THIS SHOULD MAKE MUSLIMS THINK!!

The premise behind the no image rule is to prevent Muslims from substituting the prophet's image in place of God.
No one has tried to think this through.
All this uproar over a harmless depiction is pure drama.

I agree 100% with the author. At the time of Islam's introduction the local population worshiped idols and idols were placed in the Kabah in Mecca , originally built by Abraham and Ishmael.

Nobody has an actual image of any of the prophets. Human imagination can come up with images that they would like to see.

Prophet Mohammad was a breathing man like all men and I do not think a positive image would result in Muslims rushing to pay homage or start worshiping.

It is time the Muslims understood that images of the prophet in for example our school books to inform our children about our religions is a good idea.

HOW COME NOBODY QUESTIONS MUSLIM CLERICS ON THIS SUBJECT.

We have images of Moses, Abraham and Jesus in the movies and on Television. I think Mohammad is just like any of these other messengers of God.

What is the big deal?

God instructed Moses to tell his people to stop worshipping the "The Golden Calf" This is confirmed by the old testament and also the Quran.

How come the Jewish people do not have a problem with positive depiction of Moses.
The only reason for concern would be for Muslim people to start worshiping Mohammad's image.
I do not think that that would happen.

An overriding principle in the Quran is that God is supreme and you cannot accord the same status to another person.

Muslim clerics must be questioned about this.

This is one reason children books do not talk much about Islam and Mohammad and our children in schools have no idea about Islam.

Also it is impossible to make a movie that clearly illustrates one histories great leaders without sharing his personality traits.
I was truly impressed by the late Charlton Heston's role and acting while playing Moses.
What a wonderful message such movies can give our children to fear God and follow the right path.

So my buycravenimages website can sell Prophet Muhammad voodoo dolls and still be within the guidelines of the Quran? Don't miss our closeout sale on genuine imitations of The Shroud of Turin ending April 30th.

Here is another revelation from Malik--Malik, have you challenged these clerics in a forum other than "In Good faith"? What's the point of your blah, blah here? Get on to one of the extremme Islam sites and tell the blokes what you are telling us.

So Concerned Citizen, you want the Prophet depicted as the human he was and you want a man similar to Heston, to play the role of Mohammed, ride on a horse from Mecca to Medina, laying to waste the idol worshipers of the time and reciting his epiphanies from A to Z? I think such a movie would be no more than a big fat snooze--so you learned about Moses from Heston and you were duly inspired--I don't know if that speaks well of the movie or speaks ill of you or both. The Muslims love all the exclusivity that the Prophet confers on them--if the Prophet can indeed be depicted as a human or a creature with three heads then the Muslims will have nothing to carp about, march about or shout about--same with the kabaa and Mecca--keep the infidels out and pretend to be the owner of a religion that only allows insiders in. This is the Muslim way--completely devoid of humor about their religion--the Muslims will not anthropomorphize their Prophet or humanize him--the fear is not that he will be substituted for Allah--the fear is that their carping point will be removed--the Muslims love their carping point called "No pictorializing our Prophet"---keeps them threatening their compatriots from other religions and helps them get loads of attention--yipee!
Ravensfan Anon

South Park's bosses aren't the only cowards in this matter, so is academia.

Yale University Press published a book recently about the controversial cartoons depicting Muhammad. They left out one important thing in the book: the very cartoons the book discussed because they feared a backlash!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/books/13book.html

Like I said, Muslims were only created to be a thorn in the side to the Jews for punishment for what Abraham did. Neither Muslims or Jews go to heaven without Christ, and neither do Hindus.

Ravensfan Anon:

For once I agree with you!!

Why don't you forward this to one of the extreme Islamist sites, with your comment and show them the way.

I do not know of any.

I agree with you. It is amazing that the rest of the Muslim world that is supposed to be more liberal than the Arabs is completely quite about this strange obsession with no depiction of the prophet in paintings or drawaings.

The author raises a good point though.
Also in the old testament
God instructed Moses to tell his people to stop worshiping the Golden Calf . This statue thing has been stretched to portraits through made up sayings of the prophet.
I think a movie on Prophet Mohammad will be a very exciting movie showing his interactions with Jews and Christians and the wars he fought against the other tribes.

However, the Muslim world has still not come up with a good enough reason for this Taboo on showing the face of the prophet. I do not think it would lead to worship of such depictions

I think the clerics want to use this as an excuse to limit freedom of expression. It actually hurts the Muslim religion as in most American and European schools children are ignorant about a religion that has been embraced by over a Billion people.
They are also ignorant about the common stories in the Bible and the Quran.

Of course , Middle East money has also influenced the translations of the Quran and sayings of the prophet that are very often made up and embellished.
I do not think God's messenger whether he is Moses, Jesus or Mohammad would like to limit progress or impose terms on his people that would limit freedoms and prevent the establishment of a just and fair society.

Correction--spelling of extreme in my last post.
Ravensfan Anon

Concerned Citizen,
All religions are made up and embellished and consist of a bunch of pabulum vomited by paranoid prophets with grandiose delusions and if we, the modernists, would stop splitting hairs about what these deluded men regurgitated from their hallucinations hundreds of years back, then the world would be a better place--but like Ashoka you would throw a spoke in my wheel and tell me, if I do not believe in god, how would I cope if a deer crosses my path suddenly and overturns my car--what a relevant question from the great Ashoka to me. You tell me Concerned Citizen why someone cannot visit Mecca if he or she is not a Muslim? The Muslim religion has lost rhyme as well as reason. I for one am actually happy that the Prophet cannot be depicted as a human or an animal--look at the art that came out of ancient Muslim hands--the geometry and the tessellations incomparable--men will find ways to express themselves even when their hands are tied. The Muslims have regressed terribly since their glory days--look at Mughal art-- the painstaking miniature paintings of Rajasthan or the Taj, the most serene and exquisite of all buildings in the world--what has happened to the Muslims is a terrible tragedy!
Ravensfan Anon

I agree. Most of the Muslim laws are based on interpretations of what the prophet said or may have said related by the descendants of the companions of the prophet a few hundred years hence.
It is the same in Christianity with the Psalms. Jesus said this and Jesus said that is impossible to confirm.
The overriding principle is to create a just society as the USA is trying to be minus the Goldman Sachs vultures.

Muslims have regressed because of colonization by European adventrurers.
The English, French , Portuguese and Dutch colonized Muslim countries and instead of allowing Monarchies to develop into democracies in fact created dictatorships and new King-ships as happened in Saudi Arabia and Iran.
We overturned a democratic government in Iran over Oil and we tolerate an autocratic regime of looter in Saudi Arabia. All our presidents including Obama are very sweet and understanding about the mad sharia laws in force in Saudi Arabia today.

I think we should criticize the Muslim people less and empower them by removing dictators and kings. Human beings notwithstanding the color of their skin are God's creation and in the end want to enjoy their time on earth

As far as oil supply is concerned they will sell it anyway and we should not worry about it. We must stop Middle Eastern countries from supporting Extremist organizations around the world.

Muslims are well-advised to simply ignore newspapers that use cheap methods of attracting publicity as was done by the Danish newspaper.

Freedom of speech must not be used to incite people. The Christians who outnumber Muslims have tolerated many insults of God's prophet and messenger Jesus.

The issue that must be confronted is the reason for not showing any image of the prophet.
I think the author very correctly points out that most of the "Sayings of the Prophet" if they sound out of touch with reason are probably made up bunk and should be ignored.
Most Sharia law is based on these interpretations using the Quran, and the sayings of the Prophet.
The newspapers instead of turning red at being challenged on images of the prophet must open a debate with the Muslim governments to encourage them to confront these made up rules of no image of the prophet, that runs contrary to human trait.
Why are the Muslims not upset over pictorial depictions of Abraham, Moses and Jesus. They are also prophets in Islam.?

We must ask Muslims these questions?
The only issue is that people will start worshiping any pictorial representation. I think that is rubbish.

TIME HAS COME TO QUESTION THE MUSLIM ASSOCIATIONS

Muslim counties should worry about extremists destroying their future.

All protests are generally designed and planned for relevance.

Muslim dictators and kings are afraid to confront incorrect interpretations of Muslim religion for fear of losing support.

I HAVE DONE SOME RESEARCH ON THIS TOPIC.

THERE IS NO REFERENCE IN THE QURAN TO PICTORIAL REPRESENTATIONS ONLY TO NOT WORSHIPING IDOLS IN PLACE OF GOD.

WHEN MOHAMMAD ARRIVED AT THE KABBAH(HOUSE OF GOD, BUILT BY ABRAHAM) HE RODE AROUND IT ON HIS CAMEL KNOCKING OVER STATUES THAT WERE PLACED AROUND IT.
HE DID THIS TO DISCOURAGE WORSHIP OF IDOLS AS WAS THE PRACTICE AMONGST PAGAN ARABS

THERE WAS AN ICON OF THE VIRGIN MARY INSIDE THE KABAH THAT THE PROPHET INSTRUCTED WAS TO BE LEFT ALONE. THIS WAS LATER DESTROYED IN A FIRE.

THERE MUST BE DEBATE ON THE LOGIC BEHIND MUSLIM INSISTENCE THAT THERE BE NO PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION OF THE PROPHET

Muslims are very nice it is a nice and comfort religion.as you can see i am a Muslim and i believe in all this well my English name is Ashley and my Muslim name is Alisha. being a Muslim is good.
i believe in the qu'aran, prayers and all about the Islamic Muslim life.
thank you!

Buddha, the Hindu gods as medium for God, Moses, Jesus and Mohammad all give message of peace and humility.

No religion tells us to kill. Man can interpret it to suit his intentions. The Inquisition, crusades, wars and other genocide in history were not guided by God's message but by human selfishness.

A Muslim should be able to wear the cross of Christianity and the Star of David without offending anyone since they are both prophets in Islam. The Muslim crescent has a star in the middle.
This is symbolic of refuge sought my Jews in Iran, Turkey , Morocco and all over the middle east during persecution in Europe.

I know many Jewish families whose parents lived in Iran until the revolution in 1979 forced them out.

Muslims should give a clear explanation for their "No-Image" policy

If we boast that we show pictures of Jesus,Moses and David then we can also boast that in Australia an artist turned the picture of Jesus into Osama Bin Laden.Jesus is shown as a comedian and even in porn movies.He is even shown as a black guy.And I guess these things help a lot for Christians to strengthen their faith!!! point is when you believe in someone like Jesus or Prophet Muhammad it is offensive to see them being made fun of.

Today there is a picture of Muhammad.Tomorrow He will appear in Mosques and after a couple hundred years God Forbid He might turn into a human avatar of God.This is why Muslims are angered.What Mr Malik forgot to say was that what Prophet said is never for just his time but for all times the benefits of which we are still feeling on a daily basis.So to say that what he said about statues is in context to his time is simply untrue.

Again since nobody can draw an accurate picture of the Prophet.To draw a typical picture of a Arab and saying this is Prophet Muhammad is just lying which is simply prohibited.It would be simply illogical to think that middle eastern origin Jesus has blonde hair and Blue eyes.So what Christians are praying to is not the accurate picture of Jesus.Simple fact is that Religion cannot be based on lies,faith cannot be based on lies definitely cannot be based on illogical facts and theories.