WASHINGTON – The Muslim Public Affairs Council declared there was nothing Islamophobic in a Hamline University art prof using a depiction of the prophet Muhammad to make a point in an art history class. The prof, a faculty part-timer, was let go. Responding to the situation, the Muslim Public Affairs Council said: “The painting was not Islamophobic. In fact, it was commissioned by a 14th-century Muslim king to honor the prophet receiving the first Quranic revelation from the angel Gabriel. Given the ubiquity of Islamophobic depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, it hardly makes sense to target an art professor trying to combat narrow understandings of Islam.”
Disputed art. At issue: Whether to punish professors whose classes may offend some.