Muhammad

Islam is the second largest religion on the planet. Muslims are usually very strict and take their religion extremely seriously. Muslims believe that Muhammad is the last prophet. Followers of Islam consider disrespect to Muhammad a very serious offense. Muslims are strict mono-theists and consider idol worship one of the worst sins. Due to this hatred of polytheism Muslims believe that representations of Muhammad can lead to the worship of these pictures and in turn polytheism. Representations of Muhammad have become a controversial subject worldwide. Twelve cartoons of Muhammad published by a Danish newspaper and many internet sources (such as Wikipedia) have lead to much debate over this important subject
 * Introduction**

For thousands of years Muslims and non-Muslims alike have been walking the fine line between insulting the Prophet and honoring him. The Islamic prophet Muhammad has been depicted in many ancient manuscripts and art pieces but in today's world, people are seeing and creating "offensive" or "racist" images of Muhammad that are very controversial. Some of these images of Muhammad include artist interpretations (like cartoons), museum pieces of art, and thousands of representations of Muhammad can be found on the internet (including Wikipedia) and other websites. There are many images which Muslims have found offensive towards the prophet Muhammad. Wikipedia has been a source of controversy because the web site hosted images representing Muhammad that most Muslims were not happy with. The controversy grew so big, an online petition formed to get Wikipedia to take down the images the Muslim people were so offended by. Wikipedia is now being cleansed of all its images and representations of Muhammad. Man Muslim scholars believe that works of fine art depicting Muhammad are some of the most beautiful pieces of Muslim art. Works that are respectful towards the Prophet are usually considered by Muslims to be holy images. Most modern Muslims believe that no representations of Muhammad are allowed, however, according to the qur'an, this proven unsure. In fact, the qur'an, (in all its 220 editions) contain an image of the prophet. Some editions of the qur'an even included pictures of Muhammad's life and sometimes even portraits of the prophet. The idea of strict rules against representations of Muhammad is a 19th century idea according to Muslim scholars.
 * Offensive or Not offensive**

In November of 2009 Yale published a book called "The Cartoons that Shook the World". This book by Brandeis University professor Jytte Klausen is a piece of literature about the famous Swedish cartoons of Muhammad. Several months after the Yale press agreed to publish the book they decided to omit all images depicting the Prophet Muhammad whether they were fine works of art or racist cartoons. Yale claimed they did not out of self-preservation but in an attempt to stop any violence about the book before it happens. Violent protests broke out in several Muslim countries after the drawings of Muhammad with a bomb in his turban were originally published. Many literary scholars have criticized Yale's decision saying that by excluding the pictures the meaning of the book is lost because the reader probably have no idea what examples of offensive imagery and acceptable depictions look like. Others in favor of Yale including the pictures have said that by excluding the images Yale is violating Klausen's right to free speech. Many experts have countered by saying that the images are not protected by free speech due to their offensive and racist nature. The book is a work about the reactions that Muslims and people of other faiths had and why the protests were politically motivated. The author reacted to Yale's decision saying that by excluding the pictures Yale is only submitting to the whims of religious fanatics.
 * Not so Free speech**

The topic of representations of Muhammad is a powder keg full of points and counterpoints, religious ideology and freedom of speech, classical art and unrelenting religious faithful. The debate is one that will fage on into the unforeseeable future. Muslims claim heresy against those who support even respectful depictions. Liberals say that all images no matter how offensive should be protected by the right of free speech. The argument has no completely correct answer.
 * Conclusion**

Sources: boson.com/news/world/worldly-bosotn/2009/08-danish-cartoons-revisited nytimes.com/2008/02/05/technology/05iht-wiki.1.9750764.html Mpac.org/artical.php?id=90 asiannews.it debatepedia.idebate.org/en/index.php/debate:_muhammad_cartoons_controversy online.wsj.com/article/sb10000142405274870410724574469111623490506 []

nytimes.com/2008/02/05/technology/05iht-wiki.1.9750764.html


 * Online potition against wikipedia
 * wikipedia has conterversial pictures that muslims take as offencive
 * The Islamic people do not want to see other representationis of Muhhamad
 * Representations of Muhhamad are not suppost to be created by artists today

Mpac.org/artical.php?id=90 asiannews.it debatepedia.idebate.org/en/index.php/debate:_muhammad_cartoons_controversy boson.com/news/world/worldly-bosotn/2009/08-danish-cartoons-revisited
 * Most representations of Muhhamad lead to disagreement but a riot was once started because of it
 * The curators that possess the representations beleive that is it a chance for people to learn
 * The only representationis of Muhhamad should be in manuscripts
 * Wikipedia is responsible for extreme conterversy over images of muhamad
 * It will be cleansed of all images or representations of Muhhamad
 * No one is happy about this and people of the Muslim religion will not tollerate it
 * Most believe cartoons representing muslims are racist
 * twelve editorial cartoons start the controversy
 * Protests against a Danish newspaper (Jyllands-posten)
 * Yale removed images of muhhammad from a book thier publishing about the cartoon controversy
 * Not all muslims object to pictures of muhhammmad that are tasteful and real art, but most object to those that are racist and in bad taste
 * Yale said they removed the images from the book because they did not want to cause further violence
 * Many people say that the images should be included because the book is a neutral investigation of the controversy and is not biased

online.wsj.com/article/sb10000142405274870410724574469111623490506
 * protests against the cartoons were politically motivated to stir anti-west fervor
 * there is a debate about wether or not the cartoons are potected by freedom of speech due to their racist and offensive nature
 * critics of yale say that ommiting the images take away from the book and only shows their compliance with terrorists

messages:
 * Dan R: Period A
 * Thomas E.-B Period

Thomas-Nice job on the paragrafs, i added a lil' info on the first one and went thru and looked at the others. Nice job all we need to do now is put the finishing touches on and i think we'll b good. -Dan :D