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February 10, 2006
Not the drawing...
In this whole ridiculous matter of the cartoons of Mohammad and the disproportionate reaction to it in some countries, what most amazes me is the repetition of an inaccurate thing in all the Western media outlets.
I constantly read and hear that "Islamic law bans any depiction of Prophet Mohammad", somehow suggesting that the outrage is over drawing the man himself. No, it is not! I am nout sure which "Islamic" expert they have been consulting (Daniel Pipes?), but this supposed "law" is not as strong as it sounds!
Various portraits of Mohammad have been common in the Islamic world, ranging from picturing him while leaving the face blank, to full drawing of the (imagined) face. Even in the Middle Ages, as early as the time of the Abbasid caliphs, we have had works showing him and other religious figures (see these: one, two, three, four and this Medieval European painting of him).
No, the problem is that they are making fun of him, and they are equating him with the terrorists, and the person involved is not exactly the most neutral person around either. He certainly has ties to the neo-cons and also is a veteran of the Cold War and its mentality (see here and here).
So, the issue is not picturing Mohammad, it's retrojecting the issues and frustrations of today and equating present criminals with someone who lived 1400 years ago and for the better or for worse, is venerated by millions of people.
Posted by Khodadad at February 10, 2006 12:05 AM
Comments
I have been hearing about the same so called ban on images of the Prophet. So, when I learned about that web site that showed images of Mohammad, I wondered what was going on. Thanks for expounding on the situation. I agree that what modern day terrorists are doing has nothing at all to do with Mohammad. It was a serious mistake and extremely culturally insensitive for the Danish paper to slander Islam's founder.
I was not aware of the neo-con ties to Flemming Rose. I read parts of Rose's article about Pipes. I think there is a glaring flaw in Pipe's logic. He is equating political ideology with religious belief. He says that the West can discredit and overcome "militant Islam" in the same way that fascist Germany and Japan were overcome in WWII, and the Soviet Union in the Cold War. I do not agree. Religious belief is a whole 'nother animal. It seems to me that the seismic shockwave rumbling through the Islamic world right now over the cartoons is ample evidence of this flaw!
Posted by: David at February 12, 2006 10:23 PM