On Feb 5, 2008 11:02 PM, Tim Starling tstarling@wikimedia.org wrote:
Meg Ireland wrote:
I've been going through the Koran on this issue. Perhaps someone more knowledgable in this area could inform me but it's my understanding that the image ban pertains to Allah, and the only ban I can see on Muhammad is on people "worshipping" images.
Chapter 42, verse 11: "[Allah is] the originator of the heavens and the earth... [there is] nothing like a likeness of Him."
Chapter 21, verses 52-54: "[Abraham] said to his father and his people: 'What are these images to whose worship you cleave?' They said: 'We found our fathers worshipping them.' He said: 'Certainly you have been, you and your fathers, in manifest error.'"
In a wider context it includes all images, not just Muhammad. It's down to defining what exactly is "worshipping" when placed in an encyclopaedia.
There is also the issue of Persian art where Muhammad is depicted. Apparently the Shia, as opposed to Sunni, are less strict on their interpretation on where the image can be shown.
It's not in the Koran, it's in the Hadith.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadith
Islam, like all the major religions, is a mixture of holy books and established traditions. The petitioners seem to be almost entirely unaware of the history of their traditions. Some of them claim that the image in question couldn't possibly be of muslim origin, because no muslim would create such an image.
But that's not my problem, it's not my job to tell them how to live their lives, or how to interpret their holy books. Many Christians are unaware of the history of their tradition to completely disregard Old Testament law -- a tradition begun by Paul some time after the death of Jesus in order to encourage non-Jews to join. That's not my problem either.
What is relevant is what offends people here and now. This one image in question obviously does. It's a pity we don't have any representatives of those offended here on this list to mediate a compromise -- it seems to me that both the people suggesting compromises in this thread and the people refuting them have very little understanding of what is actually necessary to answer the objections of the moderate petitioners.
-- Tim Starling
Tim, feel free to read Talk:Muhammad & Talk:Muhammad/images to get an idea of what various protestors are asking for, but the more common points are: complete removal of any images that represent Muhammad, the article be written from an Islamic POV, non-Muslims be prohibited for editing, et cetera.
Cheers WilyD