Is it correct that the Sunnis forbid reproduction of the image of the Prophet whilst Shia's allowed it prior to publication of those offensive Danish cartoons in 2006 but subsequently banned reproduction of images of Him in solidarity with their Sunni cousins?
If so, why should Moslems get so offended about reproductions of images of Mohammed given it is accepted within a section of their faith?
Why should Westerners be defiled for reproducing images of Mohammed when they perceive it is permitted in sections of the Islamic faith?
Hi Ozzie,
First of all, i would like to welcome you to the Islam DIR and i hope that you will make yourself comfortable and ask whatever comes to your mind about Islam, and we will try to help with giving some answers.
Note that we are not scholars of Islam, but we are just normal muslims, so forgive us if we couldn't answer your questions in the most accurate and suitable manner.
Regarding your question, I think it's addressing two issues at the same time. You have to remember that what the muslims were offended about was to show Prophet Mohammed in some cartoons as a terrorist or other offensive matters. Nevertheless, there are some others who honestly wanted to draw prophet Mohammed just as what they do with other prophets like Moses, Jesus, etc, but the problem is that we have been prohibited by the propher himself of getting some painting or pictures of him because this might lead to some new kind of attitudes by some muslims regarding someone like the prophet of Allah, just like what is happening in other faiths, when they show some painting of their leaders when they worship, or sit in front of a picture and pray, etc.
Prophet Mohammed taught us that he was a man of God, a worshipper of God, and he wasn't a king nor angel. He tried to avoid the activities which was being done in his time.
For example, in Mekkha, where prophet Mohammed was born, and started his message when he recieved the revelation, there was some idols there and people were worshipping them and those who worship them were saying that they were *using* these idols to reach to God faster.
Before that, Abraham "peace be upon him" decleared faith at that area, but the problem is that someone came after him, and brought these massive idols to arabia and it was originally idols which represents some good people in the past, so they kept it there and by time, people started to forget why it was there in the first place and started to worship it.
Some people might argue that no body would fall down worshipping a picture, but i know some people who will use it in a way or another as a mean of worshipping or getting nearer to God, which will clearly violate our main dogma in Islam about "Tawheed" which is to associate no one in worship beside God. We focus our worship only in Allah.
Another reason is, to avoid being disrespectful to Prophet Mohammed, because, even though there is a description of him in details in many books, there is no way to know how he looks like excatly, and we can't just simply imagine that and start painting, because it would be disrespectful to do so.
That's why muslims around the world don't accept to put some pictures for prophet Mohammed, because we respect him so much and we take that very very seriously.
Regarding the sect you mentioned who use the picture of Mohammed, i heard about it once but i think not all of them agree with that, and some might do it unoffecially within that particular sect.
I hope i answered your questions. I'm just trying to visit RF these days from time to another because i'm busy with my final exams, so forgive me if my answer wasn't satisfactory, due the lack of time.
If you have any other questions, or if you think that you need more explaination in depth about this issue, so i'll be more than glad to assist you and help in answering your questions as much as i can, as the other brothers and sisters in here will do as well.
Peace be upon you.
