Middle East
Placards read in Arabic, "anyone but the Prophet" during a rally against the dissemination in northern Syria of a textbook produced by Turkey's education ministry, on November 26, 2021. Photo: Bakr Alkasem / AFP
AL-BAB, Syria - Local authorities in a region of northern Syria controlled by Turkey have decided to withdraw a school textbook that has sparked anger over a perceived depiction of the Prophet Mohammed, a local official said Friday.
The book produced by Turkey's education ministry was distributed Thursday and contains illustrations that resident deemed blasphemous.
One image in the book shows a bearded man in a pink sweater and burgundy pants collecting his daughter from a school bus.
"The prophet receives his daughter Fatima," reads the title of the page, without specifically referring to the image.
Although visual depictions of the Prophet Mohammed are not explicitly banned in the Koran, many Muslims frown upon them as a form of blasphemy.
Local education official Jumaa Kazkaz said the decision to withdraw the book from several schools in areas of northern Syria controlled by Ankara was taken in consultation with Turkish officials.
The areas include the city of Al-Bab where residents had warned of protests, and the town of Jarablus whose residents torched copies of the book.
"It has been determined that there are unacceptable issues in terms of religious education in the content of the religious education book... Although the relevant publishing house apologised by stating that there was an error and mistake in the content, the incident in question is being investigated from multiple perspectives," the office of Gaziatep governorate in southeast Turkey said in a statement.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment