University Declines to Renew Art Prof’s Contract After He Showed Images of the Prophet Muhammad
“It is considered by scholars, curators and art collectors a masterpiece of Persian manuscript painting … often taught in Islamic art history classes at universities across the world”
Where are the protests from the left over this?
The College Fix reports:
University removes art history professor for showing class two ancient Prophet Muhammad depictions
Hamline University in Minnesota has reportedly declined to renew the contract of an art history professor because they showed two ancient art images depicting the Prophet Muhammad during an optional online class segment.
The College Fix reached out on Monday and Tuesday to campus spokesman Jeff Papas, the university’s public relations specialist Michael Strasburg, and a general communications contact, to ask for the name of the professor, confirmation his contract was not renewed, and the explanation for the non-renewal. No response has been received.
The professor has not been identified in various reports on the incident.
Many — but not all — Muslims object to visual representations of religious figures such as Muhammad, understanding them as form of idolatry, according to Britannica.
“An instructor who showed an Islamic painting during a visual analysis — a basic exercise for art history training — was publicly impugned for hate speech and dismissed thereafter, without access to due process,” Christiane Gruber, a professor of Islamic art at the University of Michigan, wrote in a December 22 essay for New Lines Magazine.
One of the paintings (pictured) is a depiction of Muhammad with a veil and halo from a 15th century manuscript, now preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, according to Gruber.
The other, a depiction of Muhammad receiving a divine revelation from the angel Gabriel, is from an early 14th century manuscript by the statesman and scholar Rashid-al-Din.
“It is considered by scholars, curators and art collectors a masterpiece of Persian manuscript painting … often taught in Islamic art history classes at universities across the world, including in the U.S., Europe, the Arab world, Turkey and Iran,” Gruber wrote.
“A student complained about the image’s inclusion in the course and led efforts to press administrators for a response. After that, the university’s associate vice president of inclusive excellence (AVPIE) declared the classroom exercise ‘undeniably inconsiderate, disrespectful and Islamophobic,’” Gruber wrote, adding the segment depicting the images of Muhammad was “optional.”
An instructor who showed a painting of the Prophet Muhammad was publicly impugned & fired by Hamline University, Minnesota. In @newlinesmag, Islamic art professor Christiane Gruber provides details about the incident & how it undermines academic freedom https://t.co/UOpY94R5Vf
— New Lines Magazine (@newlinesmag) December 26, 2022
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Comments
My money’s on the complainant not even being Muslim-adjacent. S/he just saw a cheap way to harass a hated professor.
Whose prophet? Certainly not mine. Why is Hamline obeying Islamic blasphemy law?