Mohammed Image Archive4

8/4/2019 Mohammed Image Archive4

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In 1928, Liebig's Extract of Meat Company (a German firm which had developedconcentrated beef extract and bouillon cubes) issued a series of advertising trading

cards to promote its canned beef extract products. The 1928 card set (one ofhundreds

of different designs issued by the company over the years, on various themes)

illustrated six different pivotal points in Mohammed's life. The most beautiful of the

cards was the second one, seen here, which showed the Archangel Gabriel escorting

Mohammed up to the presence of Allah in Paradise -- the climax of his legendary

"Night Journey." The full set of all six cards are visible near the bottom of this page.(Hat tip: karmic inquisitor.)


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A cigarette card showing an artist's impression of Mohammed, manufactured by the

Ogden Cigarette company, printed sometime around the turn of the 20th century.(Hat tip: Martin.)


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Mohammed at Mecca, by Andreas Muller, late 19th century; this is a photogravure

reproduction printed in 1889; the original is in the Maximilianeum Gallery, Munich.

Mohammed is the one on the camel, and is depicted casting the idols out of the

Kaaba.(Hat tip: little old lady and Andrew.)


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Certain towns in southern Spain hold an annual festival called "Moros y Cristianos"

("Moors and Christians"), which celebrates the Reconquista -- the recapture of theIberian Peninsula by Christian Spaniards from the Muslim colonizers who had invaded

centuries earlier. In some locales, at the climax of the festival, townspeople burn

Mohammed in effigy. The Mohammed figure, called La Mahoma, is usually bigger than

life-size and in full costume. The picture here shows La Mahoma from the 1920 Morosy Cristianos festival in the town of Biar, near Alicante. But according to this site, someof the villages are planning to tone down their celebrations this year by not having LaMahoma at all. And artists in the city of Valencia are now afraid to make sculptures

that mock Mohammed in their annual satirical Fallas festival.(Hat tip: foreign devil.)


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A photo essay on this site shows La Mahoma of Biar being paraded through the town inthe 2000 Moros y Cristianos.


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A municipal fraternal organization maintains the tradition ofLa Mahoma from year toyear.


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On September 25, 2006, the Berlin opera house Deutsche Oper cancelled scheduled

performances of Mozart's opera "Idomeneo" out of fear that Muslim extremists might

commit acts of terror in response to the production. The original Mozart score made nomention of Mohammed or Islam, but the contemporary German version -- first

performed without incident in 2003 -- shows a character displaying the severed heads

of four religious figures: Poseidon, Buddha, Jesus and Mohammed. The picture shown

above comes from a 2003 rehearsal of the opera.


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These two additional images of Mohammed's head in "Ideomeneo" come courtesy of

the Drinking From Home blog; the photo on the left shows an actor playing Mohammed

before his head is removed; and the other picture shows Mohammed's head sitting on

a chair on the right.

This contemporary drawing of Mohammed is a thoughtful attempt to show what he

might have actually looked like in real life, based on scholarly research into the earliest

known descriptions of him, and into the type of clothing worn in Arabia during his

lifetime.

(Hat tip: Rob.)


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This unusual drawing ofa dark-skinned Mohammed comes from a site about Factology,

an obscure messianic Islamic-themed schismatic religious group which is based on the

teachings ofDr. Malachi Z. York.(Hat tip: Raafat.)

This advertisement for Taiwan's "Confutopia Church" (a combination of "Confucius"

and "utopia") shows Mohammed holding hands with a pantheon of historical spiritual

leaders. The figures, from left to right, are: A Taiwanese aborigine, Mohammed,

Confucius, Jesus, Buddha, Socrates, and Lao-Tzu. (The first figure might instead be

Krishna -- it's not clear).(Hat tip: David B.)


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Zombietime reader David B. also sends these photos of Confutopia members


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performing at Hsuan Chuang University in 2008. The group photo features students

portraying (from left to right): Lao-Tzu, Buddha, Socrates (with question mark), a fan,

Confucius, Jesus, and Muhammad. The large photo on the left is a close-up of the actor

portraying Mohammed; notice the golden crescent and star (the symbol of Islam) on

his chest, despite his odd headgear.


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The second photo shows the same actors doing a hip-hop dance performance; the

photo on the left is a close-up of Mohammed dancing.

This picture from a Scientology book for volunteer ministers is quite similar to the

Confutopia image (seen above); both show Mohammed as one among several famous

spiritual leaders throughout history. In this picture, a Scientologist (on the left) towers


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over (in order, left to right) Mohammed, Jesus, Confucius, Buddha, Lao-Tzu, Zoroaster,

Moses and Abraham. (The last figure is not named, but may be Adam.) Higher level

Scientology materials explain how Scientology is superior to all other religions

(including Islam), because they are nothing more than "engrams" falsely implanted in

our minds.(Hat tip: Anonymous Japan.)

On the left is a close-up of Mohammed (along with Jesus and a Scientologist) takenfrom the picture above; and on the right is another version of the same photo, this


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New York artist Christina Varga created this neo-Byzantine portrait of Mohammed (with

Arabic calligraphy instead of a face) in 2002 as part ofa triptych showing Mohammed,Jesus and Buddha which was displayed at The Cathedral Church of Saint John the

Divine in New York City. The artist's caption for her Mohammed portrait says,

"Mohammed the Prophet (peace be upon him) stands before the green domed mosque

of Medina called the Prophet's Mosque. Because it is forbidden to represent his face

calligraphy commanding all to maintain a pure body and spirit and declaring the

greatness of Allah the one True God covers it. Mohammed's hands are in a position of

Surrender - the definition of Islam. His halo represents the flames surrounding his body

in Islamic iconography."(Hat tip: Raafat.)


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Contemporary Marxist artist Erin Currier created this portrait of Mohammed; it now

resides in a private collection.(Hat tip: Raafat.)

This 1930s-era glass painting from Senegal shows Mohammed's flight from Mecca to

Medina in 622 A.D. It's currently for sale at this online African art gallery.(Hat tip: Leigh F.)


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The Mevlana Museum in the Turkish City ofKonya houses an extremely rare relic fromMohammed's body itself: this antique box contains what is said to be Mohammed's

beard. Tour guides at the museum say that such relics were taken from across the

Middle East by Ottoman Sultans and brought back to Turkey to preserve them from

fundamentalist Islamic sects (such as the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia) that sought to

destroy idolotrous Mohammed relics even centuries ago. These photos were taken and

submitted by Archive reader "HypnoToad." (More photos of the museum can be seen

here.) The museum also has a reliquary which supposedly houses one of Mohammed's

teeth.


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The courthouse of the Appellate Division, First Department of the New York State

Supreme Court used to feature a statue of Mohammed (seen here on the right) on its

roof balustrade, among several other historical figures. The statue stood unchallenged

between 1902 and 1955, when, as reported by Daniel Pipes, the Muslim community

demanded its removal. Unlike with the United States Supreme Court Mohammed

depicted at the top of this page, the New York Courthouse Mohammed was dutifully

removed in 1955 as a result of Muslim complaints, and the remaining statues

repositioned. The photo shown here is the only known surviving picture of it.(Hat tip: Daniel Pipes.)


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Allegorical depiction of the Rebirth of Greece above a representation of

Constantinople; Mohammed (lower right), awestruck, drops a Turkish-style sword

(known as a "yataghan"). Though the man is identified as "Mohammed," he is wearing19th-century clothes, so either it's an unintentional anachronism on the artist's part, or

it's meant to depict some other historical figure named Mohammed. A 19th century

"pelmet" (a window decoration made of wood) from the island of Syros, Greece.

Currently housed in the Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece.


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Detail of Mohammed from the picture above.

The Sermon of Mohammed. Oil painting on canvas by Italian artist Domenico Morelli,

late 19th century. In the Museo Civico Revoltella, Trieste, Italy.


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This political cartoon from 1919 shows Mohammed as an allegorical figure

representing inflationary price levels. (Click on the image to see a larger version of it.)

It was drawn by artist Jay Darling, and can now be found at the University of Iowa

Libraries, which has a page for the cartoon with full attribution.(Hat tip: Martin H.)


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This is a close-up of the first Mohammed shown in the 1919 Jay Darling cartoon.


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And this is a close-up of the second Mohammed shown in the 1919 Jay Darling cartoon.


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Sooreh Hera, a Dutch-Iranian artist, had his piece "Adam & Ewald," which depicted"two gay men wearing masks of the Muslim prophet Mohammed and his son-in-law Ali"

rejected by The city museum of The Hague, in December of 2007. In this picture,

Mohammed is apparently the one on the left.

This modern drawing of Mohammed was used in public school instructional materials

in Spain.


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This 20th-century painting from a Shriners' Hall in Maine shows Mohammed receivinga vision.


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Another Shriners' painting showing Mohammed (in the red robe on the right) being

comforted by his uncle as he hides from Meccans during his flight to Medina.


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The former Aladdin Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada had a Middle-Eastern design theme;

among its many Islamic decorations was this ceiling painting of a large figure that

some employees claim represents Mohammed. The Aladdin was bought by Planet

Hollywood in 2006 and at the time of this writing is being converted into the Planet

Hollywood Casino. The original Middle-Eastern decorations, including this painting, are

to be removed or destroyed. The second picture shows the painting's location, on the

ceiling above the slot machines near the casino's main Las Vegas Boulevard entrance.

Recent issue of French magazine Le Nouvel Observateurwith Mohammed on the cover.

The magazine has extensive coverage of the Muslim reaction to the Danish cartoons

but make no mention of its own Mohammed cover.


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This reproduction is a bit small, but it shows Mohammed destroying the idols at the

Kaaba in Mecca. It is taken from Manly P. Hall's occult guide The Secret Teachings of AllAges, which incorporates ideas from many religions, Christianity and Islam among

them.(Hat tip: MikalM.)

This painting was originally done by Russian symbolist painter and Theosophist

Nicholas Roerich in 1932, and is entitled "Mohammed the Prophet," showing

Mohammed receiving a vision. It has appeared in the literature of various Christian

groups.(Hat tip: David B., Aquarius, and Nicholas.)

Roerich also made an almost identical painting called Mohammed on Mount Hira that


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is much less well-known.(Hat tip: Raafat.)

Painting of Mohammed preaching. By Russian artist Grigory Gagarin, painted

sometime in the 1840s or 1850s. Source: Wikimedia Commons.


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As mentioned near the top of this page, in 1928 Liebig's Extract of Meat Company

issued a series of six advertising trading cards illustrating important moments in the

life of Mohammed. The cards came in both German and French (and possibly other

languages as well). A collector has uploaded these images of all six of the French-

language cards to the Internet Archive. All six are presented here.

(Hat tip: Martin H.)


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The Humanist site "Freethunk" features this page of eight Mohammed clip-art images

(as well as a few Mohammed cartoons that are included on the "Recent Responses"

page of the Archive).


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This online clip-art gallery also offers several copyright-free line drawings of

Mohammed, including the one shown here.(Hat tip: Raafat.)

Modern-era painting showing Mohammed. Artist unknown.


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Contemporary stylized drawing of Mohammed.

This modern line drawing apparently of Mohammed can be found on this site.(Hat tip: Raafat.)


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Iranian woman artist Oranous (who is a Muslim and lives in Tehran) created this iconic

painting of a young Mohammed and is selling it online. Though this would seem to

violate Islamic and Iranian law, an expert in Iranian Shi'ite customs writes in to say

that this particular painting is not forbidden because it depicts a young Mohammed

before he was visited by the Angel Gabriel and started receiving his visions, whichmeans that at this stage in his life he is not yet the Prophet. Oranous apparently based

her painting on this old photograph of a young man portraying the young Mohammed.(Hat tip: baldy and Raafat.)


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Artist Irena Mandich recently painted this portrait of Mohammed crying (entitled

"Mohammad, Salaam"). This attempt to show Mohammed as sadabout the violent

Muslim response to the controversy could itself be seen as being even more offensive

to Islamic sensibilities.


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Artist William Fahey painted this picture entitled Muhammad and the Angel, as part of

a series depicting various holy figures. Mohammed is the one looking up into the sky,

but the angels also look like Mohammed.(Hat tip: Raafat.)

This apparent portrait of Mohammed was part of an artwork displayed for a short

period in 2007 in the window of a framing store in Berkeley, California.


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There is a traditional folk custom in Denmark of giving children small piggy banks with

their names printed on them. Either because "Mohammed" was included on a list of

popular names, or because someone at the piggy bank company was playing a prank,

in 2006 there appeared piggy banks sporting the name "Mohammed," as originallyreported by the Danish blog Polimiken and reposted at Gates of Vienna. Because pigs

are considered unclean in Islam, and because it appears that the pig is supposed to be

Mohammed, some people were concerned that the piggy banks would spark more

anti-Denmark riots in the Muslim world.(Hat tip: Martin and Tom P.)

[Note: What became of the other Iranian icons that used to be on this page?

Several readers emailed to say that the few modern icons from Iran (formerly visible

here) that supposedly depicted Mohammed in fact depicted his cousin Ali, who is

considered the founder of the Shi'ite branch of Islam. The sites from which these

pictures were obtained -- The University of Bergen andJyllands-Posten -- misattributedthe images by accident. Our research indicates that it was indeed most likely Ali in the

icons, so we apologize for the mix-up. Click here to see the best-known of these icons

(still misidentified as Mohammed) on theJyllands-Posten site. In a similar vein, thismedallion sold on eBay and identified by the seller as being Mohammed also appears

to actually be Ali instead.](Hat tip: Takin, Darmin, Paul C, and father_of_10.)

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Islamic Depictions of Mohammed in Full

Islamic Depictions of Mohammed with Face Hidden

European Medieval and Renaissance Images

Miscellaneous Mohammed Images

Dante's InfernoBook Illustrations

Book Covers

Satirical Modern Cartoons

TheJyllands-Posten CartoonsRecent Responses to the Controversy

Extreme Mohammed

Email Responses from Readers

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Mohammed Image Archive4

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