Islamic Depictions of Mohammed in Full

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Islam's prophet Muhammad ibn Abd Allah. ... While some Muslims hold beliefs that it is against Islam to make images of the Prophet, others have more relaxed attitudes, and among Shia Muslims, such pictures are common, and much liked. According to Iranian informants interviewed by Ingvild Flaskerud, such portraits should not be considered "real" portraits of the prophet Muhammad. The artists make these images on the basis of conventional ideas of the character of those personages depicted, in the same way it has been done with Biblical figures in European art. The text below the image is the shahada or Profession of faith: "There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is His messenger."

Picture depicts Muhammad in the middle with his veiled daughter Fatima to his left, his cousin and son in law Ali on his right hand, and grandchildren, Ali and Fatima's two sons, Hasan (in green) and Husain (in red). "The holy family" has a high position among all Muslims, but especially among Shia Muslims. Their names are written in the rosette to the left, top says "Allah", then follow clockwise: Muhammad, Fatima Husain, Hasan and Ali. ... Behind Muhammad is the messenger Djibril (Gabriel) with Quran in his hands. ... On this as on other pictures of Ali, he keeps one of his characteristics in his hands, sword [Zulfiqar] with the characteristic double header.

In certain reference works and books about Islam, we may come across the claim that even if the Prophet Muhammad was represented in pictorial form in earlier times, no pictorial representation of Him is permitted in our times. This reflects the state in Sunni areas, where images of the Prophet are rare. In Shia Islam, however, the situation is different, and pictures of the Prophet are quite common. These two pictures come from [Shia Muslims in Iran and] Alevis in Turkey. (Although Alevis emphatically state that they are not Shia Muslims, there are historical and other connections between the two forms of Islam.) In both pictures, the Prophet is holding the Koran in his hand. ... His raised index finger in the lower picture underlines the unity of God. (Purchased in [Iran and] Turkey.)

Links to additional full-face Mohammed images:

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