In defense of 'The Exorcist', the occurrence of the Adhan is incidental, the real horror element in those Iraqi scenes derives from the Nabatean dig cite, the discovery of those relics, and the stray dogs fighting in the desert as Father Karras stands opposite the statue of the Assyrian god Pazuzu. Furthermore, the religion skewed as 'dark and exotic' in the Exorcist is undeniably Christianity: the georgetown cathedrals, catholic guilt, a performance of the arcane christian rites of exorcism, defamed statue of the virgin mary, masturbating with a crucifix, did I mention masturbating with a crucifix? The offense a muslim can take to the Exorcist does not hold a candle to christian repugnance. There's nothing exclusively Islamic about the enigma and gravity of organized religion and its rituals, and directors tap into this mystery to add dimension to their movies when appropriate. A movie is false consciousness, even with a documentary style as keen as 'The Battle of Algiers' (which the Hurt Locker emulates but falls short of in favor of drama), and you can be adult enough to step away from it in favor of actual consciousness, where you can take offense to actions that have purchase in the real world.

Granted, the Adhan is used to heighten mood in the Exorcist and the Hurt Locker. A director's job is to use all the available tools at their disposal to illict emotion or lend authenticity to a scene, but how then is it possible to avoid the topic of Islam when shooting a quasi-political feature in an Islamic country? Technically it can be argued that (and most certainly is argued that ) Arabic is a pious language because of its connection to the poetry of the Quraan. Would I have to censor arabic in an Arab movie because linguistic idioms trace their origins to the one book every Arab speaker is familiar with?

I'm guessing the author is the type of person who likes taking offense to something more so than treating any phenomenon objectively. I'm also probably not going out on a limb when I postulate that this guest poster would barely stir in his seat if an Arab were to use the Adhan in their film. Let's say, for instance, Youssef Chahine's 'Cairo Station', which contains the Adhan. Youssef Chahine was a notorious Atheist, but most of his Arab critics cited him for being overly sexual or violent in his movies, rather than his 'disrespect' towards Islam.

Your critical ideas float about as well as swiss cheese.

well here is the thing.. In Hollywood, Arabs, and Muslims have no representation.. Its not Arabs, and or Muslim's faults.. Its just that we immigrated later than other cultures, so we gotta do something about it.. we can decide to make money on our cultural music and take control of the situation or we can act like the we are the victims..

we are not, we just are not organized..

1. lets take action, by creating resources for editors and directors..
a. by making information readily available, an example can be to start a company that license's Muslim sounds.. by Muslim's being the owner of such music they can play descretion in who buys the music and sale such music at a cost.. this is how you own Hollywood! I think we need to create an initiative in the Muslim community to actually start facilitating such endeavors.. .Kinda like how warner brother's own the song happy birthday.. they charge an arm and leg for anyone who sings happy birthday on air.. food for thought!

Ya know.. there isn't a website that offers producers's and editors the availability of "politically correct' music they can buy to edit movies..

We can blame the Movie makers, but then again I did work in Music while in Hollywood, and one of my illusions of grandeur was to actually create a website that can be used for movies and sell the licensing for such movies.. of course giving a dipiction and a history of what the music sounds like..

if anyone wants to collaborate with me respond to this post..

My Regards