Anti-Muslim Movie Part 2

By now you've probably heard that everything we knew about the maker of the movie is wrong.  He's not an Israeli Jew, but now claims to be a Coptic Egyptian.  He has been in jail for fraud.  And the actors in the movie had no idea what was going on.  They filmed a movie set a few thousand years ago, and this guy dubbed over their voices to make references to Muhammad.

This brings me to a great little article on Slate called: Don't let Internet videos drive you to violence.  No matter who you are, somewhere out there is a person or group who just doesn't like you.  And they may post videos just to upset you.  Hoping that you'll go crazy and even turn to violence.  Don't let them get away with it.  It's what they want.  Don't let them win.

Anti-Muslim Movie

I want to start by condemning the attacks in Libya, that resulted in US deaths.  There has also been violence in Cairo. 

What set off these attacks is a movie called "Innocence of Muslims."  The filmmaker is Israeli-American and says he made the film because "Islam is a cancer" (quoted from article).  The film was recently subtitled in Arabic, and started being mentioned on Egyptian television.

I don't condone the violence and deaths, but I can understand why people are so upset.  This is another one of those situations that I've blogged about before: Yes, in America we have Freedom of Speech.  But just because you CAN say something does not mean that you SHOULD say something.

If a Muslim made a movie about Jesus, and depicted him as a womanizer and pedophile, there would be boycotts and mass demonstrations, and probably even some violence in America. [I'm saying this to make a point, because most Americans don't realize Jesus is a Muslim prophet.]  The relationship between America and the Middle East is so tenuous at times, and historically rather rocky, so it's very easy to offend people.  My current concern is backlash over the backlash, as some Americans may become more Islamophobic and think that all Muslims are ultra-religious and violent.  Let's hope the situation cools off quickly.

The Jewel of Medina: Update

More news. I hadn't realized that Random House was the original publisher, who had decided not to publish the book. It was subsequently bought by Beaufort Books. They're trying to publish the book in the US before any violence starts. Link to an article on Beaufort Books' website from All Things Considered (NPR).

The UK attack story made the Khaleej Times out of Dubai. They also have a Reuters article from September that says the book had already been released in Serbia, was pulled after complaints, but will now be released again. There's also a really good article about Freedom of Speech, by a Muslim who was at UC-Berkeley when The Satanic Verses was published.

The Jewel of Medina

That's the name of a new book coming out any time now. It was originally going to be published in England first, but the publisher's office was attacked. So what's the big deal? Well, this is the story of A'isha, the Prophet Muhammad's favorite wife, who was only about 9 years old when they were married. This is not a scholarly work, it is a novel, and I've heard it referred to as "historical fiction." The big problem is that in the book, Muhammad consummates the marriage immediately.

Now, is that historically accurate? I don't know. I will say that from a historical viewpoint, there were many cultures and societies that arranged marriages with underage children, and usually the marriage was not consummated until the child was of age. This was still going on in Egypt in the twentieth century. I will also say, that in some cultures and societies a girl became a woman once she started menstruating, which could happen at a young age. Remember the young girl in Yemen?

My personal opinion is that the marriage was probably not consummated until A'isha was considered to be the proper age. I don't know what that age might have been at that time. But the marriage itself has been used as an attack against Islam. Right after 9-11, the Southern Baptist Convention referred to Muhammad as a child molester, because of A'isha's age. I guess it's too much to expect that they've ever read any historical documents or marriage records.

So, the big deal is that in this book Muhammad has sex with a 9-year-old girl. Many people are going to offended by that. And some are going to believe it's the truth, even if it's not. Just look what happened with the Da Vinci Code. Now, I'm not advocating censorship; I believe in Freedom of Speech. But as I've said before, just because you can say something doesn't mean that you should. But this is bound to set off massive protests in the Muslim world, and anyone writing about Islam in this day and age ought to be aware of that.

So I really have to wonder about the author's motivation. Why would you intentionally write something that might even set off attempts on your life? Remember Salman Rushdie? How many years was he in hiding? (Or is he still in hiding? I can't keep track.) So we have another wave of Islamic protests set to go off with the release of this book. [If they don't protest at first, they will once Westerners who read the book start bashing the Prophet Muhammad.] If I was a conspiracy nut I'd say it was a plot by the Neo-Conservatives to increase Islamophobia in America and sway the election. But I'm not that nutty.