Filipino Muslim clerics call for calm over film

Filipino Muslim high school students of the government-run Mindanao State University in southern Jolo island pledge allegiance to the Philippine flag after singing the national anthem during the first day of school nationwide, 05 June 2000. The Catholic school Pilar College in Zamboanga City but Prof. Alih Aiyub, secretary-general of the National Ulama Conference of the Philippines, on Sunday, August 5, 2012, called for calm and dialogue in response to the ban. AFP PHOTO/ROMEO GACAD

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—Muslims should not resort to violence in protesting the anti-Islam film “The Innocence of Muslims,” Islamic clerics in Mindanao said on Saturday.

Ustadz Al Mahdi Baginda of the National Ulama Conference said that while the film ridicules the Prophet Mohammad, violent reactions would not make Muslims any different from the one who created the film.

Egyptian-born US resident Nakoula Basseley Nakoula has been identified as the man behind “The Innocence of Muslims.”

The film initially shows Egyptian Muslims attacking Egyptian Christians and burning their homes while Egyptian police forces, who are also Muslims, watch and stand at a distance.

In the film, the Prophet Mohammad’s wife, Khadija, also suggests that the Koran be written by mixing verses from the Torah (the Jewish holy book) and the New Testament.

“Trivializing and mocking the personality of the holy prophet to us is blasphemous,” said Sheik Jamal Munib, chair of the National Ulama Conference of the Philippines for the Zamboanga-Sulu-Tawi-Tawi area.

But Munib said Muslims should not be easily provoked because that kind of reaction “is also contrary to the personality, behavior and attitude of our holy prophet.”