Depicting the Prophet

Over 200,000 people have recently signed an online petition asking for pictures of the Prophet Mohammad to be removed from Wikipedia.

The petition says:

"In Islam picture of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and other Humans are not allowed. But Wikipedia editors are showing illustrations with face illustrated and face is veiled or white washed. But still they are offensive to Muslims. I request all brothers and sisters to sign this petitions so we can tell Wikipedia to respect the religion and remove the illustrations."

Leaving aside the ridiculousness of petitioning a wiki to remove content, and of asking non-Muslims to abide by the Sunnah, let's focus on the ridiculousness of the petitioners' choice of targets. The picture specifically mentioned in the petition, reprinted above, is from an 11th century book by al-Biruni, an 11th century Muslim scientist. Apparently the petitioners are unaware that Shi'a Islam has a long and vibrant history of depicting the Prophet. (And al-Biruni wasn't himself even Shia.)

Of even more interest are the bogeymen implicated by the outraged Muslims. In his blog, the originator of the petition blames this portrayal of the Prophet on "west European and Atheist" Wikipedia admins. In the associated Facebook group someone commented, "THIS IS DEFINATELY THE ACT OF JEWS FUCK U MOTHER FUCKER ASSHOLES."

Apparently Jews and/or atheists are traveling back in time to eleventh century Persia to produce Muslim devotional artwork. Funny old world, isn't it?