A good article about the embassy protests and blasphemy from CSM
Time to argue for Islam’s humane view of blasphemy

Violent protests over the video that insults the prophet Muhammad highlight a fundamentalist view of blasphemy. But this interpretation relies on only a handful of sources and ignores Islamic authorities with a far more humane view. Muslims should rediscover these Islamic thinkers.

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Fundamentalists have succeeded in presenting their version of blasphemy law as official Islam. Now is the time to change this view with a persuasiveness that can be found in Islam itself.

That will not be easy. The widespread acceptance of the fundamentalist view is visible on the streets and in the media. On Sept. 13 the al-Wakeel News website featured an interview with ordinary Jordanians about “The Innocence of Muslims.” Several opined that Islam demands the execution of those who insult the prophet. A day earlier, a Muslim religious scholar posted the same argument on the organization’s website with citations from two authoritative sources.

A quick and brutal response to blasphemy that leaves no room for any type of mitigation developed relatively late in Islamic thought – the 12th century rather than the 7th century, in which Islam emerged.
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The idea that non-Muslims can and will say offensive things about Muhammad that should simply be ignored is no less an authentically Muslim idea than fundamentalists’ militant interpretation. By rediscovering Islamic thinkers like Tabari, who lived at the height of Islam’s strength and self-confidence, or Ibn ‘Abidin, who did not, Muslims can respond to inflammatory propaganda while wresting from fundamentalists the very terms of the debate.