NEW YORK, November 15 (IslamOnline.net) – The first animated movie on the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has drawn remarkable flocks of US Muslims hustling into theaters to see the movie, marking the start of ‘Eid Al-Fitr and hoping that the 90-minute film would help clear stereotypes on Islam, a leading US newspaper reported Monday, November 15.

“It is so rare that we have this kind of showing in a mainstream film,” Mohammad Aftab Karimullah, an Ozone Park engineer who watched the film with his teenage daughter in Queens, told The New York Times.

“There is this mistaken notion, especially west of the Atlantic , that Islam is not part of the three religions of Abraham. Instead, it is seen as some strange phenomenon.”

The film that chronicles the early life and teachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was produced for Badr International by RichCrest Animation Studios, the creators of animated classics such as "The King and I" and "The Fox and the Hound."

No images of Prophet Muhammad appear in the film, given that Islam prohibits the visual representation of the prophets.

Another young Muslim boy hoped the movie would clear the wrong notion taken about Islam and Muslims in the United States in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

"If the whole world saw this movie, there might be a change," Ahmad Aly, 13, told the Times.

"They might think Islam's not a bad religion, it's good. And they might not think Muslims are bad people, and realize that we're also good."

Other US Muslim citizens considered the movie a long-awaited landmark cultural event.

"I've been waiting for this since I was 14," said Lebarron Edwards, 27, as he hurried into the theater on Court Street with his wife and four children.

"Every other prophet has a movie. As a Muslim, you feel left out."

The movie is the brainchild of a Saudi citizen, Muwaffak Alharithy, who hoped to clear any stereotypes about Islam and Muslims in the west, the paper added.

"The movie is such a bridge maker and it shows that this faith is a continuation of other faiths," he said.

"And it surprises some people. They say, 'Oh this is Islam?' Yeah it's nothing drastic."

In 1999,  Alharithy hired a veteran director of Hollywood animated films, Richard Rich, spending 12 million dollars to produce the movie, only to find American distributors hesitant in the aftermath of 9/11 attacks.

In 2003, the Saudi dreamer approached Icon Productions, which produced the film “The Passion of the Christ” to feature the movie.

The movie picked up several big-name distributors, including Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International, as well as “The Lion King” in Lebanon.

"I thought they might be bold enough," he said. "I never got an answer from them."

Last August, Alharithy hired Jammal, the president of a film production, marketing and distribution company in Bridgeview , Ill. , to market and release the film.

"Everywhere it's full, it's packed," Jammal said.

"It is just unbelievable. Phone calls every single minute (sic), people still looking for tickets."

Policies of the Bush administration, coupled with some media campaigns, are widely to blame for increasing hate feelings against the Muslim community in the United States, following the 9/11 attacks.

More than 1,200 Muslims and Arab-Americans have been taken into custody since the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.