One of the largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organizations in the United States launched an online education program this week to shine a more accurate light on the Prophet Mohammed.
This program is in response to the recent global backlash of the controversial and anti-Muslim film, “Innocence of Muslims.”
“We are taught in Islam to meet evil with good; the makers of this barbaric film, ‘Innocence of Muslims,’ may have intended to insult Muslims and degrade our beliefs, but they failed miserably,” said Nezar Hamze, the executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations located in South Florida, in a press release on Thursday. “Interesting enough, hundreds of people in Florida have reached out and they want to know about the Prophet Mohammed now. We will provide educational materials and credible academia sources.”
Such resources include the 1977 film “The Message.”
“The film is old; however, the producers and directors respected the limits of the Islamic faith and still educated the viewing audience,” the press release stated.
CAIR-FL, the Florida branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also released an audio narration of the “Prophetic Timeline,” an interactive timeline of the Prophet Mohammed’s life.
Their goal is to educate the American community on the history of the Prophet Mohammed.
Earlier this week, CAIR leaders condemned the killings of the American representatives in Libya.
“It’s a crime against our diplomats; it is a crime against our faith. It’s a crime against humanity,” said Nihad Awad, the executive director, and founder, of CAIR.
“An attack on innocent people is an attack on our faith,” Awad said.
The protests of the anti-Islamic film in Egypt’s capital are now four days long, and “other demonstrations erupted in the much of the Middle East after Friday Prayer — an occasion often associated with public displays of dissent,” according to the New York Times.
According to the Associated Press, authorities may have located the filmmaker of “Innocence of Muslims.” Nakoula Basseley Nakoula is connected to the name “Sam Bacile,” a fake identity of the director of the film.
While the investigation continues and emotional protests erupt across multiple countries, organizations like CAIR will attempt to fight violence with education.