Tuesday, 11 March 2008

Dubai To Set Up Muhammad Museum

I see that Dubai is to set up a museum dedicated to Muhammad.

Note the Beeb's peculiar certainty in the first sentence of the article. It refers simply to "the Prophet Muhammad". Not "the Islamic Prophet Muhammad"; simply "the Prophet Muhammad", as if it takes the fact that Muhammad was a true prophet for granted. A bit further down, they do refer to "the man Muslims believe is the last messenger of God", which is more than they've done before, but this is merely damage control. Can you imagine them ever writing "Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" in an article - and the outrage it would cause if they did?

Anyway, the museum "aims to shed light on his [Muhammad's] life in 7th Century Arabia, as well as his legacy for the world's 1.3bn Muslims." I wonder: will there be a section dedicated to the "excellent example of conduct" (Qur'an 33:21) he provided for Muslims even today when he personally beheaded hundreds of men of the Jewish Banu Qurayza? What about the legacy of Islamic mistreatment of women that is drawn from Muhammad's example?

Probably not.

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