“El-Daif” (The Guest), written by Ibrahim Eissa and directed by Khalid El-Bagoury, has become a box-office hit in Egypt (iProduction Company)

Islamic scholars say that ‘El-Daif’ is distorting key Islamic teachings – but its director disagrees

15 Feb 2019 | MEE Staff, Cairo | Middle East Eye

In a highly polarised society, what happens when a member of the family invites someone from the other side of the social divide for dinner?

That is the subject of El-Daif (The Guest), a new drama written by journalist Ibrahim Eissa and directed by Khalid El-Bagoury that has become both a box office and a critical hit in Egypt, while at the same time attracting controversy.

El-Daif starts with a dinner invitation as Farida (played by Jamila Awad) introduces a religiously ardent young man named Osama (Ahmed Malek) to her intellectual father, Dr Yahia El-Tigani (Khalid El-Sawy).

What unfolds is a heated discussion about religious discourse between the…