I suppose we should be grateful we are not faced with death threats for showing images of Jesus who is also regarded as a prophet in Islam …


Why Are Pictures of Prophet Muhammed Forbidden in Islam? | Diverse Educators (By British DEI teacher and Muslim)
Idolatry and depictions of the Prophet Mohammed and other prophets are prohibited in Islam as they are ''infallible' and revered figures, and 'according to the Islamic faith […] should not be presented in any manner that might cause disrespect for them.May 17, 2021
https://www.diverseeducators.co.uk/why-are-pictures-of-prophet-muhammed-forbidden-in-islam/

BBC story with link to historic images of the prophet and warning issued at beginning - so please don’t open it if you are Muslim and likely to be offended.
Have pictures of Muhammad always been forbidden?

If you set aside for a moment the issue of whether satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad are insulting, there's a separate and complicated debate about whether any depiction - even a respectful one - is forbidden within Islam.

For most Muslims it's an absolute prohibition - Muhammad, or any of the other prophets of Islam, should not be pictured in any way. Pictures - as well as statues - are thought to encourage the worship of idols.

This is uncontroversial in many parts of the Islamic world. Historically, the dominant forms in Islamic art have been geometric, swirling patterns or calligraphic - rather than figurative art.
Muslims point to a verse in the Koran which features Abraham, whom they regard as a prophet:

Many of the images of Muhammad which date from the 1300s were intended only to be viewed privately, to avoid idolatry, says Christiane Gruber, associate professor of Islamic Art at Michigan University. "In some ways they were luxury items, perhaps in libraries for the elite.

Such items included miniatures which showed characters from Islam.

Gruber says the advent of mass-circulation print media in the 18th Century posed a challenge. The colonisation of some Muslim lands by European forces and ideas was also significant, she says.

The Islamic response was to emphasise how different their religion was to Christianity, with its history of public iconography, Gruber argues. Pictures of Muhammad started to disappear, and a new rhetoric against depictions emerged.

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30814555

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the student stuck around to see the painting she was warned might be offensive in order to become offended and raise a stink.

Just a thought… maybe she doesn’t fit in because she’s a contentious personality.

she also brought race into it.

And the student failed to act with the respect she claimed to show the professor by not reading the syllabus or listening to her warnings before she showed the image the art history class.

I can imagine that she may well have had a traumatic history as a Sudanese refugee living in Minnesota (birth place of the BLM movement for a reason).

However it was unfair of her to pin her past traumas on her art history teacher - who gave ample warnings about the image to be shown for academic purposes and who invited discussion before hand. The student demanded loss of the professor’s underpaid overworked adjunct gig. I hope that she is offered a more secure better paid job at a higher ranked college/ university … but I doubt that many colleges are willing to stick their neck out for a diligent art history professor who is now on the wrong side of a Muslim extremists.

Anonymous wrote:What is big deal about a picture of Muhammad?

I don't know, but apparently it's a big deal to Muslim extremists. If you display a picture of Muhammad, they will try to kill you. That's why the cowardly American media wouldn't reprint the Charlie Hebdo cartoon that depicted Muhammad.

What is big deal about a picture of Muhammad?

Now the President of the school is saying she sticks by the firing for the safety of the student body. So now they are just caving to the extremists. Terroristic threats of violence works.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think many non Muslim Americans are randomly creating pictures of Mohammed.

Until I read this news story, I would have had no idea that this was offensive at all.

So were you planning on drawing or displaying a big pic of Mohammed this weekend and now that’s cancelled?

No. But it's the kind of mistake I could make easily

Because you randomly think "Let me draw a picture of Mohammed"? Like WHEN would you do that? Also what would be your point of reference since hes basically the JD Salinger of prophets?

Anonymous wrote:I think the student stuck around to see the painting she was warned might be offensive in order to become offended and raise a stink.

Just a thought… maybe she doesn’t fit in because she’s a contentious personality.

she also brought race into it.

I think the student stuck around to see the painting she was warned might be offensive in order to become offended and raise a stink.

Just a thought… maybe she doesn’t fit in because she’s a contentious personality.

Yale University Press stopped publication of a book because it had historical depictions of Mohammed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so ridiculous. I’m not Muslim and will not abide by tenants of the Islamic faith. Why do Muslims insist that we all abide by their religion? If they can’t handle pictures of Mohammed, they should drop out of art history. They were warned.

France is 100% correct to try to eradicate religion in public spaces.

This is wild to me that a non-Muslim is held to Muslim religion standards- in an art history class. If I remember correctly, there was a major publication that ran a picture of Muhammad, this was years ago. Maybe it was time? There was a lot of hoopla over it, but ultimately it is free speech. I think this professor has grounds for a winning lawsuit.

Molly Norris suggested a Everyone Draw Mohammed day, to send the message that free speech is important. So-called journalists ignored the call and instead Molly went into hiding.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the picture of Mohammed, I'm the OP and still fascinated by the entire story. Has she been rehired? Where can I find follow up news of this situation?

There is no follow up. Every tweet that they send out has replies filled with pictures of Mohammed, I'm wondering how long the trolling will last

Who is “they” who is tweeting?

the college

I can't bring myself to go into Twitter just to see this.

Thanks Jeff for cleaning up the thread.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the picture of Mohammed, I'm the OP and still fascinated by the entire story. Has she been rehired? Where can I find follow up news of this situation?

There is no follow up. Every tweet that they send out has replies filled with pictures of Mohammed, I'm wondering how long the trolling will last

Who is “they” who is tweeting?

the college

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think many non Muslim Americans are randomly creating pictures of Mohammed.

Until I read this news story, I would have had no idea that this was offensive at all.

So were you planning on drawing or displaying a big pic of Mohammed this weekend and now that’s cancelled?

No. But it's the kind of mistake I could make easily

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the picture of Mohammed, I'm the OP and still fascinated by the entire story. Has she been rehired? Where can I find follow up news of this situation?

There is no follow up. Every tweet that they send out has replies filled with pictures of Mohammed, I'm wondering how long the trolling will last

Who is “they” who is tweeting?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently this is terribly offensive. Why is that? The oldest pictures are Muslim?

And how can we tell more Americans so they don't accidentally upset people?

So, I'm not going to show a picture just to try to upset people, but this isn't that case and I can't believe the university fired this professor.

So much for moderate Muslims.

Actual, I've read several Muslims condemning the university and supporting the teacher.

The president of the Muslim Student Association is the one who got the ball rolling on her dismissal

The Hamline University MSA doesn't speak for all Muslims.

Which ones doesn't it speak for? I haven't seen any Muslim complain

The NY Times article somebody linked to above quotes a Muslim complaining. There's even a photo of him with his painting of Mohammed that he smuggled out of Iran during the revolution.

Interestingly, this was an online class. Making it even easier for the student to look away after being warned. Some in the NY Times comments section are comparing this to entrapment: the student was given multiple warnings but chose to remain and then criticize the prof after the fact.

The bigger issue is, should we stop teaching and testing kids about evolution so as not to offend creationists in all religions? Where does it end?

of course, that same article quotes the executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations as supporting the dismissal. As far as where does it end, probably with a tiny school that is already struggling having an even harder time convincing students to attend.

That's the same CAIR another poster claims is nuanced

That was the Minnesota CAIR. The national spokesperson was more nuanced.