Innocence of Muslims, previously called Innocence of Bin Laden (working title Desert Warrior, YouTube titles The Real Life of Muhammad and Muhammad Movie Trailer), is a privately[citation needed] produced low-budget 2012 film that disparages Islam and its prophet, Muhammad.[1]
Months after its release, violent protests against Western institutions
in several mostly Muslim countries around the world resulted in a
number of deaths, and hundreds of injuries.
Two film trailers were released on YouTube, on July 1 and 2, 2012. The clips were dubbed into Arabic, and then spread by Egyptian-American lawyer and Coptic Christian Morris Sadek.[2]
On September 8, 2012, a two-minute excerpt was shown on Al-Nas TV, an Egyptian Islamist
television station. Protests allegedly against the film on September
11, which spread to other nations over the following days, were
accompanied by attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions on September 11, including an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that resulted in at least 14 deaths, including those of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.[3] The film has allegedly sparked protests around the world. U.S. law enforcement officials believe they have identified the filmmaker as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, an Egyptian American who "was connected to the persona" of "Sam Bacile" linked to the making of the film.[1]
Background
Any visual depictions of Muhammad are considered forbidden in some traditions of Islam, for while the Quran does not explicitly forbid images of Muhammad, there are a few hadith
(supplemental teachings) which have explicitly prohibited Muslims from
creating visual depictions of figures. Such depictions have in the past
at times led to mass protests and violence. The 1976 film Mohammad, Messenger of God, despite not actually showing Muhammad, led to the Hanafi Siege, in which a group of African-American gunmen took 149 people hostage, demanding the film's destruction. A series of cartoons depicting Muhammad published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005 resulted in mass protests and terrorist attacks.
Content and commentary
According to Reuters, the film trailer depicts Muhammad as a "fool, a philanderer and a religious fake,"[4] and "as a womanizer, a homosexual and a child abuser."[5][6][7] The video opens with Egyptian Muslims burning the homes of Egyptian Christians while Egyptian security forces are standing idle.[8] The next scene goes back to Muhammad's time. His wife Khadija is shown to create the Koran out of Old and New Testament verses; the film portrays this as the founding of Islam. The Prophet's followers are portrayed as "savage killers hungry for wealth and bent on killing women and children."[6] Sky News said the film clip was anti-Muslim and "designed to enrage".[9]
In the excerpt of the film and the trailer, the character of Muhammad calls a donkey "the first Muslim animal".[10] Time attributed the scene, depicting Muhammad having a "homoerotic, one-sided conversation with a donkey", to an essay by Father Zakaria Botros.[11]
Critics panned the film. It "includes not a single artistically
redeemable aspect at all." The directing is "atrocious"; the sets
"terrible"; the acting consists of "their blank eyes and strained line
readings".[12]
It’s been called an “inept vanity project” that's "far beneath any
reasonable standard of moviemaking." Neumaier concludes "Even if you
believe that art can be blasphemous, you’d have to consider this thing
art first. And that is impossible to imagine."[13]
Muslim filmmaker Kamran Pasha
commented that the film's portrayal was "utterly alien to the Islam of
love and gentleness" he knew. He noted that although some accounts
described Muhammad's consummation of marriage with Aisha
at the age of nine, others disagreed; although Muhammad was polygamous,
his household was "embarrassingly modest" compared to the harems of
powerful men of the time; and that the killing of members of the Banu Qurayza was according to the Torah and comparatively merciful for the era
Production
The cast and crew have publicly stated that they were deceived about
the purpose and content of the film. In a statement obtained by CNN,
the film's 80 cast and crew members disavowed the film, saying: "The
entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by
the producer. We are 100% not behind this film and were grossly misled
about its intent and purpose." It further explained, "We are shocked by
the drastic re-writes of the script and lies that were told to all
involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred."[15]
Cindy Lee Garcia, who played the mother of Muhammad's bride-to-be, said
the script was for a movie about life in Egypt 2,000 years ago, called Desert Warrior (and possibly also Desert Storm[16]),
and that the character "Muhammad" was referred to as "Master George" on
set. According to Garcia, "Bacile" claimed to be an Israeli real estate
mogul. Later, however, he told her he was Egyptian and she heard him
speaking in Arabic with other men on set. Garcia stated it makes her
"sick" that she was involved in a film that caused people to die and
that she is considering legal action against "Bacile."[17] Sarah Abdurrahman, a producer for WNYC's On the Media program, watched the trailer and concluded that all of the religious references were overdubbed after filming.[18] The independent film was produced and directed by a person first identified in casting calls as Alan Roberts.[1][19][17]
After the film's original content was altered without knowledge of the
original director, a man named "Sam Bacile" took credit for directing
the film.
In September 2012, "Sam Bacile" took credit for directing the film,
initially described as a 56-year-old (52-year-old according to the Wall Street Journal[20]) real estate developer from Israel who spoke by phone with the Associated Press.[3][21] Israeli authorities found no sign of him being an Israeli citizen,[22] and there was no indication of a 'Sam Bacile' around 50 years old living in California, having a real estate license[23] or participating in Hollywood filmmaking.[24] Though "Bacile" claimed the film had been made for $5 million from more than 100 Jewish donors,[25] Hollywood Reporter described the film's appearance as unprofessional, bringing this claim into doubt.[26] According to a man who identified himself to the Wall Street Journal as Bacile, the film was produced to call attention to what he called the "hypocrisies" of Islam.[27]
Later, "Sam Bacile" was identified as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a Coptic Christian immigrant from Egypt living in Cerritos, California,
near Los Angeles. In 2010, Nakoula, who had served prison time on a
1990s conviction for manufacturing methamphetamine, pleaded no contest
to bank fraud and was sentenced to 21 months in prison;[28][29] he was released on probation from prison in June 2011.[30]
Authorities said Nakoula told the police that he had written the
movie's script while in prison and, together with his son, Abanob
Basseley, raised between $50,000 and $60,000 from his wife's family in
Egypt to finance the film.[31][29] According to CNN, the FBI contacted him because of the potential for threats, but he is not under investigation by the FBI.[32]
However, federal officials are investigating whether Nakoula violated
the terms of his prison release which required him to refrain using the
Internet for five years.[33]
American non-profit Media for Christ obtained film permits
to shoot the movie in August 2011, and Nakoula provided his home as a
set and paid the actors, according to government officials and those
involved in the production.[34] Media for Christ president Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih reportedly went into hiding after the violent response to the film.[34]
Steve Klein, a Vietnam veteran who has been active in opposing Islam and has been associated with paramilitary "hate groups" at his church according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, was asked by Nakoula to be the spokesman for the film.[35] The movie's self-identified consultant, Klein reportedly told Nakoula: "You're going to be the next Theo van Gogh."[36] Klein later told journalist Jeffrey Goldberg that "Bacile" is not a real person and is not Israeli nor Jewish, as has been reported, and that the name is a pseudonym for about 15 Copts and Evangelical Christians from Syria, Turkey, Pakistan and Egypt; Goldberg questioned the reliability of Klein.[37]
Klein rejected any blame for the violent reaction to the movie, saying,
"Do I feel guilty that these people were incited? Guess what? I didn't
incite them. They're pre-incited, they're pre-programmed to do this."[35]
Screening and promotion
On June 23, the movie was screened once under the title Innocence of Bin Laden to an audience of under 10 at The Vine Theatre, which rents space for private screenings, on Hollywood Boulevard.[36][38]
According to one attendee, "The acting was of the worst caliber," and
"had no inkling that that movie was anti-Islamic and did not recall the
movie referencing the prophet Mohammad," but he did not see the whole
film.[38]
Two clips were posted on YouTube
on July 1 (13'02", title "The Real Life of Muhammad", comment "Part of
the movie, "Life of Muhammad"..... اجزاء من فيلم حياة محمد") and 2nd
(13'50", title "Muhammad Movie Trailer", comment "فضيحة الاسلام الكبري")
by user "sam bacile".[39]
By September, it[clarification needed] had been dubbed into Arabic and was brought to the attention of the Arabic-speaking world by Coptic blogger Morris Sadek, whose Egyptian citizenship had been revoked for promoting calls for an attack on Egypt.[40][41]
The film has been promoted by pastor Terry Jones, whose burning of copies of the Quran previously led to deadly riots around the world. On September 11, 2012, Jones said that he planned to show a 13-minute trailer that night at his church the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida.
Jones said in a statement that "it is an American production, not
designed to attack Muslims but to show the destructive ideology of
Islam. The movie further reveals in a satirical fashion the life of
Muhammad."[3]
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