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Dubai-based animation and special effects studio Barajoun Entertaiment has revealed the teaser trailer for its first feature project, titled Bilal. The animated film is inspired by the true story of Bilal Ibn Rabah, a freed slave of Ethiopian origin who converted to Islam and became a trusted companion of the Prophet Muhammad after his emancipation. Impressed by Bilal’s sonorous voice and unwavering faith, Muhammad handpicked him to call Muslims to prayer as Islam’s first muezzin. Bilal’s descendants are also believed to have established the Mali Empire’s Keita Dynasty

Bilal uses Ibn Rabah’s origins as inspiration only and does not delve into his storied historical involvement with Islam. The 3D film focuses mainly on what its creators say is his resilience in the face of danger and his role as guardian and protecter of his younger sister after both were abducted as children. In a recent statement released by Barajoun, the film’s director Khurram Alavi addressed what audiences could expect from the groundbreaking film. “The story is solely focused on Bilal’s personal journey,” he said. “The historic milestones remain the same. Yet we have taken artistic liberties to enhance the storytelling and dramatic value of the story. This means the addition of fictional characters as well as fictional depictions of various sets and props. The film is more ‘symbolic’ than it is ‘realistic’.”

British-Nigerian actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Lost) will be lending his voice to the forthcoming animated epic as the adult version of the titular character. News of Akinnouye-Agbaje’s involvement with Bilal came during a press event at the recent Dubai International Film Festival, where the film’s screenwriter Ayman Jamal revealed that the project has been in development for the last eight years.

The film is set for release in the fall of 2015. Read the synopsis and watch the trailer for Bilal below. Keep up with future developments via Facebook, Twitter, and IMDB.

“Bilal, a bright eyed carefree boy ignited with fanciful imagination and a dream only a 7 years old can conjure. His voice, a true gift. On a day as similar as any, his dream turns into a nightmare when the village he lives in is ransacked, orphaning him and his younger sister, Ghufaira. Thrown in a world where greed and injustice rule all, Bilal and Ghufaira find themselves bound to the chaotic wills and wants of the most powerful man in the City, Umayya. Dreams of freedom and the warrior he fantasized he would become, are kept deep in Bilal’s yearning heart. He will soon learn he must choose his own fate and find the courage to raise his voice. Bilal will challenge everything.“

Animated film Bilal featuring Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Bilal, story of Islam's first meuzzin, featuring Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Animated film of freed Ethiopian slave Bilal featuring Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

**Correction: March 4, 2015
An earlier version of this article was titled “New Animated Feature ‘Bilal’ Tells The Story Of Ethiopian Slave Who Became ‘Voice Of Islam.'” According to the film’s creators, ‘Bilal’ uses Ibn Rabah’s origins as inspiration only and does not delve into his storied historical involvement with Islam.

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  • Steve Biko

    Bilal wasn’t actually a slave, nor did the Arabs look any different from the Africans at that time, since THEY THEMSELVES were of AFRICAN origin. This is just historical revisionism at its best. Complete and utter BULLSHIT this sorry excuse for a movie is..

    http://afroasiatics.blogspot.no/2013/01/normal-0-false-false-false.html

    What Arabs ACTUALLY look like:
    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M7xgdX5V9BY/UP8PehdrycI/AAAAAAAAAkk/tDiEBv3o2zw/s1600/mahra.jpg

    This idea that Africans migrated out of Africa and managed to settle every country in Asia, including the pacific, but somehow missed the so-called “middle east” (which is North-East Africa actually) is simply preposterous.

    • ArabInAmerica

      Bilal was a slave. He was literally bought and emancipated ultimately.

      Arabs do look distinctly different from central Africans. Did they have dark skin skin in the desert? Of course they did, but their features are clearly different.

      Of course Arabs originated from Africa, then again all of humanity did at some point. Don’t think that this movie is trying to claim otherwise.

      This movie is a great attempt at brining the story of Bilal to the world. I’m interested in how they will bring the story of him becoming a Muslim later on to light.

    • Ibrahim

      Do all ‘Africans’ come from central ‘Africa’?
      Do all ‘Africans’ look the same?
      Bilal was not an ‘African’…his father was an Arab and Arabs are patriarchal…Bilal was in fact born in Yemen and he NEVER stepped foot in ‘Africa’.
      Original Arabs were black skinned and were very proud of it
      The fair
      skinned people we see today in the region are NOT original Arabs…they are of Persian, Turkish and even Roman origin.

    • Don Rameez

      Bilal was an abyssinian slave.

    • danny

      No slaves from Abyssinia. Ethiopian empire ruled arabia and not the other way around.

    • Don Rameez

      Yes abysinnia had a king called habishi at the time it was ruled by a monarch under christian law. But having a monarch did not mean other abyssinians prospered as some were poor and were slaves to the higher elite arab tribes.

    • Richgame

      You people talk without any humbleness… Dont think you know it all because you don`t.. First of you are only mentioning 1 king that ruled Axum empire (King negus also habishi) but you have several of other that was also big. King Ezane that implemented the christian monarchy, King Abraha (may he get what he deserved for trying to attack the holy house in mekkah – surah al fil) who ruled in Yemen and southern arabia and several of other… Axum was alleged by the persian empire as one of four superpowers in the world. Persia couldnt even concur them when they attacked from egypt towards south where Axum is. They lost several of wars against them and if you look at the persian empire map it stops in the border of the land of Axum. Axum also concured the biggest arabian empire ever the Himyarite Kingdom located in south arabia. Axum had influence in India and even China.

    • Richgame

      When it comes to Bilal and him being a slave, its correct. Just because Axum was a big empire dosent mean they had moral. They sold everything from valuable resources to humans. Many African empires was known for doing so. Im not saying that he was sold but it is possible that, that may have happend. And to you saying Ethiopian Empire… It was axum not Ethiopian because if you look at the map most of the central places is in the boarder of eritrea (Axum) or in eritrea (Adulis, Quahaito)

    • Nelson

      Bilal never set foot in Abyssinia. His mother was of Ethiopian royalty, his dad was an Arabic slave.

    • Lylou Tarantino

      No offence, but the only thing that is preposterous is your ignorance….

    • Lylou Tarantino

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifkV6eQjqs8 You deserve a Darwin award for your comments…

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  • Michael S

    Get your facts right first. Were not Ethiopians the first to offer asylum to Muslims?

    And was there an Ethiopian slave ever? Was it Ethiopia or Axum as it was then? There were no slaves.

    A wrong report.

    • Humed

      You can deny the fact, Ethiopians like Ras family had been served by slaves until the end of their rule. If you are Ethiopian you can go ahead and learn history what so called Baria from the Elderly people. Do not take it as it was a weakness of any Habessha or so; I agree with you Ethiopia was the most powerful country in the horn of Africa ,butt he slavery in the region of Abyssinia Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia,Sudan and Djibouti happened forcefully to some tribes or by stilling kids from their family and sold mostly in the Arabic region and some locally. Yet, slavery didn’t stop there young Eritrean’s, Ethiopian’s, Sudanese have been abducted from Sudan’s border or refugee camps, on the road crossing the Sahara desert to Libya and been slavered by the Rashaida (Bedeween) and transported to the desert of Sinai and sold from one to another smuggler and sold for their organs alive if their family fail to pay what ever is asked to free their kids. Wake up and free your brothers and sisters from this criminals hand and put pressure on your government to stop this act instead of arguing about the past individual history.

  • saiffeldeen

    its not BS Steve. Bilal WAS a slave and if you can tell me of any other films about Islam besides “The Message” and “Lion of the Desert” or “Malcolm X” let me know. Remember slavery at that time was more like the desert scenes from the movie “Gladiator” when Maximus was sold into slavery. Remember? In fact, that was obviously the preIslamic times. Therefore, let them make the movies on Islam. We all know the history and who is who and what is what.

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  • danny

    All this Ethiopian slave talk is BS. Ethiopian Empire ruled gulf Arabia for hundreds of years. Read about it.

  • Amin Falaq

    So sad. Seems like every effort to uplift the descendants of the slaves of the Abyssinian origin has someone trying to dismantle it.
    Negroes did no argue when the white man was saying that we were descendants from apes, that he found us in Africa as savages like the other wild animals, that a white man named Tarazan could master all the black “savages” of the jungle….but soon as something is presented that contradicts al the lies the were designed to destroy our self esteem and tear u down, the negroe speaks out to condemn it.

    • unnuman

      This is the programming some still suffer from. It is so unfortunate. We pray for the ignorant.

  • Rosil Azawi

    This is the link to the official IMDb : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3576728/

  • chaz

    when and how can i watch this movie

  • سالم

    I see a lot of black Americans promotes the wrong information here ,
    Well I am an Arab from the Arabian Peninsula, and let me tell you something,
    1. Arabs are Caucasian race (Arabs have different degrees of skin, They skin between white and dark), but they are not like a black African.
    2. Ethiopians did not judge the Arabian Peninsula , Ethiopians occupied a small area in the south of the peninsula then Arabs expel them .
    3. There was a lot of slaves Ethiopians in Arabian Peninsula ,
    Arab Muslims making this movie to tells the true story about Bilal,
    Bilal was Ethiopian origin, and some people say he is hybrid, from arabian father and Ethiopian mother . Arab Muslims respect the Bilal , And they do not care about what is its origin or skin color ,

  • Truth Sayer

    You gotta love the Arabs for looking down on Bilal and the hadith by saying his not from a pure Ethiopian heritage. Everything should be Arab with these nationalistic swines. What’s next? Salman al Farisi was not a Persian but an Arab? Have you no shame?