Media Coverage

On February 2, 2006, the BBC broadcast a televised news segment featuring pictures and information from the Mohammed Image Archive. Click here to see a short QuickTime mpeg video of the broadcast:

 

Reporter: "This Islamic scholar says the crucial injunction in the Koran is against mocking the Prophet, or other authorities."
 
Sheikh Haitham al-Haddad: "It's totally prohibited to do something that belittle the prophets of Allah, and depiction is part of belittling the prophets of Allah, from one['s] anger.
[Printed-out pages of the Mohammed Image Archive shown being placed on a table.]

Reporter: "Traditionally, Islam has frowned on any representations of living beings. But painters in Islamic countries have depicted Mohammed for centuries."
[Close-up of this image from above showing a medieval Islamic depiction of Mohammed.]

Reporter: "Despite official disapproval, portraits of the Prophet are sold to devout Muslims in Iran today."
[Close-up of this image from above showing Iranian portrait.]

Sheikh Haitham al-Haddad: "Some people have a Muslim name, and they claim that, oh, they might have Muslim parents, but they have left Islam totally."

Reporter: "But [gesturing toward Mohammed Image Archive pages] these are from, these are from medieval Persia, from the medieval Ottoman Empire, so surely they're Muslims."

Sheikh Haitham al-Haddad: "No, not necessarily. Islam is a practice. It is not just a claim. Islam is a way of life. So, we practice Islam in our daily life in every inch and each aspect. It's not just a claim and then we can do whatever we want. No."

Reporter: "So [pointing to Mohammed Image Archive pages] these pictures were wrong."

Sheikh Haitham al-Haddad: "Of course. Hundred percent wrong."
(Hat tip: bweep and Max Darkside.)

The National Review, February 13, 2006: article that links to and derives much of its information (though uncredited) from the Archive.

Rocky Mountain News, February 11, 2006: column with a link to the Archive.

The Nation magazine, February 9, 2006: article about the Archive, with extensive use of the information found here.

The Australian newspaper, February 9, 2006: column that mentions and gives the URL of the Archive.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 9, 2006: article that refers to the archive and makes use of information found here.

The San Francisco Chronicle, February 8, 2006: column that links to the Archive.

The Sydney Morning Herald, February 8, 2006: column with a link to the Archive at the end.

The Times of London newspaper, February 4, 2006: an article entitled "Portraying prophet from Persian art to South Park" copied the information off the Mohammed Image Archive (which was not credited). (Update: The Times added a link to the Archive at the end of the article after readers pointed out it was the source of the information.) The Australian republished the same article on February 6, 2006.
(Hat tip: brenda and Michelle.)

Ekstra Bladet newspaper in Denmark, February 1, 2006: article about the Archive (in Danish).

Wikipedia references the Mohammed Image Archive (footnote 61) in its entry about the controversy.