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 **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-du… 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)