Blasphemy must be avoided

Some major religions have had times in their history when the images of their religious figures were forbidden. In Judaism, one of the Ten Commandments forbade "graven images". In Byzantine Christianity, during the period of Iconoclasm, (8th century, and again during the 9th century) visual representations were forbidden, and only the Cross could be depicted in churches. Even in modern times, there are disputes within different groups of Protestant Christians about the appropriateness of having religious icons of saints.

The concern generally boils down to the concept of whether or not the image is becoming more important than what is being represented. In Islam, although nothing in the Holy Quran explicitly bans images, there are some supplemental Ahadith that ban the drawing of images of any living creature. Some other Ahadith tolerate images but never encourage them. Hence, visual depictions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and other prophets, such as Moses and Abraham (AS), are avoided.

God is usually represented by immaterial attributes such as "holy" and "merciful", commonly known from His ninety-nine beautiful names. The Holy Prophet´s (PBUH) physical appearance, however, is amply described, particularly in the traditions on his life and deeds recorded in the biographies.

While talking about Islam, Titus Burckhardt, a connoisseur of Islamic art, architecture and civilisation, sums up the role of aniconism (the practice or belief in avoiding or shunning graphic representation of divine beings or religious figures) in a way that might hold true for cases throughout a variety of cultures. "Islam is centered on unity, and unity is not expressible in terms of any image. Thus, Islamic art as a whole aims to create an ambiance that helps man to realise his primordial dignity; it therefore, avoids everything that could be an idol even in a relative and provisional manner. Nothing must stand between man and the invisible presence of God — thus eliminating all the turmoil and passionate suggestions of the world and in their stead creating an order that expresses equilibrium, serenity and peace."

During its early days, aniconism in Islam was intended as a measure against idolatry, particularly against the statues worshipped by pagans. To show the superiority of the monotheist faith, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) smashed the idols at the Ka´aba. He also removed paintings that were blasphemous to Islam.

There are many verbal descriptions of the Prophet (PBUH) in Ahadith but visual descriptions are not allowed. In one of the earliest sources, Ibn Sa´d´s Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, there are numerous verbal descriptions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). One description sourced to Ali Ibn Abi Talib (RA) is as follows: "The Apostle of Allah is neither too short nor too tall. His hair 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 forehead and long space between two shoulders. 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."

The firmly established principle in Islam that our iman is as good as our love for the Prophet (PBUH) is fairly and accurately expressed by many poets. Love of the Prophet is love of all the beauty and nobility of character, truthfulness, justness, humility and inner strength of which man is capable and which the Prophet (PBUH) possessed in the utmost degree.

Protests and rallies have been recently staged all over the world against the organised conspiracy of Danish government that has not taken any action against the republication of blasphemous caricatures of Holy Prophet (PBUH). They call it freedom of information but it is the freedom of aggression because it shows their anti-Islam sentiments. It hurts the feelings of larger Muslim community of the world.

Muslims are demanding an effective legislation by the OIC and the UN to restrain publication of blasphemous material. Others want that the government of Pakistan should record protest at the diplomatic level and in the National Assembly. Many insist deportation of Danish envoys from all Islamic countries, boycott of Danish products and pressure building measures on non-Islamic countries at the international level to restrain that type of issues.

These kinds of evil acts should be avoided at any cost. But the long-term solution seems to be the eradication of all the differences between nations and pay respect to each other´s sacred personalities and holy books. Peaceful co-existence is the only way that can lead us to a safer world where poverty, exploitation and violence ceases to exist. We have to create conditions that make tolerance a reality.