By Hannah Walmsley with Kim Lester Friday 16 January 2015
Photo: Muslims consider it blasphemous and sacrilegious to present images of their prophet in any form. (Reuters: Mohammed Salem)
Related Story: Charlie Hebdo cartoons would be banned in Australia: Tim Wilson
Among Muslims, it is considered blasphemous and sacrilegious to illustrate the Prophet Mohammed in any pictorial form.
Professor Amin Saikal, director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University, said opposition to illustrations of the Prophet had a long history.
"It's simply because Islam has been opposed to any form of icon worship," Professor Saikal told 666 ABC Canberra.
"Therefore, there is no accurate drawing of the Prophet and it has been banned from the very beginning."
The image on the cover of this week's French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo featured the Prophet Mohammed.
He was depicted with a tear in his eye and holding a sign saying "Je Suis Charlie" above the banner "All is forgiven".
The print run for the latest edition of the magazine was expanded to five million, after it sold out within hours of appearing on news stands.
The front page image was drawn by cartoonist Renald Luzier, known as Luz, for publication one week after 12 people were killed at the magazine's Paris offices.
Some newspapers and online news websites featuring the cover image acknowledged cultural sensitivity with warnings that images had the potential to offend.
Professor Saikal said opposition to presentation of images of the Prophet was universal within Islam.
You would not find any depiction of the prophet of Islam and even some of his close companions throughout the history of Islam by Muslims themselves.
Professor Amin Saikal
"The difference lies between Muslims and Christians who have, in a lot of ways, demystified images of Jesus Christ, whereas in Islam or in the Muslim world, that has not really been done," he said.
"There have been descriptions of the prophet by his biographers who wrote about him two centuries after his death, which basically try to describe his personality and perhaps to some extent, his physique.
"Beyond that, Muslims have been opposed, and for that matter Islam has been opposed, to any form of icon worship or embracing [of] an icon as a form of holy person like the prophet of Islam, particularly if it is an image which is intended to demean the prophet."
Sensitivity to cultural values
Charlie Hebdo has always sought to be provocative in its cartoons of all religions, current events, and prominent personalities.
During its 44-year history, the magazine has frequently published images of the Prophet Mohammed.
"You would not find any depiction of the prophet of Islam [or] even some of his close companions throughout the history of Islam by Muslims themselves", Professor Saikal said.
"A number of years ago an extreme Zionist in Israel drew a pig with the name of the prophet in the middle of it and, of course, that was extremely offensive.
"One thing is to really be satirical in terms of making people laugh. It is another thing to be satirical and make people laugh without being really sensitive to cultural norms and cultural values of others.
"The history of Charlie Hebdo shows that they've not been only satirical, but in the same way it has been very provocative.
"That has really played into the hands of some extremists in the Muslim world to react as violently as they have.
"Of course there has been no need for that violence.
"If the Prophet himself had been alive and he'd have seen all of these cartoons and so on, probably he would have shrugged it all off.
"During his life he was persecuted. He suffered a great deal, which compared to what these cartoons have depicted was something totally different."
