By Nafeesa Shan
MUSLIM spokepersons are upset by an online encyclopaedia which has published images of the prophet Muhammad.
An online petition calling on bosses of the free multilingual source, Wikipedia, to remove the image has been set up and more than 170,000 signatures have been registered from across the world.
In Islam it is not permitted to show or produce pictures of the holy prophet.
One reason is that there were no pictorial images of him during his life so no one can make a true representations of him.
But it was also a request made by the prophet so Muslims would follow the words of Allah rather than idolise images of him.
Prophet Muhammad is a significant part of the Muslim faith as the Qu'ran, the Islamic holy text, was revealed to him.
Coun Salim Mulla, senior vice chair of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, said: "I have had floods of emails and phone calls about this.
"There are a lot of angry people at the moment.
"I think all this is doing is inflaming the situation.
"They are attacking the community, everyone is angry and disgusted by this.
"Muslims should boycott the site.
"They should take them down as a mark of respect to the Muslim beliefs.
"It feels like a public attack on our faith."
Moulana Hanif Dudhwala, of Troy Street Mosque, Blackburn, said: "They are making up their own artistic impressions.
The prophet asked people not to make pictures of himself so none were made of him.
"They should be sensitive to all religions.
"They should not be putting these pictures up at all.
"The fact that there are thousands of signatures on the petition should give them an idea that they should take to pictures down."
Sheraz Arshad, vice chair of Lancashire Council of Mosques added: "Everybody has the right to express themselves but people should be sensitive other beliefs.
"If people are concerned about it they should make their feeling clear in a peaceful way."
Wikimedia Foundation spokesman Jay Walsh said: "The decision to leave the images of Muhammad are made by editors and administrators.
"They make those decisions based on the values, principles, and policies of Wikipedia, which prides itself on not censoring people.
"People have the ability to discuss whether or not an image should stay or go depending on the principles."
MUSLIM spokepersons are upset by an online encyclopaedia which has published images of the prophet Muhammad.
An online petition calling on bosses of the free multilingual source, Wikipedia, to remove the image has been set up and more than 170,000 signatures have been registered from across the world.
In Islam it is not permitted to show or produce pictures of the holy prophet.
One reason is that there were no pictorial images of him during his life so no one can make a true representations of him.
But it was also a request made by the prophet so Muslims would follow the words of Allah rather than idolise images of him.
Prophet Muhammad is a significant part of the Muslim faith as the Qu'ran, the Islamic holy text, was revealed to him.
Coun Salim Mulla, senior vice chair of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, said: "I have had floods of emails and phone calls about this.
"There are a lot of angry people at the moment.
"I think all this is doing is inflaming the situation.
"They are attacking the community, everyone is angry and disgusted by this.
"Muslims should boycott the site.
"They should take them down as a mark of respect to the Muslim beliefs.
"It feels like a public attack on our faith."
Moulana Hanif Dudhwala, of Troy Street Mosque, Blackburn, said: "They are making up their own artistic impressions.
The prophet asked people not to make pictures of himself so none were made of him.
"They should be sensitive to all religions.
"They should not be putting these pictures up at all.
"The fact that there are thousands of signatures on the petition should give them an idea that they should take to pictures down."
Sheraz Arshad, vice chair of Lancashire Council of Mosques added: "Everybody has the right to express themselves but people should be sensitive other beliefs.
"If people are concerned about it they should make their feeling clear in a peaceful way."
Wikimedia Foundation spokesman Jay Walsh said: "The decision to leave the images of Muhammad are made by editors and administrators.
"They make those decisions based on the values, principles, and policies of Wikipedia, which prides itself on not censoring people.
"People have the ability to discuss whether or not an image should stay or go depending on the principles."
No comments:
Post a Comment