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Islamic Countries Slam Newsweek’s Depiction of Prophet Muhammad
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"The Sunni branch of Islam as well as other Islamic schools forbids the visualization of a prophet or God's messenger."
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JAKARTA, Feb. 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Indonesia's highest Islamic authority said Wednesday it urged the withholding of Newsweek magazine's February 11 issue to prevent a possible backlash by Muslims here over its depiction of Prophet Muhammad (Allah’s Peace and Prayers Be Upon Him).
The issue included a photograph of an undated Turkish manuscript depicting Prophet Muhammed (SAAWS) with the angel Gabriel, as part of an article exploring the similarities and differences between the Islamic and Christian scriptures.
Umar Shihab, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (Muslim scholars), said the group also asked the publisher of Newsweek to apologize to Muslims worldwide for using the images.
"The Sunni branch of Islam as well as other Islamic schools forbids the visualization of a prophet or God's messenger," Shihab told Agence France-Presse (AFP). "Because of that, the publication of Prophet Muhammad [SAAWA]'s image can be seen as an insult to Islam."
Newsweek's distributor in Jakarta has withheld the issue pending the council's advice. The Ulemas' Council has sent a letter to the distributor urging it not to circulate the issue, Shihab said.
Shihab added the cover story could also be perceived by Muslims as an attempt to picture Islam as a violent religion.
"We understand that the story is not intended to discredit Islam; it's fine for a scientific discourse,” said Shihab, “but a lay Muslim might misunderstand it even if he or she may know the English language."
Last week, the Bangladeshi government said it had banned the publication, sale, distribution and preservation of all copies of U.S.-based Newsweek's February 11 Asian edition, which was published in Singapore.
The action was taken for fear that the image's publication "may hurt the religious feelings of Muslims," the government said.
Meanwhile, the France-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) slammed what it called the censorship of Newsweek in Indonesia and Bangladesh.
Its general secretary Robert Menard said in a statement he had written to Bangladeshi Information Minister Moyeen Khan and Indonesia's Information Minister Syamsul Mu'arif, urging them "to do anything in their power" to have the edition reach the subscribers.
"Aware that the representation of Muslim prophets is forbidden, our organization, nevertheless, considers that the censorship of this international magazine is in the first place an attack on the free flow of information," Menard said.
"This measure deprives non-Muslims and foreigners residing in your country of an internationally well known publication."
In Egypt, the Al-Azhar institution, the highest authority in Sunni Islam, reiterated Sunday, February 10, its ban on the representation of prophets, following Newsweek’s use of an image of Prophet Muhammad (SAAWS).
Imam Sheikh Muhammad Sayed Tantawi and other ulemas, or Muslim scholars, recalled the ban on "all paintings, drawings, illustrations, personification or interpretations of a prophet," Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.
The institution also noted that it had banned the appearance in all media of images of "prophets and the 10 people [the Prophet’s companions] who were promised Paradise," according to the report.
It was not immediately known if the February 11 issue of the U.S. weekly news magazine would be sold in Egypt.
The international edition of the magazine includes a picture of a Turkish manuscript showing Prophet Muhammad (SAAWS) with the angel Gabriel, accompanied by an article comparing sacred Christian and Muslim writings.
Muzammil Siddiqi, the president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), said that Prophet Muhammad (SAAWS) forbade his followers to make the images of living beings whether human or animals.
The images of pious and religious figures were often worshiped by many people in Arabia as well as in other cultures and societies. Prophet Muhammad (SAAWS) was very conscious that these images lead to idolatry. He always reminded his followers to keep their faith in Allah pure from any idolatry or image worship, said Siddique.
“It is for this reason that we do not have any pictorial image of the Prophet (SAAWS), but we have a lot of details available about his personality, appearance and his character.”
“There is a whole genre of literature that is known as Shama'il al-Nabi, which means the physical appearance of the Prophet (SAAWS),” added Siddiqi.
ISNA is the largest Muslim organization in the Americas. It supervises nearly 1,100 mosques in the United States and Canada.
Newsweek has a circulation of some 10,000 copies in Indonesia, where more than 80 percent of the 214 million population follow Islam.
Time, another U.S. news weekly, last April apologized after it printed an image of Prophet Muhammed (SAAWS), which triggered angry protests by Muslim students in Indian Kashmir's turbulent summer capital, Srinagar.
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