There’s a lot of meaning in a name.
Take, for example, Netflix’s upcoming show Messiah. The 10-part thriller series follows a man in Syria who claims to be the son of God (played by Mehdi Dehbi). He is apparently able to perform Christ-like miracles amassing him a global following, all while CIA agent Eve Geller (Michelle Monaghan), who believes this is part of a large-scale, geopolitical hoax, attempts to debunk the claims.
With such a hot button premise, Messiah has drawn plenty of controversy of its own all before it has even been released. Much of it hinges on a name — specifically, the titular messiah’s, who is known only as al-Masih.
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The buzz grew after Netflix shared a trailer for the series and Muslims and Arabic speakers pointed out a giant giveaway about the plot. Al-Masih, which translates to “the messiah,” is a name for Jesus Christ in Islam — but according to the BBC, it also a name associated with Dajjal, a false prophet akin to the Antichrist, who announces himself to the world as al-Masih. In Islamic theology, Dajjal impersonates the true messiah and is often described as having curly hair, being blind in one eye, and sporting the word “kafir” (“unbeliever”) on his forehead.
After Islamic and Arabic speaking followers pointed out the name’s meaning on Twitter, Netflix denied that the main character’s full name is al-Masih ad-Dajjal. As Messiah fell under scrutiny, some users mined some humor from the situation.
crying @ the fact that muslims figured out the twist ending of the netflix 'messiah' show b/c they LITERALLY NAMED THE CHARACTER DAJJAL pic.twitter.com/nLWWtxpKHL
— idham (@frankoceanhafiz) December 5, 2019
After you heard Netflix releasing a series about Dajjal https://t.co/whRgLifu4T
— 𝔰𝔜𝔞𝔣𝔦𝔨 (@syafikazhar_) December 5, 2019
But others also pointed out how this could be more than just lazy storytelling, arguing that the move feels ignorant of Islamic theology and shows an obvious pandering to English-speaking, non-Islamic audiences.
It's honestly kind of insulting. This means the show creators took from the Islamic faith and then were surprised and even mad when muslims and Arabic speakers watched their show.
— Melody Young (@FurMelodyYoung) December 5, 2019
goes to show you that english speakers also dont look into the meaning or context of the concepts they use - that they borrow these concepts merely because theyre "exotic" to other english speakers, meant to entertain an audience of english speakers and probs no one else.
— arnold palmer (@LargeDonut) December 5, 2019
It’s still unclear where Messiah, which is streaming now, will go with the name, though we won’t have to wait much longer to find out.
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