To get to the heart of the matter, it is worthwhile to understand why
portrayals of Muhammad are haram, forbidden. People are claiming that it is because
Islam prohibits human images in general. But this is only partially true. In
the PDF I cited above, (p. 9) it explains that: "For a Muslim, the Prophet
epitomizes the perfect man whose worldly attributes cannot delineate his
spiritual ones. In Islam, no way can the shell of a body describe the person …" It’
s not simply some edict to prevent idolatry. It is a belief that no image can
adequately portray the greatness of the man. By comparison, imagine the
uproar if we were to depict the Crucifixion with an overweight Jesus with acne
and a bulge in his loincloth, while Mary Magdalene mourns in fishnets and a
corset. Whether you like the comparison or not, to a devout Muslim any depiction
of Muhammad is like that. It cheapens him.
So what do people do today? In 2007 I wrote a book about Judaism for kids as
part of a seven part series about religions of the world. I checked out the
companion volume on Islam, and in fact, there were no pictures of Muhammad
there, even though he takes up about one-half of the content. It would be
interesting to see how other reference works handle this problem. Is it a problem
of POV? Sure, but there is also an inherent POV in insisting that pictures be
used, i.e., "We reject the religious sensitivities of the Muslim community."
So what is the solution? I don't know. I would like to think that the
pictures would be permitted, but at the same time, I would hope that they really be
needed, and not just stuck in the article to make it pretty and to piss off
the Muslims. How do the pictures add to the article? Would the absence of
certain images, accompanied by an explanation as to why they are absent, be more
educational? Would the choice of only veiled images resolve the issue?
Perhaps all the "explicit" images could be moved to a more scholarly article on
the
history of Islamic iconography.
Like I said, I don't know, but this is, indeed, a valuable debate and
discussion on tolerance—from both sides. It is best handled with greater
sensitivity to the concerns of the Muslim readers, after all, they are certainly part
of the target audience. Most important of all, it should not be perceived as
an Us v. Them debate. That benefits no one.
Danny
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