Wikipedia Islam Entry Is Criticized

[rayofreason]

An article about the Prophet Muhammad in the English-language Wikipedia has become the subject of an online protest in the last few weeks because of its representations of Muhammad, taken from medieval manuscripts.

In addition to numerous e-mail messages sent to Wikipedia.org, an online petition cites a prohibition in Islam on images of people.

The petition has more than 80,000 “signatures,” though many who submitted them to ThePetitionSite.com, remained anonymous.

“We have been noticing a lot more similar sounding, similar looking e-mails beginning mid-January,” said Jay Walsh, a spokesman for the Wikimedia Foundation in San Francisco, which administers the various online encyclopedias in more than 250 languages.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/books/05wiki.html?_r=2&ex=1360126800&en=ebab932c6d8d4bdb&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

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Hey, let's encourage them to spread Islamic law worldwide!!! (not)

[msongs]

1. if islamic people don't like it, nobody else can do it either. ok, thanks nt

[cyborg_jim]

5. That is how people of that mindset think

They are, after all, "right".

[Jim__]

2. These are pre-existing images.

Since these images of Muhammad already exist, and this is merely a reproduction of them, I don't see the problem. The images appear to exist in Islamic literature. Are these complaints completely arbitrary? Or, is there actually a basis in the Islamic religion for these complaints?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. You underestimate the sheer power of anal retentiveness.

Fuck them.

By the way, the paintings are from the Middle Ages, a time where Islam was FAR more tolerant than it is today. Jews and "wrong" Christians often fled Europe for the Arab countries in order to be able to live free. That influx of intelligent people actually helped the Islamic nations gain power. Amazing, innit?

[Goblinmonger]

4. Man

So should the Jewish population complain because the word "God" is there. Should I have used "G-d"? I mean, OK, I get it. Muslims don't want representations of their prophet. I wouldn't go into the home of a muslim and bring in those representations. I would respect them. But I'm not muslim. I can look at them if I want. Just like I can use the name of God if I want to.

Get over yourself.