Thousands have protested across
the Middle East, North Africa and
Asia against a film made in the US
that depicts the Prophet Muhammad.
What is in the film and why it has
enraged so many people?
How did the film come to public
attention?
The 14-minute video was first
posted on YouTube on 1 July
without attracting much attention.
It was later picked up by various
Arab TV stations, with religious
Egyptian TV channel al-Nas'
presenter Sheikh Khalad Abdalla
broadcasting scenes on 8 September.
A clip from his show, dubbed into
Arabic, was posted online and within
days had been viewed by hundreds
of thousands of people.
The Afghan government says it has
blocked YouTube to prevent people
from watching it.
White House officials have asked
YouTube to consider whether the
film breaches its own guidelines.
These guidelines include the
stipulation: "We encourage free
speech and defend everyone's right
to express unpopular points of view.
But we do not permit hate speech..."
Google, which owns YouTube, said in
a statement that the video was
"clearly within our guidelines and so
will stay on YouTube", but added
that "given the very difficult
situation in Libya and Egypt" it had
restricted access to the video in both
countries.
The access to the video has also
been blocked in Saudi Arabia,
Indonesia and India.
What does the film show?
The footage, a trailer for a longer
film entitled Innocence of Muslims
(initial title was Desert Warrior),
appears to depict Islam as a religion
of violence and hate, and its Prophet
Muhammad as a foolish and power-
hungry man.
It opens with a scene in which a
Coptic family in a newly radicalised
Islamic Egypt is attacked by a group
of Muslims while police look on
without intervening. The father tells
his daughters that Muslims want to
kill all Christians and that the Islamic
state is hiding their crimes.
It then shows the Prophet
Muhammad and his life with his
family and his followers in the
desert. He is shown having sex with
his wife Khadija and other women.
The video implies Khadija is behind
the creation of the Koran, which is
described as a combination of
subversions of the Torah and the
New Testament.
The trailer depicts Muhammad and
his followers as killers, looters and
extortionists. In one scene the
Prophet sanctions the sexual abuse
of children; in another, he says he is
gay.
Why is it so offensive?
Depicting the Prophet Muhammad in
any way already defies Islamic belief,
let alone satirising him. His wife
Khadija and his earliest companions
are also revered in their own right in
Islam, and so mocking these
individuals is also considered serious
blasphemy.
The founding principle of Islam is
that the Koran is the direct word of
God, revealed to Muhammad in order
that he impart it to humankind.
Depicting Khadija as planning to
concoct a holy book out of the Old
and New Testament defies an
intrinsic Islamic belief.
Other references to Muhammad's
alleged affairs with women, his
greed and violence would clearly be
insulting in any context.
What do we know about how it was
put together?
The entire film is thought to be
around an hour long, although most
have only seen a 14-minute trailer
which has now been widely
circulated on the internet in English
and Arabic.
The fuller version had a showing in a
small Los Angeles cinema, the Vine
Theatre, in June, where its title was
The Innocence of Bin Laden.
It was clearly put together on a
budget, with a cheaply made set,
amateur actors and poor production
standards. It was shot over five days
at a California film studio in August
last year, with a cast of around 50,
together with a large production
crew.
The most offensive parts of the film
appear not to have been in the
original, but dubbed over the
soundtrack at a later date.
Who is Nakoula Basseley Nakoula?
The now infamous trailer for the film
was posted through a Youtube
account linked to the name
"sambacile" - originally reported as
an Israeli-born Jewish estate agent
who had raised $5m (£3.1m) from
Jewish donors in the US to make the
film. But this person did not exist.
US authorities now say they have
identified Nakoula Basseley Nakoula,
an Egyptian-born Coptic Christian
living in California, as the man who
made the film.
Mr Nakoula, who was found guilty of
fraud in 2010 and ordered to pay
more than $790,000 in restitution, is
thought to have used the
pseudonym "Sam Bacile" to hide his
identity. He denies the allegations.
Mr Nakoula is now in hiding.
What do the actors say about it?
They say they were misled about the
film entirely, claiming that the
original film had nothing to do with
Islam or Muhammad, and that all
references to him and insults to the
religion were added post-
production.
Cindy Lee Garcia, who had a small
role in the film, told Gawker.com that
she and others were given a script
for a film and that it would be a
historical drama set in the Middle
East.
She is now suing Mr Nakoula, who
she accuses of duping her into
taking part in the "hateful" film. She
is also asking a judge to order
YouTube to remove the film from its
site.
Who else appears to have been
involved in the making of the film?
An American right-wing extremist
called Steve Klein, linked with
various anti-Islamic groups in
California, has said he promoted the
film but does not know the identity
of the director.
According to Salon, Mr Klein
cultivated links with Californian
Coptic Christian Joseph Nasralla, who
has been identified as president and
CEO of Media for Christ, the
organisation alleged to have
produced the film.
Media for Christ is based in Duarte,
California, and advertises its mission
as promoting Christian values.
Pastor Terry Jones, from Florida, who
gained notoriety after threatening
to burn a copy of the Koran over
plans to build an Islamic cultural
centre near the site of the World
Trade Center, has said he was in
touch with a Mr Bacile over
promotion of the film, but did not
meet him and could not identify him.
According to Gawker.com, soft-porn
director Alan Roberts was brought in
to work on the film by Nakoula
Basseley Nakoula. The site says he
too may not have been aware what
he was actually working on.
Is there something more going on
here than protests about a film?
As was evident after Danish cartoons
of the Prophet Muhammad were
published in 2006, politicians and
religious leaders in the region used
perceived insults to Islam to rally
public support.
Protests began to spread from Egypt
to other countries - spurred on
perhaps by local media - because of
a long-standing mistrust and anger
at the West, something a number of
groups have been able to capitalise
upon.
Middle East analyst Magdi Abdelhadi
says that although the film will have
caused genuine offence among
many Muslims, groups like al-Qaeda,
whose black flag has been seen at
some of the protests, have seized
the opportunity to stir up unrest.
Disillusionment, lack of opportunity
and anger at the establishment is
also feeding into the protests,
analysts say

Source;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19606155

The 14-minute video was first
posted on YouTube on 1 July
without attracting much attention.

Huh?

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