SocialEyez Buzz Report: “Innocence of Muslims”



SocialEyez Buzz Report: “Innocence of Muslims”[[IMAGE]]On Tuesday, September 11, images like the one above burst into the global news cycle, emerging first from Cairo, Egypt, where demonstrators had turned out en masse to condemn The Innocence of Muslims, an obscure film production that crudely and hatefully depicts the life of the Prophet Mohammed, the most revered figure in Islam. Demonstrators attacked the American Embassy in Cairo, where a group of men scaled the walls of the U.S. Embassy and tore down its American flag and protesters hurled stones at a police cordon around the facility. Within the space of three days, demonstrations and protests had spread to capital cities and other major urban areas in nearly all Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa and other predominantly Muslim countries, such as Pakistan and Indonesia. In the Yemeni capital of Sana’a, hundreds of Yemenis broke through the main gate of the heavily fortified U.S. embassy compound, where they smashed windows of security offices outside the embassy and burned vehicles. Altogether, the film inspired a diplomatic crisis among allies, especially the United States and Egypt after Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s response to the attack was found by the US administration to be tardy and tepid. The protests themselves reportedly led to hundreds of injuries and dozens of deaths, religious edicts against the video’s maker and participants and even a bounty on the film’s maker. Governments throughout the Muslim world had blocked online access to the video. The film has also sparked debates about free speech and internet censorship on both sides of the Atlantic.In this Buzz Report, we look at social media reaction to the film from the Arab world. The following analysis is based on 145,436 mentions of the film and the events that ensued, captured from Arabic language social media during the period September 11-21, 2012. FILM BACKGROUNDThe Innocence of Muslims was less of a film than a malicious hoax that began in June with the uploading to YouTube of a 14-minute video by a man identifying himself as Sam Bacile, the writer, producer and promoter of the film. The video purports to be a trailer for an entire feature length film about the Prophet Mohammad. In it, the prophet is portrayed as a paedophile, a drunkard and a homosexualThe video might have remained in obscurity had it not been for a one Morris Sadek, an Egyptian-born Islamaphobic activist operating at the fringe of the Coptic Christian faith. Sadek translated the film into Arabic and sent it to journalists around the world, promoted it on his website and posted it on social media, including on the blog of the equally fringe National American Coptic Assembly (not to be confused with the Coptic Assembly of America). Al-Nas TV, an Egyptian Islamist TV station aired a segment of the video; a furor erupted and a diplomatic crisis was born. When journalists sought out Bacile, the filmmaker was quick to pour fuel on the fire, describing himself as an Israeli-American real estate developer who had marshaled some $5 million from Jewish donors for the production of the film. The claim inserted the film into one of the region’s most highly charged political issues: the Arab-Israeli conflict. Bacile himself turned out to be a fraud, literally and figuratively. Bacile’s true identity is Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, an Egyptian-born Coptic Christian, resident of the US state of California – where he has piled up a long criminal record. Nakoula has 13 known aliases and his rap sheet includes charges, convictions and jail time for bank fraud, theft of security numbers, tax evasion, probation violations, cooking methamphetamine and check-kiting. The check-kiting charges earned him a 21-month federal prison sentence in June 2010, followed by five years’ probation, conditions of which were not using aliases and not using the internet without prior approval from his probation officer. Nakoula was released from custody in June 2011, shortly after which he began working on The Innocence of Muslims. Even the script as recorded was fraudulent. The film's original working title reportedly was Desert Warrior, and it told the story of "tribal battles prompted by the arrival of a comet on Earth." The original story reportedly had no religious references, anti-Islamic content was added in post-production, reportedly without the knowledge of the cast, some of whom have since renounced the film. SOCIAL MEDIA REACTIONProtesters’ rage was focused on the US government, which had no hand in the production of the film and constitutionally no grounds to either ban or censor it or penalize its makers, as demanded by demonstrators. (Nakoula has since been jailed without bail for parole violations that include lying to federal officials about his role in the making of the video.) Anger was neither averted by a US embassy statement hours before the attacks condemning “efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims”, nor was it assuaged after the fact by American officials’ absolute “rejection of its message and content.” Anger at the US also permeated the Arab social media. How the US government became implicated in the controversy over the film has been well analyzed. As a general rule it appeared that protesters equated the lack of censorship of the film and failure to prosecute its makers with official support. Second, the region is rife with conspiracy theories about American-Zionist plans to instigate sectarian strife in the region for their own purposes. Demonstrators also noted what they believed to be double-standards concerning the application of freedom of speech, commenting that a similar movie about Jews in the US would have immediately been condemned as anti-Semitic, but that abuses towards Muslims were tolerated. (The notion that Islamic culture was under a sustained attack from Western states generally was also a common theme, with users referencing the controversy over the Danish cartoons, the banning of the hijab in France and a Christian extremist preacher’s burning of the Quran in the United States.) Finally, and perhaps most important for understanding how the anti-US protests escalated so quickly, it became clear that Arab and Muslim attitudes towards the US are shaped by more than just the film, and had more to do with what they consider American abuses in the region, among which US support for Israel, punishing sanctions on the Gaza Strip, support for regional dictators and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, to name only a few of the grievances. In a sense, The Innocence of Muslims was the “last straw” that unleashed decades of resentment towards American foreign policy in the region. Similar attitudes permeated Arabic-language social media discourse throughout the region. In parallel several more nuanced discussions transpired in nearly every country. These reflected a region that is deeply uneasy about its own security and fearful for Islam’s global reputation.-38100-704850Egypt and Libya generated the highest volume of social media buzz about this issue, together generating 38% of the total buzz over the monitoring period. Libya’s large contribution to the volume is related to the fact that the murder of four American diplomats at the US embassy in Benghazi was initially reported to be related to mob violence provoked by the film, placing Libya at the center of the drama. While it has now been confirmed that the killings were a terrorist attack, the incident remains part of the narrative of reactions to the Innocence of Islam, due to the coincidence of the incidents and the confusion surrounding events.By contrast Saudi Arabia, the spiritual heart of Sunni Islam where the holy cities of Mecca and Medina are located, generated surprisingly little (1,239 comments), related to the Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission’s decision on September 20 to block all links to websites carrying the film. Also noticeably absent from the discussion were users in Syria, where the gravity of internal conflict has consumed the majority of social media users’ attention for well over a year. 0Egypt and Libya generated the highest volume of social media buzz about this issue, together generating 38% of the total buzz over the monitoring period. Libya’s large contribution to the volume is related to the fact that the murder of four American diplomats at the US embassy in Benghazi was initially reported to be related to mob violence provoked by the film, placing Libya at the center of the drama. While it has now been confirmed that the killings were a terrorist attack, the incident remains part of the narrative of reactions to the Innocence of Islam, due to the coincidence of the incidents and the confusion surrounding events.By contrast Saudi Arabia, the spiritual heart of Sunni Islam where the holy cities of Mecca and Medina are located, generated surprisingly little (1,239 comments), related to the Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission’s decision on September 20 to block all links to websites carrying the film. Also noticeably absent from the discussion were users in Syria, where the gravity of internal conflict has consumed the majority of social media users’ attention for well over a year. While the film was nearly universally condemned across the Arab region, the emphasis of discussion varied from country to country. In some countries user reactions emphasized anxieties about sectarian faultlines within the different countries, and the strain the region’s various political conflicts are exerting on sectarian relations.In Egypt, for example, user reactions reflected general concern about the potential to damage Muslim-Christian relations – especially tense since the 2011 revolution – as well as a general consensus around the offensiveness and inappropriateness of the film. Thus, 86% of users explicitly rejected the film and its message, of which 35% called for unity between Copts and Muslims. Egypt’s Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa tweeted: “The announcement made by some expatriate Copts about a blasphemous film that abuses the Prophet fuels sedition among the people of one nation.” Fatima Naoot commented on news published by the independent daily Youm7: “Youm7: Expatriate Copts fuel sedition by producing a blasphemous film...Christians before Muslims are against the film. HYPERLINK "" \t "_blank" \o "" ?…” Emad Arab wrote: “I am quite sure that no Egyptian can abuse the Prophet or hurt the feelings of most Egyptians. The one who did so is not an Egyptian and a traitor to his Church before being a traitor to his homeland.” , in Lebanon, users responded to efforts of leaders of competing religious-political movements who used the film as an opportunity for grandstanding. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s call for protests on September 16 – which he joined on September 17 after nearly 10 months in seclusion – sharply divided users. Half of social media users commenting on the issue criticized Nasrallah’s accusation that the US was seeking to sow Muslim Christian tensions in the region, noting that Nasrallah himself promotes sectarian violence in Lebanon, as well as neighbouring Syria, where a predominantly Sunni led rebellion seeks to unseat the ruling Alawite regime, a key Hezbollah patron. -38100-807085? Administrator of the Lebanese Akhbar Bab al-Tebbaneh: “What protests you are speaking about, you pimp (Nasrallah)?? Your hands are stained with the blood of Muslim children, women and youths in Syria. What protests you are speaking about, you hypocrite when your militias storm mosques, burn Koran in a Muslim country? May God curse you!”? Lebanese tweep Yasser Al-Zaatreh: “Nasrallah appeared in person at the protests against the anti-Islam film in an attempt to break the sectarian dimension. He knows best about his isolation for his support for Bashar [Al Asad’s] regime [in Syria].”? Administrator of the Lebanese Akhbar Bab al-Tebbaneh: “What protests you are speaking about, you pimp (Nasrallah)?? Your hands are stained with the blood of Muslim children, women and youths in Syria. What protests you are speaking about, you hypocrite when your militias storm mosques, burn Koran in a Muslim country? May God curse you!”? Lebanese tweep Yasser Al-Zaatreh: “Nasrallah appeared in person at the protests against the anti-Islam film in an attempt to break the sectarian dimension. He knows best about his isolation for his support for Bashar [Al Asad’s] regime [in Syria].” under half (45%) took a more benign view of the Hezbollah leader’s rhetoric.-381003810? Reader Abou Alaa (Alaa’s Father): “Crises should be turned into opportunities, and this is an opportunity to turn the tables on those who want to divide the Muslim nation. Master Nasrallah, turn the tables on all sides and let’s unify the Muslim front to defend our prophet, and no Muslim should dare to oppose you.”? Reader Abou Alaa (Alaa’s Father): “Crises should be turned into opportunities, and this is an opportunity to turn the tables on those who want to divide the Muslim nation. Master Nasrallah, turn the tables on all sides and let’s unify the Muslim front to defend our prophet, and no Muslim should dare to oppose you.” Lebanon’s controversial Salafist sheikh Ahmad al-Assir led a rally in Beirut on September 21 to protest the film, reactions were similarly divided. Though Assir received a more favorable review from social media users than Nasrallah did (50% of users expressed support for the protest and heaped praise on the sheikh), criticisms (45%) again reflected anxiety about sectarian tension in Lebanon, and the potential of the conflict in Syria to aggravate this tension.-38100106680? Reader Mowaten (Citizen): “The protest was held under the pretext of defending the prophet, but three quarters of it were incitement against Iran, the Syrian regime and Hezbollah.”? Reader Mowaten (Citizen): “The protest was held under the pretext of defending the prophet, but three quarters of it were incitement against Iran, the Syrian regime and Hezbollah.” in Iraq, protests against the film organized by Shi’ite leaders Muqtada Sadr and Ammar al-Hakim also met charges of sectarianism and hypocrisy from Iraqi social media users. -38100116205? Reader Abd al-Muttalib al-Yassiri: “I have a few statements to make to Ammar al-Hakim, Muqtada al-Sadr [and other Shi’ite clerics]. Who handed power over to you [in Iraq]? Was it not the Americans? It was you [Shi’ites] who insulted our Prophet first when you collaborated with the Americans in order to allow them to invade Iraq [a Muslim country]. You also insult the Prophet’s honor when you give sermons in Karbala, Najaf and Qom [in Iran], by insulting the honor of his wife Aysha when you claim that she was an adulterer. Why do you not raise your voices against these insults to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad? You were the first to insult Islam before even the Americans, and you deserve to be punished in this life and the next.”? Reader Abd al-Muttalib al-Yassiri: “I have a few statements to make to Ammar al-Hakim, Muqtada al-Sadr [and other Shi’ite clerics]. Who handed power over to you [in Iraq]? Was it not the Americans? It was you [Shi’ites] who insulted our Prophet first when you collaborated with the Americans in order to allow them to invade Iraq [a Muslim country]. You also insult the Prophet’s honor when you give sermons in Karbala, Najaf and Qom [in Iran], by insulting the honor of his wife Aysha when you claim that she was an adulterer. Why do you not raise your voices against these insults to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad? You were the first to insult Islam before even the Americans, and you deserve to be punished in this life and the next.” of the rhetoric in the social media sphere revealed that concerns about sectarian strife have a legitimate foundation. While hateful and inciting speech, such as the comments below, could not be considered a dominant or even common trend, it was nevertheless present. Egyptian tweep ahmedevo? said: “Where are the leftist and secular dogs who say no to sectarianism to respond to the abusive film that was made by the pigs of the expatriate Copts. #coptileaks.”? “May God perish the worshippers of the cross. God is enough for us and He is our protector… Well done,” Palestinian user Minnat Allah, referring to the killing of the US ambassador, on Al Manbar Al I’lami Al Jihadi (Jihadist Media Platform). ? “May God perish the worshippers of the cross. God is enough for us and He is our protector… Well done,” Palestinian user Minnat Allah, referring to the killing of the US ambassador, on Al Manbar Al I’lami Al Jihadi (Jihadist Media Platform). Egypt, Libya and beyond, attacks on US interests were widely condemned. In parallel, across the region, there was also much introspection about how best to respond to insults to the sacred. A major and recurrent concern across the social media was that the violence had not only provided the film with a free propaganda campaign, but also, in the eyes of many, proved depictions of Muslims as violent and barbaric.-47625114300Libyan user elazil: Are we, the Libyan people, in war with America after the false war that the buried Gaddafi made for us? …My brother, the Jews successfully prevented such films because they mobilized forcefully at the levels of media and law. They objected rationally to convince the American people to ban such films (that are demeaning to them). Meanwhile you don’t see any [Arab and Muslim] state that moved powerfully to enact laws that prevent such films and cartoons. What can the American government and its embassies do if Muslims are asleep and are not claiming their rights? “The vile film depicts Muslims as murderers … which angered us … and [Muslims] went out to kill!!! This is ignorance,” Palestinian tweep @MouridBarghouti. user Hossam H. Hamed Bedir: “Now the Muslims are victorious over the flag [at the US embassy in Cairo], and the West succeeded in proving how barbaric the Muslims are, for when they go mad, they care neither care about law nor manners; they are controlled by their anger.” user Malek: “…Unfortunately, we indirectly tarnished Islam by killings and destruction. It would have been better if we had marched peacefully and lectured on the subject [of Islam]. Had we done so, many people would have been attracted to Islam, and, at the same time, we would have emulated the morals of our gracious Prophet. user elazil: Are we, the Libyan people, in war with America after the false war that the buried Gaddafi made for us? …My brother, the Jews successfully prevented such films because they mobilized forcefully at the levels of media and law. They objected rationally to convince the American people to ban such films (that are demeaning to them). Meanwhile you don’t see any [Arab and Muslim] state that moved powerfully to enact laws that prevent such films and cartoons. What can the American government and its embassies do if Muslims are asleep and are not claiming their rights? “The vile film depicts Muslims as murderers … which angered us … and [Muslims] went out to kill!!! This is ignorance,” Palestinian tweep @MouridBarghouti. user Hossam H. Hamed Bedir: “Now the Muslims are victorious over the flag [at the US embassy in Cairo], and the West succeeded in proving how barbaric the Muslims are, for when they go mad, they care neither care about law nor manners; they are controlled by their anger.” user Malek: “…Unfortunately, we indirectly tarnished Islam by killings and destruction. It would have been better if we had marched peacefully and lectured on the subject [of Islam]. Had we done so, many people would have been attracted to Islam, and, at the same time, we would have emulated the morals of our gracious Prophet. as well as self-criticism were also a large part of the social media discourse. Specifically, users referred to the disingenuousness of the protests and demonstrations, noting that righteous indignation over an insignificant online video does not extend to the real-world crises experienced by the Arab region today.-10477560325Egyptian user Adwan Free: “Fear God you who claim to be religious, the Syrian people are being killed, and you are doing nothing, this is your chance to abide by Prophet Mohammad’s conduct and do something about it.”? Iraqi user Wahid Mohbat (The Crestfallen One): “…The film itself is less than 15 minutes long, and is cut and edited in an amateur way, and has no cinematographic quality to it. The problem is with the Arabs and Muslims [who commit violence]. They have not learnt from their previous mistakes [that unnecessary violence does not solve anything]. If people paid no mind to these troublemakers [the filmmakers], it would have been better than all the blood that has been spilt and will continue to be spilt after this day."?“This always makes me furious: a nation dormant in the face of occupation, bombardment by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), stealing countries’ wealth and interfering with every minute detail [in our lives], then a film aggravates this nation!” Palestinian user Asad AbuKhalil. user Adwan Free: “Fear God you who claim to be religious, the Syrian people are being killed, and you are doing nothing, this is your chance to abide by Prophet Mohammad’s conduct and do something about it.”? Iraqi user Wahid Mohbat (The Crestfallen One): “…The film itself is less than 15 minutes long, and is cut and edited in an amateur way, and has no cinematographic quality to it. The problem is with the Arabs and Muslims [who commit violence]. They have not learnt from their previous mistakes [that unnecessary violence does not solve anything]. If people paid no mind to these troublemakers [the filmmakers], it would have been better than all the blood that has been spilt and will continue to be spilt after this day."?“This always makes me furious: a nation dormant in the face of occupation, bombardment by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), stealing countries’ wealth and interfering with every minute detail [in our lives], then a film aggravates this nation!” Palestinian user Asad AbuKhalil. media conversation in Libya was awash with condemnations of the attack on the US embassy in Benghazi, but in tandem with the development of the theory and relevant evidence that the killings were the result of a terrorist attack unrelated to any demonstration, conversation about the film on Libyan social media evolved as a discussion about the presence of Al Qaeda on Libyan soil. 952536195AhmedEMisrata: Last night's event was a disgrace to our revolution, our martyrs and most of all, a disgrace to the teachings of the Prophet PBUH #Benghazi: “Killing the US ambassador to Libya is not a victory for Prophet Mohammed, you idiots, you have unfortunately enhanced the negative image the film is promoting #Libya.” Fathi: “We are against violence and the way he (US ambassador) was killed because these are not the ethics of our Prophet.”? HYPERLINK "" : May God Help the Libyans [to overcome] Al Qaeda. That’s it; with the presence of Al Qaeda Libya is over and done with. This is their work: they blow up [things] then they hand the land to the Americans. El Bokl: Whenever America tampers with a country, either through direct war or by [instigating] a revolution, Al Qaeda appears [in that country]. Iraq and now Libya and Tunisia and the Sinai! : Last night's event was a disgrace to our revolution, our martyrs and most of all, a disgrace to the teachings of the Prophet PBUH #Benghazi: “Killing the US ambassador to Libya is not a victory for Prophet Mohammed, you idiots, you have unfortunately enhanced the negative image the film is promoting #Libya.” Fathi: “We are against violence and the way he (US ambassador) was killed because these are not the ethics of our Prophet.”? HYPERLINK "" : May God Help the Libyans [to overcome] Al Qaeda. That’s it; with the presence of Al Qaeda Libya is over and done with. This is their work: they blow up [things] then they hand the land to the Americans. El Bokl: Whenever America tampers with a country, either through direct war or by [instigating] a revolution, Al Qaeda appears [in that country]. Iraq and now Libya and Tunisia and the Sinai! : We must hit these gangs with a fist of steel. We will never allow Libya to become a governorate belonging to AZ Zawahiri and his ilk. dawn of the Mermaid: The problem is that we all know that Al Qaeda is behind this, yet officials are coming out saying that Gaddafi’s goons are behind it and this is a bunch of malarkey. The Gaddafi goons are like a coat hanger on which officials are hanging their mistakes, and are refusing to admit to the Al Qaeda presence in Libya. They [Al Qaeda] are behind the bombings and the assassinations and this is their own propaganda [saying that Gaddafi goons are responsible]. Al Hmaidi: when something happens that is not to the liking of the Americans, such as what happened in Libya, you see Ben Laden and Al Qaeda are all over the media. He keeps them busy, whether alive or dead. : We must hit these gangs with a fist of steel. We will never allow Libya to become a governorate belonging to AZ Zawahiri and his ilk. dawn of the Mermaid: The problem is that we all know that Al Qaeda is behind this, yet officials are coming out saying that Gaddafi’s goons are behind it and this is a bunch of malarkey. The Gaddafi goons are like a coat hanger on which officials are hanging their mistakes, and are refusing to admit to the Al Qaeda presence in Libya. They [Al Qaeda] are behind the bombings and the assassinations and this is their own propaganda [saying that Gaddafi goons are responsible]. Al Hmaidi: when something happens that is not to the liking of the Americans, such as what happened in Libya, you see Ben Laden and Al Qaeda are all over the media. He keeps them busy, whether alive or dead. ................
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