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Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA
Iranian women shout anti-U.S. slogans in front of the Swiss embassy, which houses the U.S. interest section, in Tehran on Thursday. Reports from the Iranian capital said about 500 joined the protest of the Internet-circulated movie "Innocence of Muslims."
While the motivation behind the low-budget video "Innocence of Muslims" remains unclear, the reasons it has helped fuel attacks and protests at U.S. diplomatic missions in the Middle East and Africa are both emotional and political, experts say.
While it is true that images of Muhammad are not allowed in Islamic tradition, that doesn't explain the violent reaction, said Hassan Shibly, an imam and civil rights lawyer in Florida who works for the Council on American Islamic Relations.
The reason for the prohibition in the Quran was that Muhammad wanted to discourage idolatry, he explained.
"The Islamic tradition forbade depictions of any prophet or any holy people so that people throughout the years don’t start worshipping the prophet," Shibly said. "God is supposed to be the focus, not Muhammad or Jesus or anyone else."
Images of God, whom Muslims call Allah, also are not allowed because Muhammad believed that no picture could capture the creator, Shibly said. This is why the walls of mosques are typically decorated with abstract art and calligraphy.
The film, which has been blamed for fueling protests at U.S. diplomatic posts, including the violence at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead, and Danish cartoons that caused so much protest in 2005 caused outrage among Muslims because they were seen as ridiculing or criticizing the prophet.
Actors and the assistant director of the film "Innocence of Muslims" told NBC News that the original spoken lines in the screenplay were dubbed over without their knowledge. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.
"For Muslims, Muhammad is a sacred symbol," said John Esposito, a professor at Georgetown University. "Muhammad represents and embodies the religion of Islam. He’s not a god, but plays the role historically that Jesus played historically."
Images like these are now making their way, via the Internet to Muslim populations who have never before been exposed to sharp critiques of their faith, which also helps explain the level of anger they have stirred.
Esposito said the reaction resembles those in the West earlier in history.
He pointed to the uproar over 1988 Hollywood film "The Last Temptation of Christ." Director Martin Scorsese's adaptation of a book by the same name showed Jesus struggling with lust, depression and doubt, and engaging in sex — in his imaginings — before snapping back to reality and dying on the cross. That movie was seen as blasphemy by some Christians, who — though not violent — were vocal enough to prevent the film from being shown in many parts of the United States.
Shibly stressed that there is no justification for the violence that took the lives of the four Americans in Libya, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, on Tuesday. CAIR on Wednesday issued a call for Muslims to ignore what it called the "trashy" anti-Islam film and has condemned the killings.
"It’s so hypocritical for (the attackers) to do these acts in the name of the prophet Muhammad,” said Shibly. "Muhammad didn’t win over his enemies by violence, he did so through compassion."
However, he says that insults to Muhammad hurt deeply.
"Muslims love the prophets of god more than we love our own parents, more than we love ourselves," said Shibly. "When people attack Muhammad, it definitely hurts us on an emotion level. But, that said, it doesn’t justify the violence. That’s just totally unacceptable."
"Innocence of Muslims" features wooden acting, poor dubbing, awkward sexual moments and ham-fisted insults, with none of the production values of "The Last Temptation of Christ," or any serious exploration of Islam. Experts said it would almost certainly have remained obscure had it not ignited the protests and violence after being circulated in Arabic via the Internet.
So far, it remains unclear who produced the film, and who funded it. Initially, the maker was identified as an Israeli-American man identified as Sam Bacile. But by Thursday, published reports were suggesting that it was the work of a group of anti-Islam Christians.
The latest reporting suggests that Bacile is actually Egyptian-born Coptic Christian named Nakoula Basseley who lives in the Los Angeles area. The Copts are a minority in Egypt, and often victims of discrimination in the majority Muslim country, as well as attacks by extremists.
In a geopolitical context, said Esposito, the film plays right into the hands of extremists in the region who are using anti-American sentiment to advance their own goals.
"What we have here, and it’s significant symbolically ... on or around 9/11 (anniversary), two terrorist or extremist attacks in Benghazi and in Cairo. … They are attacking symbols of the U.S. They are playing to a population. … It would be anti-American, but (they are) using this (video) to legitimize what they are doing."
Shibly also wonders if the film itself was produced or circulated strategically to stir up well-known sensitivities.
"The sad thing is these people are doing it on purpose," he said. "And unfortunately these Muslims fell right into the trap."
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It's those bigots that make the films, and the few who incite the masses because of the over-all stupidity and ignorant of the masses - who are basically asses. Just read the comments! hahahahaha
Muslim's not being the sharpest knives in the drawer fell right into the trap. This is like an experiment to see just how easy it is to incite violence in a Muslim Country. If they are that insecure they cannot last.
I donno....during the Catholic Inquisition there were a lot of killings in the name of Christ. This is the 21st Century's rendition of religious morons being incited out of ignorance.
What gets really tiring is to hear over and over the Christian apologists that compare the crusades and the inquisition that happened hundreds of years ago to what is taking place today.
Go to the Southern Poverty Law Center site and read Meet Steve Klein, the Hate Group Leader Who ‘Consulted’ on ‘The Innocence of Muslims’ at http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2012/09/12/meet-steve-klein-the-hate-group-leader-who-consulted-on-the-innocence-of-muslims/ - it is very good and provides the background that Mitt and Gingrich obviously did not have before they shot off their co-joined mouths.
Muhammad didn't eat pigs, because he didn't want to be called a cannibal.
These idiot women in the photo worship a god who allows them to be raped and stoned to death for the act of being raped. They all deserve each other.
Islam doesn't have a "God". It's just religious zealot morons being manipulated by a few people who can also talk morons into blowing themselves up. Same as during the Catholic Inquisition of the 12st Century, when Christians went on a killing spree.
@Master Joseph: That's all you Christian haters every bring up, isn't it? The Inquisition and/or The Crusades. You overlook the fact that Christianity brought literacy to common people in England and elsewhere, that it provides food and shelter for the downtrodden. Try getting your own mind into the 21st Century, please.
They are already saying it looks like the attack was planned and the attackers used the protesters as some sort of cover. If you don't like it don't watch it, that's all people come on how old are you?
Freedom of the press doesn't exist in comment rooms. Each news media bans you for life if you use vile language, attack others personally, etc. So therefore freedom of the press is a misnomer and a huge lie. There is NO freedom of the press by the people. Just the press itself.
All I keep reading is the violence within islam whenever it is criticized followed by attacks on FREE SPEECH AS GUARANTEED by the US Constitution not just by the islamists, but repeatedly today and yesterday obama clinton and their entire politburo!
I must say though, how obvious the dearth of critique bu chairman barack and pravda (AKA NBC) is regarding the continued Mein Kampf style assaults on Judaaism,w ith cartoons throughout the muslim states depicting Jews as hook nosed dog eared bearded neanderthals cutting up poor muslim kiddies and drinking their blood or the depictions of the Virgin Mary masturbating with a phallic cross.
Perhaps it is time for the Jews and Christians to react accordingly and start burning down mosques and ambushing the islamists in dearbornstan every time they post a sacrilege against us.
IT IS ONLY FAIR!
All Muslims are savages and have no respect for human life. Do you ever hear of any so called peace loving Muslims condemning the murders commited by other Muslims....no, never. One Muslim is one too many.
All
Muslimschristians are savages and have no respect for human life. Do you ever hear of any so called peace lovingMuslimschristians condemning the murders committed by otherMuslimschristians....no, never. OneMuslimchristian is one too many.just a little exercise in perspective.
"the Islamic tradition forbade depiction of any prophet....images of God or any holy people whom Muslims called Allah, also are not allowed because Muhammad believed that no picture could capture the creator."
So, following that logic; if Muslims aren't allowed to depict Muhammad in pictures...how do they know if any depiction of Muhammad portrayed outside the Muslim world is Muhammad?...making these Islam extremist's outrage over this whole issue even more ridiculous - in other words, how can they take any portrayal of Muhammad by an "infidel" seriously, if they, the Islamic extremists, don't know what Muhammad looked like?
I don't know but I'm really tempted to just start drawing stick figures then labeling them as Mohammed and posting them!
Dgamin i was thinking the same thing. I google Muhammad pics just to see what this joker looks like. Then I'm like how the HELL do they know what he looks like anyway, lol
I'm not muslim and I am tolerant of everyone's beliefs but I DO NOT condone VIOLENCE in any shape form or fashion. If you have to resort to VIOLENCE to defend your faith than your whole point in the matter is rendered mute.
Anyone who is deeply religious is also capable of atrocity in the name of that religion, which is a validation that religion is without intrinsic merit. It is a legacy from our primitive beginnings...like our tonsils.
Please define "deeply religious." I would die for my faith but I would never kill or even harm someone because of it. You're statement is completely without merit.
Benet- Exactly. Religion is the height of idiocy.
Benet
Anyone who is deeply religious is also capable of atrocity in the name of that religion, which is a validation that religion is without intrinsic merit. It is a legacy from our primitive beginnings...like our tonsils.
Or a liberal brain.
To those idiots who continuously bring up the inquisition, that was the 12th century, not 2012, and there was no killing spree. Spanish Catholics were afraid of the growing influence of Jews and trumped up reasons to persecute them.
"RELIGION", born out of ignorance, supported by ignorance, and spread by charlatans who profit from that ignorance, could very well lead to the demise of the human society as we know it --- or think that we know it.
Perhaps it is time to give Planet Earth back to the animals which are far more deserving of the space traveling orb than the so-designated "human species" which have somehow taken control despite their totally ignorant reliance upon "religion."
I suppose that "fear of dying" is the propelling force behind the superstitious, mental creation of religion. It has apparently controlled "human" psyche since man has evolved from the lower primates.
"Animals" on the other hand, do not spend their entire life worrying about the "after-life". They simply accept the world as it is --- a beginning and an end.
Carrion, please.
Doc Warbucks: feel free to give up your own life to provide the opportunity to have animals take over our planet...I, on the other hand, am not willing to do that...although, I did think your play on words "carrion" was pretty funny.
And, how do you know whether or not animals worry about an "after-life"?
"god" was created by men who believe themselves too important to die.
Look - the quran is a book of nothing more than hate, instructing murder, oppressing women as possessions, producing pediophiles to instill control to anyone not of the muslim/islamic cult...
They want to instill their shariah corrupt and barbaric law on everyone on the earth...
In every country that has of the muslim/islamic cult being predominent, there is rampant poor, rampant uneducated and dictatorships that are oppressive to their ignorant people... citizens of these countries that are sheep just fall in line with what this corrupt and criminal prophet dictated in a book almost 2,000 years ago... all hateful and with disregard to committing murder to those that do not agree with shariah.
It is an extreme violent way to live your life.
Muslims have murdered 100s of thousands of innocents over the last 11 years alone in the name of their false god. The Jews have emassed almost 190 Nobel prizes in numerous humanistic advancement categories.
Who do you think are the progressors of humanity and who do you think are the barbarians that have added nothing to the advance of humanity?
At one time in the very distant past, these middle eastern people were the eminent intellectual leaders in mathmatics, science and astronomy who taught the European continent these sciences. But that was over 2,000 years ago... since the quran came out in the 600s, these same middle eastern people have disintergrated into nothing more than thugs all due to their prophet. My God does not expect to have me to murder someone of another religion, does yours?
These are the facts...
As if the bible isnt? haha You know hating gays, subjugating women, revenge ect..
Pete,
Every charge that you laid at the feet of islam is also true of christianity. Two sides of the same demented, man-made coin
As the Imam quoted said, "Muhammad is not God." However, despite what he said JESUS IS GOD! Don't paint Jesus and Muhammad in same bold stroke...they are not comparable.
Despite this, when anyone says or does something about Jesus (like the movie he references) people were not killed, embassies were not stormed. Democratic societies, though not perfect, don't generally act this way. It seams every Friday in the mid-East there is a protest and riot and killing...and this is the Islamic day of prayer?
yeah - they're so religious when they cross the border to the UAE and their religion goes out the door.
This film, and the cartoons and other writings do not cause violence. The lamebrained outlook of Muslims and their penchant for violence is the cause.
If you put 2 muslims in a room, neither will be muslim enough for the other, and a beheading will ensue. Assuming one turns their back for a second.
All that information about how Muslims look at the prophet and depictions of Allah...that's fine for Muslims. If they believe that, no problem. The problem is that when people of other religions, or no religion, wish to respect their own beliefs Muslims somehow think that is their business. The same people that burn bibles think burning the Koran is just awful. This comes about because of lack of intelligence, lack of tolerance and the inflamed arrogance of ignorance. The Koran urges marrying 1st cousins, and after 1000 generations that will begin to have a long lasting effect.
Mind your own business. If someone that is not a muslim decides to depict Allah in any way whatever, it does not pertain to you. You understand that when you are burning bibles or throwing shoes at President Bush, but somehow it is beyond your intelligence to see when the tables are turned.
If you would stay home, live peaceably, treat others with the respect you would want to have from them, things might change. If a year went by without suicide bombings, murder, shootings, beheadings, kidnappings and mayhem against the rest of the world, Islam would be past everything they don't like. Do you think people would be making insulting movies and cartoons about Mohammed and Allah if you hadn't behaved like utter fools and then blamed it on them?
Steve the dog man - perhaps one of the best written posts I have seen in years.
We all worship God in our own special way. Do not demean others spiritual beliefs. It is not necessary.
I don't.
Demeaning absurdity IS necessary IMO.
Read Christopher Hitchens book:
god is not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything
Muhammed IS a cartoon, a joke and very funny to look at. They should come out with a Muhammed toilet paper.
They did. It's called the quran.
I think a terrorist group made the film just to set this whole thing off. First the alledged film maker was a US born Israeli from California, however it is apparent know one seems to really know who or wear he is. Something is just not right about this situation.
bottom line, if they are looking for Americans to sympathize with them now after all this violence has erupted - than obviously they don't know us very well and how we don't tolerate violence against OUR OWN. Didn't they learn anything from Mr. bin Laden????? Don't play with us - esp days after 9/11 anniversary. we've been there fought that and we'll fight it again. But why must violence lead to more violence??? over a @!$%#ing picture???give me a break . time for the Q'ran to get an update anyway.
What poor reporting. Shibly is talking about Islamic law (Sharia) here. Then Huus goes on about the Quran, as if these were one and the same. There is no prohibition of images of the prophet in the Quran. For more information, see (link) this page from the World Muslim Congress.
Who cares!
Just pointing out a lack of fact-checking by this author - a regular occurrence in her articles. I'm no fan of Islam by any stretch. The story about how Muhammad allegedly "...didn't win over his enemies by violence, he did so through compassion" is an outrageous lie, also not fact-checked by the author. And if you want to know what CAIR is all about, look here. The author consistently takes CAIR spokespeople at face value.
You are correct engineer guy, I made the same correction on page 9 of this discussion (didn't see your's first). Dennis doesn't care (in this case) only because NBC's resident Islam hugger, Kari Huus, is the one getting it wrong. If an "Islamophobe" made the same mistake he would probably be all over it.
Edit: mea culpa, I was thinking that the "Dennis" above was a different Dennis who is always defending and making excuse for Islam and Muslims no matter how outrageous the topic at hand.
Let's try to keep it real. Depictions of Mohammed incite violence because these are profoundly stupid and emotionally immature people. We can all try to pretend to be PC, but enough is enough. When people kill over such nonsense then they need to be killed -- asap. When so-called moderates stand by and do nothing to stop the killing, they too are murderers and deserve to be collateral damage when the inevitable retaliation occurs.
Dolph T===But Obama wants to be there friends. Just look back at his Cairo speech when he apologized for everything America has every done around the world.
Obama the Foreign Affairs President, my butt.
These people are so backwards even wild hyenas are more civilized then they are.