World: Libya Protests Spurred By Anti-Muslim Film

The day following an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that killed the U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, news reports have focused on a 14-minute trailer for an obscure anti-Muslim film that mocks the Prophet Muhammad and was the target of protests outside the consulate before it was raided.

U.S. officials have told news outlets that the attackers may have planned the killings in advance, using the the protest over the video as a diversion. But questions have continued over the film, titled "Innocence of Muslims," that spread via YouTube and Middle Eastern media ahead of the attacks and depicts the Islamic prophet as a womanizer, a pedophile and a homosexual, among other characterizations.

Some questions about the movie, the shabby trailer for which was deconstructed by reporters on Wednesday, have been answered. Actors from the film claim they had no idea they were participating in an anti-Muslim movie and thought it was about life in Egypt 2,000 years ago. They also said that their voices had been dubbed over. Indeed, the video's audio track indicates that there was dubbing.

But it's still unclear who made the film -- and questions have lingered around the filmmaker's religion. While news reports have said he is Jewish, evangelical or hinted at him possibly being Coptic Christian or Muslim, the truth about who made the film and that person's religious background is still a mystery.

Initial reports from the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal named the filmmaker as Sam Bacile, identified as a Israeli Jewish real estate developer based in California. "Islam is a cancer," the AP quoted him saying.

But later, news outlets reported they could not find any public records for Bacile in California and there was no history of him as a filmmaker.

"And when it is said to them: 'Create not disorder on the earth,' they say: 'We are only promoters of peace'." [Holy Qur'an, 2:12]


The Ahmadiyya Post, World. 13 Sept 2012