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Debate Sparks After Asian Society Blurs Prophet Mohammad Image

Many scholars took issue after the Asian Society and Museum blurred images of Prophet Mohammad put on an ongoing exhibition.

The exhibition, titled “Comparative Hell: Arts Of Asian Underworlds”, explores the concept of hell or underworld in the religions of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It is the first comprehensive show of its kind that put such focus on religion outside the Judeo-Christian sphere. The exhibition opened in February and will run till May of this year. A virtual tour is also organized for people to view the exhibition without having to visit the museum.

Afruz Amighi’s ‘Spirit Canopy’ (2021) at the exhibition

The issue first arose after a few scholars noticed that the images of Prophet Mohammad in the exhibition were blurred. Most of the works depicting the Prophet were historic. Kjeld von Folsach and Christiane Gruber wrote to the Asian Society complaining that the blurring was not communicated to them during the marketing of the exhibition. The Asian Society responded by explaining that the virtual tour was managed by a third party who blurred the images without consulting them. They expressed an apology and have removed the virtual tour from the website for the time being.

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The museum had earlier presented the images with a disclaimer that the works were ‘sensitive for religious reasons’, as well as prohibited any photography on the venue. However, this had given wind to the ongoing debate on religious sentiment and artistic freedom around Islam. In most sects of Islam, the depiction of the Prophet Mohammad is strictly forbidden. However, some sects did allow this and there have been important artistic works with the Prophet’s image. Recently, this became a major issue when a professor at Hamline University was removed after sharing an image of the Prophet with his class, which led a Muslim student to file a complaint of “Islamophobia”. The university later backed down after outrage from other scholars.