Ambassador's killing shines light on Muslim sensitivities around Prophet Mohammed
By Dan Gilgoff and Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editors
"In Islam, the notion of God versus any depiction of God or any sacred figure is very strong." said Akbar Ahmed, chair of the Islamic Studies department at American University. Akbar Ahmed's state was proved to be true due to the recent incident that occurred in the U.S embassy. There recently was a film which depicted the Prophet Muhammad in a derogatory way which agitated many Muslims. The film was believed to have delineated Prophet Muhammad as a child molester, womanizer and ruthless killer. The prohibition against such video was sharply showed on September 11, 2012. The mobs in Egypt and Libya attacked the U.S as a retort to the film that disparaged the Prophet Muhammad. The attack on the U.S Consulate in Benghazi, J.Chirstopher Steven, Washington's ambassador to Libya, and three other Americans were killed at the compound. The video producer is found to be unclear and unknown. It is beliveed that the producer is a Israeli-American real estate developer named Same Bacile, however a member of the film production staff affirmed that the producer's name was listed as Abenob Nakoula Basseley. The production of the film enraged Muslims because in Islam, Muhammad's image is scared. Even Prophet Muhammad himself claimed the same. During the 7th century when he was chosen to be the prophet, he clearly stated that he is a man(not a god) who is only the messenger of god; nothing less and nothing more. He warned Muslims to not depict him nor portray him. This is because he was perturbed about idol worship. He was worried that Muslims will begin to worship instead of the god, Allah. This is the reason why the video produced in the U.S that depicted the Prophet Muhammad was considered offensive and insulting.
Loss of lives is what shows the verge of violence due to anger. Due to the production of the video that portrayed Prophet Muhammad, five innocent lives were lost. However, this incident was not the first time there was conflicts or killing due to religion. Since there are such a diversity in religions and their history, beliefs, values, important figures, etc evidently the religions and the followers cannot join all together. In order to solve religious conflicts, such as the incident involving depiction of the Prophet Muhammad, people should consider and value other's religion. They could recognize their religion, especially their belief. It is obviously insulting and traitorous portraying Muhammad in a video but to representing him as a child molester, womanizer and a ruthless killer clearly raged the Muslims to conduct such actions. I felt that the producer of the video which depicted the Prophet Muhammad was being ignorant and did not think through the reactions of the Muslims. If people do not carry out actions that may fury the Muslims they will not do any harm since Islam is a religion of peace, mercy and forgiveness. However, they are not justified for the murder of five guiltless men even though the Muslims did have a just reason to get upset. I believe that if such things happen, they should set upon it the same way they received it. If the Muslims were angered due to religous reasons, they should anger the producer of the film by belittling his religion instead of killing five men.
Loss of lives is what shows the verge of violence due to anger. Due to the production of the video that portrayed Prophet Muhammad, five innocent lives were lost. However, this incident was not the first time there was conflicts or killing due to religion. Since there are such a diversity in religions and their history, beliefs, values, important figures, etc evidently the religions and the followers cannot join all together. In order to solve religious conflicts, such as the incident involving depiction of the Prophet Muhammad, people should consider and value other's religion. They could recognize their religion, especially their belief. It is obviously insulting and traitorous portraying Muhammad in a video but to representing him as a child molester, womanizer and a ruthless killer clearly raged the Muslims to conduct such actions. I felt that the producer of the video which depicted the Prophet Muhammad was being ignorant and did not think through the reactions of the Muslims. If people do not carry out actions that may fury the Muslims they will not do any harm since Islam is a religion of peace, mercy and forgiveness. However, they are not justified for the murder of five guiltless men even though the Muslims did have a just reason to get upset. I believe that if such things happen, they should set upon it the same way they received it. If the Muslims were angered due to religous reasons, they should anger the producer of the film by belittling his religion instead of killing five men.