Depictions of Muhammad

Depictions of Muhammad, the Islamic prophet, can be a contentious matter.

Oral and written descriptions are readily accepted by all traditions of Islam. However, Muslims differ as to whether or not visual depictions of Muhammad are permissable.

Some Muslims believe that to prevent shirk, or ascribing partners to God, visual depictions of Muhammad and other prophets of Islam should be prohibited. Other Muslims believe respectful depictions should be allowed. Both sides have produced great Islamic art -- the aniconists through calligraphy and arabesque, the pictorialists through book illustration and architectural decoration.

The vast majority of Muslims are hurt or shocked by negative portrayals of Muhammad, whether spoken, written, drawn, or filmed.

Verbal descriptions

File:Muhammad callig.gif

Muhammad's name written in Arabic calligraphy

In one of the earliest sources, Ibn Sa'd's Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, there are numerous verbal descriptions of Muhammad. One description sourced to Ali ibn Abi Talib is as follows:

The Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him, is neither too short nor too tall. His hairs are neither curly nor straight, but a mixture of the two. He is a man of black hair and large skull. His complexion has a tinge of redness. His shoulder bones are broad and his palms and feet are fleshy. He has long al-masrubah which means hair growing from neck to navel. He is of long eye-lashes, close eye-brows, smooth and shining fore-head and long space between two shulders. When he walks he walks inclining as if coming down from a height. I never saw a man like him before him or after him. (Ibn Sa'd, undated Indian translation, pp. 486-487).

Athar Husain gives a non-pictorial description of his appearance, dress, etc. in "The Message of Mohammad"

According to Husain, Muhammad was a little taller than average, sturdily built and muscular. His fingers were long. His hair, which was long, had waves, and he had a thick beard, which had seventeen gray hairs at the time of his death. He had good teeth and spare cheeks, brownish black eyes. His complexion was fair and he was very handsome.

He walked fast with firm gait. He always kept himself busy with something, did not speak unnecessarily, always spoke to the point and without verbosity, and did not behave in an emotional way.

He usually wore a shirt, trousers, a sheet thrown round the sholders and a turban, all spotlessly clean, rarely wearing the fine clothes that had been presented to him. He wanted others to wear simple, but always clean, clothes.

Visual depictions

File:Muhammad on Mount Hira.jpg

Muhammad at Mount Hira (16th century Ottoman illustration of the Siyer-i Nebi)

While nothing in the Qur'an forbids representations of Muhammad, a few hadith condemned pictures of Muhammad, and pictures in general. One hadith reads:

Allah, Most High said: "And who is more unjust than those who try to create the likeness of My creation? Let them create an atom, or let them create a wheat grain, or let them create a barley grain." ( Sahih Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 93, Number 648)

Some Muslims believe that such hadith forbid all pictorial representation. Other Muslims believe that there is nothing wrong with pictures in general; it is only idolatry that is condemned. They believe that pictures of Muhammad are allowable if they are illustrations to encourage faith and practice, not idols for worship.

Paintings

The long history of Islamic art contains many examples of pictures respectfully representing Muhammad. They are not to be considered lifelike portraits. In some, but by no means all cases, the face is left blank so that Muhammad is suggested rather than completely depicted. Many times flames seem to emanate from Muhammad's head; this suggests the radiance of his countenance. Persian and Ottoman miniatures of the 14th to 16th centuries are especially notable for their free approach to pictorial representations.

Contemporary Shi'a Muslims in Iran and Afghanistan also take a relaxed attitude towards pictures of Muhammad and his household, the Ahlul Bayt. A fatwa given by Ali al-Sistani, the Shi'a marja of Iraq, states that it is permissible to depict Muhammad, even in television or movies, if done with respect.:

If due deference and respect is observed, and the scene does not contain anything that would detract from their holy pictures in the minds [of the viewers], there is no problem.

While most of Islam was predominantly aniconistic during most of its history, there are traditions of hagiography, notably in the Shi'ite tradition of Persia and parts of Afghanistan (Hazarajat), and in the Ottoman Empire, notably illustrating the life of Muhammad, beginning in ca. the 14th century (6th c. AH). Devotional depictions of Muhammad are still commonly available in predominantly Shi'ite regions.

• Miniature of Muhammad re-dedicating the Black Stone at the Kaaba. From Jami Al-Tawarikh ("The Universal History" written by Rashid Al-Din), a manuscript in the Library of the University of Edinburgh; illustrated in Tabriz, Persia, c. 1315 during the rule of the Sunni Arab Muzaffarid dynasty.
  Miniature of Muhammad re-dedicating the Black Stone at the Kaaba. From Jami Al-Tawarikh ("The Universal History" written by Rashid Al-Din), a manuscript in the Library of the University of Edinburgh; illustrated in Tabriz, Persia, c. 1315 during the rule of the Sunni Arab Muzaffarid dynasty.
• 
  Muhammad's Call to Prophecy and the First Revelation; leaf from a copy of the Majmac al-tawarikh (Compendium of Histories), ca. 1425; Timurid. From Herat, Afghanistan. In The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• 
  Journey of the Prophet Muhammad; leaf from a copy of the Majmac al-tawarikh (Compendium of Histories), ca. 1425; Timurid. Herat, Afghanistan. In The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• birth of Muhammad (16th century Ottoman illustration of the Siyer-i Nebi)
  birth of Muhammad (16th century Ottoman illustration of the Siyer-i Nebi)
• Muhammad at the Kaba (16th century Ottoman illustration of the Siyer-i Nebi)
  Muhammad at the Kaba (16th century Ottoman illustration of the Siyer-i Nebi)
• Muhammad advancing on Mecca, with the angels Gabriel, Michael, Israfil and Azrail (16th century Ottoman illustration of the Siyer-i Nebi)
  Muhammad advancing on Mecca, with the angels Gabriel, Michael, Israfil and Azrail (16th century Ottoman illustration of the Siyer-i Nebi)
• A 16th century Persian miniature painting celebrating Muhammad's ascent into the Heavens, a journey known as the Miraj.
  A 16th century Persian miniature painting celebrating Muhammad's ascent into the Heavens, a journey known as the Miraj.

Other examples of Islamic art depicting Muhammad:

• The Birth of the prophet Muhammad, from Jami' al-tavarikh ("Compendium of Chronicles"). Tabriz, Persia, c. 1315
• The night journey of Muhammad on his steed, Buraq; from the Bustan of Sa'di, 1514
• Contemporary image from Iran, face blank

Sculptures

File:Muhammad-supcourt.jpg

A representation of Muhammad at the United States Supreme Court building

While no Muslims seem to have ever represented Muhammad in sculpture, numerous non-Muslims have done so. Often a figure representing Muhammad may be part of a frieze depicting influential people in world history. Such a depiction of Muhammad can be found, for example, at the United States Supreme Court building in Washington, DC. The frieze includes such major historical figures such as Hammurabi, Confucious, and Muhammad, all renowned as law-givers. In 1955, a statue of Muhammad was removed from a courthouse in New York City after the ambassadors of Indonesia, Pakistan, and Egypt requested its removal. .

Cinema

Some Muslims believe that films can convey the message of Islam in a direct and immediately appealing fashion. Other Muslims believe that this could lead to idolatry. There have been few attempts to feature Muhammad in films.

• The only live-action film to feature Muhammad was the 1976 Mohammad, Messenger of God. The movie focussed on a fictional character and never directly showed Muhammad. When Muhammad was essential to a scene, the camera would show events from his point of view. The movie was controversial, in great part because some Muslims mistakenly believed that the fictional character in the movie was Muhammad. A group of Muslims in Washington, DC protested the movie's release by occupying a building and taking hostages.

• A devotional cartoon called Muhammad (PBUH): The Last Prophet was released in 2004 [1].

Recent controversies involving depiction of Muhammad

In 1989, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa urging Muslims to kill the British author Salman Rushdie, for verbal caricature of Muhammad. See The Satanic Verses (novel).

In 2006, the publication of cartoons depicting Muhammad sparked protests in which dozens of people died. See Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy.

See also

• Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
• The Satanic Verses (novel)

References

• Ibn Sa'd -- Kitabh al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, as translated by S. Moinul and H.K. Ghazanfar, Kitab Bhavan, New Delhi, n.d.