One of the two paintings covered by cloth at the gallery

A top art gallery was forced to cover two paintings last week after complaints from Muslims that they were “blasphemous”. One expert described them as “The Satanic Verses all over again”.

Exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery by an artist known as SKU, the works overlaid Arabic script on nude images, and were meant to represent the conflict between America and Islamic extremists.

However, the inclusion of the Islamic declaration of faith, known as the shahada, in the painting prompted complaints from Muslim visitors, who asked for them to be removed from the west London gallery’s exhibition, Rainbow Scenes, which finished on Friday.

Usama Hasan, head of Islamic studies at the think tank Quilliam, said the paintings were not only offensive but blasphemous and sacrilegious. “They