Attack Raises Questions on Roots of Muslim Objection to Image-Making

The New York Times’ Rick Gladstone reports, “Many Muslims upset by the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad published in Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical newspaper, argue that the issue is not free speech but the insult to a religious figure revered by roughly a quarter of the world’s population.” While the Quran does not explicitly forbid image making of diving beings, the act is considered a sin in some sects of Islam, but not deserving of by death. “Even if you believe this is punishable, it’s not something that vigilantes should do,” said Asifa Quraishi-Landes, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School who specializes in comparative Islamic and American constitutional law, “That’s universal across Islamic law.”

Read at The New York Times

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