P
Patriot Games
Guest
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,328966,00.html
Muslims Protest Wikipedia Images of Muhammad
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Online encyclopedia Wikipedia has again stirred up controversy - this time
over a biographical entry on the prophet Muhammad.
Nearly 100,000 people worldwide have signed a Web-based petition asking
Wikipedia to remove all depictions of the Prophet from its English-language
entry, viewable here.
"I request all brothers and sisters to sign this petitions so we can tell
Wikipedia to respect the religion and remove the illustrations," the creator
of the petition at The Petition Site asks.
Opposition among Muslims to images of Muhammad has its roots in the
prohibition of "graven images" in the Ten Commandments, but has varied over
time.
"Islamic teaching has traditionally discouraged representation of humans,
particularly Muhammad, but that doesn't mean it's nonexistent," Notre Dame
history professor Paul M. Cobb told the New York Times. "Some of the most
beautiful images in Islamic art are manuscript images of Muhammad."
All four images on the English-language Wikipedia page are rather lovely
Persian and Ottoman miniatures from the 14th through 16th centuries. The two
later ones depict Muhammad's face as covered by a white veil, but the
earlier pair show his full face.
"Please take off those pictures or leave only the digitally blanked out
faces please," writes one anonymous petitioner from Belgium several times on
the petition site. "Thanks for respecting Muslims beliefs. Peace and Light."
Wikipedia has entries on Muhammad in several dozen languages. A quick survey
found images of the Prophet on the Dutch, German, French, Spanish and
Russian versions, but not on the Arabic, Turkish, Chinese, Albanian, Urdu or
Bahasa Indonesia versions.
The Croatian edition depicted Muhammad, but the version written in the
nearly identical Bosnian dialect did not, reflecting Bosnia's Islamic
identity.
Surprisingly, one version in a language spoken overwhelmingly by Muslims had
several images of Muhammad, both veiled and unveiled - the Farsi edition,
legible to Persian-speakers in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and in the
Iranian and Afghan diasporas worldwide.
NYT story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/books/05wiki.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Muslims Protest Wikipedia Images of Muhammad
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Online encyclopedia Wikipedia has again stirred up controversy - this time
over a biographical entry on the prophet Muhammad.
Nearly 100,000 people worldwide have signed a Web-based petition asking
Wikipedia to remove all depictions of the Prophet from its English-language
entry, viewable here.
"I request all brothers and sisters to sign this petitions so we can tell
Wikipedia to respect the religion and remove the illustrations," the creator
of the petition at The Petition Site asks.
Opposition among Muslims to images of Muhammad has its roots in the
prohibition of "graven images" in the Ten Commandments, but has varied over
time.
"Islamic teaching has traditionally discouraged representation of humans,
particularly Muhammad, but that doesn't mean it's nonexistent," Notre Dame
history professor Paul M. Cobb told the New York Times. "Some of the most
beautiful images in Islamic art are manuscript images of Muhammad."
All four images on the English-language Wikipedia page are rather lovely
Persian and Ottoman miniatures from the 14th through 16th centuries. The two
later ones depict Muhammad's face as covered by a white veil, but the
earlier pair show his full face.
"Please take off those pictures or leave only the digitally blanked out
faces please," writes one anonymous petitioner from Belgium several times on
the petition site. "Thanks for respecting Muslims beliefs. Peace and Light."
Wikipedia has entries on Muhammad in several dozen languages. A quick survey
found images of the Prophet on the Dutch, German, French, Spanish and
Russian versions, but not on the Arabic, Turkish, Chinese, Albanian, Urdu or
Bahasa Indonesia versions.
The Croatian edition depicted Muhammad, but the version written in the
nearly identical Bosnian dialect did not, reflecting Bosnia's Islamic
identity.
Surprisingly, one version in a language spoken overwhelmingly by Muslims had
several images of Muhammad, both veiled and unveiled - the Farsi edition,
legible to Persian-speakers in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and in the
Iranian and Afghan diasporas worldwide.
NYT story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/books/05wiki.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
