Our Announcements
Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here.
Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Religion on September 13th, 2012
The cast and crew of “Innocence of Muslims” says they were duped into working on the Anti-Muslim film that prompted protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.
The 80 cast and crew members of the film says they were misled by the mysterious producer Sam Bacile, who has reportedly gone into hiding. They released this statement to CNN:
“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. 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.”
It appears that all the religious references were dubbed over in post-production.
One woman Cindy Lee Garcia of Bakersfield told Gawker that she had no idea that the film had anything to do with the life of Muhammed. She was given a script titled “Desert Warriors” that was supposed to be about the life of an ancient Egyptian called Master George (who became “Muhammed” with some dubbing).
“It was going to be a film based on how things were 2,000 years ago,” Garcia said. “It wasn’t based on anything to do with religion, it was just on how things were run in Egypt. There wasn’t anything about Muhammed or Muslims or anything.”
She said she called up Bacile to give him a piece of her mind today: “I called Sam and said, ‘Why did you do this?’ and he said, ‘I’m tired of radical Islamists killing each other. Let other actors know it’s not their fault.'”
Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Religion on September 13th, 2012
The filmmaker whose anti-Islam movie sparked the protests in Libya that claimed the lives of the U.S. Ambassador as well as other staffers is now in hiding. Sam Bacile, a real estate developer based in California,told the AP, “This is a political movie. The US lost a lot of money and a lot of people in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but we’re fighting with ideas… Islam is a cancer, period.”
The AP reports, “The attack on the consulate was believed to be related to a trailer for Bacile’s two-hour film ‘Innocence of Muslims’ that was posted on YouTube and enraged conservative Muslims for its claims, among other things, that Muhammad approved of child molestation, and its depiction of Muslims as terrorist thugs.” The protests in Libya as well as Egypt erupted when news media reported about the “obscure” film (based on its trailer) and broadcast clips such as “an actor playing a buffoonish caricature of the prophet Muhammad call[ing] a donkey ‘the first Muslim animal.'”
Bacile, who said he was an “Israeli Jew,” was interviewed yesterday (before Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was killed) and at the time only one American had been killed. He said, “I feel the security system [at the embassies] is no good. America should do something to change it.” He also claimed that he raised $5 million to make the film, which seems ridiculous since it’s rather amateurish (video of the trailer). The film has also been promoted by Koran-burning Florida pastor Terry Jones.
The NY Times reports, “The Israeli government moved quickly to distance Israel from the creator of the film. Yigal Palmor, the spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said in a telephoned statement that ‘Nobody knows who he is. He is totally unknown in filmmaking circles in Israel. And anything he did — he is not doing it for Israel, or with Israel, or through Israel in any way.’ Mr. Palmor also called Mr. Bacile ‘a complete loose cannon and an unspeakable idiot.‘”
Nihad Awad, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said, “We urge that this ignorant attempt to provoke the religious feelings of Muslims in the Arabic-speaking world be ignored and that its extremist producers not be given the cheap publicity they so desperately seek. Those who created this trashy film do not represent the people of America or the Christian faith. The only proper response to intentional provocations such as this film is to redouble efforts to promote mutual understanding between faiths and to marginalize extremists of all stripes.”
Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Religion on September 13th, 2012
BY MATT DUSS
TOPICS: CLARION FUND, GEERT WILDERS, INNOCENCE OF MUSLIMS, ISLAM,ISLAMOPHOBIA, SAM BACILE
A still image from “The Innocence of Muslims”
Not since the Pamela Anderson-Tommy Lee honeymoon tape has a crappier film received so much attention. Having watched the trailer for “The Innocence of Muslims,” it seems to me that the best possible response would be a new episode of “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” Tragically, some in Egypt and Libya apparently thought this crude propaganda was worth rioting over, and the riots have now left four people dead in the U.S. consulate in Benghazi,including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens.
The attacks on the American embassy and consulate, and the deaths they caused, are clearly a criminal outrage, and responsibility belongs solely to the killers. There’s obviously no equivalence between producing a crude propaganda film and taking part in a violent riot. (Though new reporting suggests that the film may actually have had very little do with the violence in Libya.) Such a tragedy shouldn’t be used to limit speech, however offensive. If you don’t support the free speech of clearly talentless, bigoted provocateurs like the pseudonymous Sam Bacile you don’t really support free speech.
Matt Duss, policy analyst at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, is a regular contributor to Salon. Follow him @mattduss
http://laist.com/2012/09/12/israeli_behind_anti-muslim_film_tha.php
Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Religion on July 3rd, 2012
Abû Hurayrah relates that a man said to the Prophet (peace be upon him): “Counsel me.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Do not get angry.” The man repeated his request many times, but the Prophet (peace be upon him) kept saying: “Do not get angry.” [ Sahîh al-Bukhârî ]
“I’ll do it right away. I’m sorry if I blocked your way. I wish you could be more polite. There’s no need to yell. You could ask me to move my car without shouting and yelling.”
This unpleasant experience disrupted my whole day and made me feel upset for hours. It made me wonder why many Saudis always choose the angry approach when dealing with each other on a daily basis. It sometimes seems as if no day goes by without experiencing such a disturbing situation. It is, in fact, a form of social conduct that many members of our society engage in. It is clear that we, unfortunately, tend to have an aura of arrogance when conducting our daily business and dealing with others.
It is difficult to explain the reason behind such social behavior. I tried to link it to stress, but the level of stress we have in Saudi Arabia is not as high as in other parts of the world. In many ways, it is quite the opposite. We live in a rather relaxed environment. Could it then be that it is because of an overwhelming feeling of frustration that prevails among a substantial number of our citizens?
Everywhere in the Kingdom, be it an educational or government institution, private establishment, or even a social gathering of friends or family members, the overwhelming tone of people’s conversations is that nothing is going in the right direction. It gives the impression that there is little here that pleases most Saudi citizens.
Let us consider the negative impact of such disturbing social behavior. A feeling of anger often deteriorates into shouting and screaming, and the source could be parents who mostly choose not to speak to their children softly and gently. Those children later become teachers, employers, and other prominent figures in society. They continue to engage in the undesirable conduct that their parents have instilled in them. It then becomes second nature in every generation that follows. This partially explains how anger spoils our daily interactions with others and creates around us a tense environment where nothing seemingly can be done peacefully and smoothly.
Personally, I put the blame mostly on parents who scream and shout instead of creating a tranquil and peaceful environment for their children. The eventual result is that children become frustrated, lose their self-esteem, and adopt, in the end, the same negative behavior.
To be able to overcome this worrying social problem, we need to find a way to convince parents to change the way they bring up their children. This might be accomplished through an awareness campaign.
Parents should be encouraged to attend workshops and training sessions, which might convince them that there are better alternatives to screaming and shouting and that what they do with their children at home could have a negative impact on society. Parents, after all, need to manage and control their anger and avoid directing it toward their children. They should always try to address their children in a positive way, and to remember that they must act as role models of what good parents should be.— The writer is a Saudi academic who can be reached at [email protected]
Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Religion on June 22nd, 2012
Lesley Hazleton (born 1945) is an award-winning British-American writer whose work focuses on the intersection of politics, religion, and history, especially in the Middle East. She reported from Israel for Time, and has written on the Middle East for numerous publications including The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, Harper’s, The Nation, and The New Republic.
Hazleton was born in England, and became a United States citizen in 1994. She was based in Jerusalem from 1966 to 1979 and in New York City from 1979 to 1992, when she moved to her current home in Seattle WA, originally to get her pilot’s license. She has two degrees in psychology (B.A. Manchester University, M.A. Hebrew University of Jerusalem).
She has described herself as “a Jew who once seriously considered becoming a rabbi, a former convent schoolgirl who daydreamed about being a nun, an agnostic with a deep sense of religious mystery though no affinity for organized religion”. “Everything is paradox,” she has said. “The danger is one-dimensional thinking”.
In April 2010, she began blogging as The Accidental Theologist, focusing on religion, politics, and existence. In September 2011, she received The Stranger‘s Genius Award in Literature.
She is currently working on a new biography of Muhammad, (PBUH) to be published by Riverhead/Viking in spring 2013.
There exists a video including Lesley’s thoughts about Koran, which was recorded at a TEDx conference in Seattle Washington, October 2010. “Lesley Hazleton sat down one day to read the Koran. And what she found — as a non-Muslim, a self-identified “tourist” in the Islamic holy book—wasn’t what she expected. With serious scholarship and warm humor, Hazleton shares the grace, flexibility and mystery she found, in this myth-debunking talk from TEDxRainier.”
© 2024, All Rights Reserved by Pakistan Think Tank.
