to clean his catch, to cut it into pieces and cook it for dinner. As the fish cooks and its delicious steam and aroma rise, the fisherman’s gloomy expression gradually brightens, and a hint of satisfaction and joy runs across his tired face.

As soon as he swallows the first bite, someone knocks on the door. It is a short, stooped old woman who smiles at the fisherman. A little further away, a shy young boy sits on the steps, clutching his plastic ball. The fisherman goes inside and returns with a large bite full of fish.

The fisherman is about to close the door when the gleam in a cat’s eyes on the stairway catches his attention. He returns to the table. Nothing remains on his plate but the fish’s head; he throws it to the cat. He goes back inside. Outside, there is rain, cold, and storm. The sound of rain on the metal roof of the house can be heard. The fisherman starts to clear the table.

As he lifts his empty plate from the table, he finds a puzzle piece underneath it. The man examines the piece carefully and places it next to the bowl where he keeps the puzzle pieces.

The fisherman makes tea and lights his pipe. He sits quietly at his table, and as he smokes his pipe, he occasionally picks up a piece from the bowl on the table and places it in its empty spot.

To place the last puzzle piece, the fisherman rummages his hand in the bowl, but finds no piece. The final piece is the one he found under the plate. He picks it up and places it. From the omniscient point of view, the fisherman’s hand is now complete.

The puzzle is the face of a smiling man, bearing vague and faint resemblances to the fisherman. With the placement of the last piece, the smile on the puzzle face is completed.

The fisherman rocks contentedly on the legs of his chair, smoking his pipe.

But something has changed: the fisherman’s hands are no longer incomplete!

Zahra Farhangnia – Zahra Nabavi

**Synapse Two**

On a stormy evening, the fisherman, who has only managed to catch one fish, returns to shore. His figure is like a puzzle that has been jostled, its pieces slightly separated from each other. His face is like a ball that has been sliced in several rows, its pieces out of order, and the same goes for all his limbs. As if he has been cut crosswise with a sword.

He lives in a coastal town. A town with streets and alleys that all connect, with tall and short houses standing side by side. The man lives on the top floor of a three-story building. His home is small and has few belongings. A small kitchen with an empty fishbowl on the counter. He has placed his bed, table, and coat rack in the corners of his living space. On the man’s table is an unfinished puzzle. The man’s pastime, when he returns home at night, is to turn on the lamp above his table and work on completing his puzzle. He also has a pot of ivy. In his fishbowl, instead of a fish, a crumpled chocolate wrapper floats on the water (an establishing shot). A photo of the man’s wife is in a frame on the wall.

When the fisherman returns home, he changes his clothes and places his catch on the kitchen board to cut it up and cook it for dinner. Just as he gets to work, a tapping sound on the windowpane catches his attention. He listens; he thinks there was no sound and he imagined it, so he continues his work. The sound reaches him louder. He goes to the window and opens it. A man exactly like him, in a house across the alley, opens his window at the same time. We see the figure of the man across the alley blurrily, as if a mirror is facing the man; their actions are mirror images of each other. Even their appearance seems similarly damaged and incomplete. The fisherman glances around. He sees nothing. Of course, he pays no attention to the man across the alley. As if he doesn’t see him at all, as if he doesn’t see this strange resemblance. He closes the window. The man across the alley also looks around exactly like the fisherman, simultaneously, and closes his window.

The fisherman wasn’t paying attention, and while he had the window open, a pigeon flew into his house. He just now notices the pigeon. The pigeon has survived the storm, but its wing is broken. The fisherman pulls a thin thread from his fishing net and carefully sews the pigeon’s wing. He arranges a few puzzle pieces and goes to prepare his dinner. As soon as he lands the first knife stroke on the fish’s body, another sound arises, a scratching sound, as if someone is clawing at the window. The fisherman goes to the window. This time, a small cat, wet from the rain, is huddled outside his window. The man opens his arms, and the cat throws itself into them. The man across the alley does exactly the same things, just like the man.

The man gives some of the fish, which constitutes his meager dinner, to the cat, and breadcrumbs to the pigeon. He offers his hat to the cat to sleep in. The man turns on the lamp above his table to put together his puzzle. His hands (including fingers, wrists, and forearms) as he grips the seat of the chair and pulls it toward the table, these hands (including fingers, wrists, and forearms) are complete, as if someone has pushed those disjointed pieces back into place. The man holds a puzzle piece in his hand and doesn’t know where to put it. His fingers are still incomplete and fragmented. The man places a puzzle piece in its spot; the smile of the human depicted in the puzzle on the table is completed. The hand that placed this piece is a healthy hand.

What has happened? A back-and-forth has occurred between the fisherman’s house and the house of the double across the alley, considered to be a replica of the limbo world. The complete man is actually his double in the limbo world. A man who, at the beginning of the film, was as incomplete as him, and has now become complete.

The fisherman still fiddles with the puzzle piece in his hand; he is still incomplete. Through the fisherman’s window across the alley, in a house exactly like the fisherman’s house, a man exactly like the fisherman sits, his hands clasped comfortably behind his head.

The End.

Zahra Farhangnia – Zahra Nabavi