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Many of these questions arise frequently on the talk page concerning Muhammad.
Q1: Shouldn't all the images of Muhammad be removed because they might offend Muslims?
A1:
There is a prohibition of depicting Muhammad in certain Muslim communities. This prohibition is not universal among Muslim communities. For a discussion, see Depictions of Muhammad and Aniconism in Islam. Wikipedia is not bound by any religious prohibitions. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia that strives to represent all topics from a neutral point of view, and therefore Wikipedia is not censored for the benefit of any particular group. So long as they are relevant to the article and do not violate any of Wikipedia's existing policies, nor the laws of locations where Wikipedia's servers are hosted, no content or images will be removed from Wikipedia because people find them objectionable or offensive. (See also: Wikipedia:Content disclaimer.) Wikipedia does not single out Islam in this. There is content that may be equally offensive to other religious people, such as the 1868 photograph shown at Bahá'u'lláh (offensive to adherents of the Bahá'í Faith), or the account of Scientology's "secret doctrine" at Xenu (offensive to adherents of Scientology), or the account at Timeline of human evolution (offensive to adherents of young Earth creationism). Submitting to all these various sensitivities would make writing a neutral encyclopedia impossible.
Q2: Aren't the images of Muhammad false?
A2: No claim is made about the accuracy of the depictions of Muhammad. The artists who painted these images lived hundreds of years after Muhammad and could not have seen him themselves. This fact is made absolutely clear in the image captions. The images are duly presented as notable 14th to 17th-century Muslim artwork depicting Muhammad, not as contemporary portraits. See depictions of Muhammad for a more detailed discussion of Muslim artwork depicting Muhammad.
Similar artistic interpretations are used in articles for Homer, Charlemagne, Paul of Tarsus, and many other historical figures. When no accurate images (i.e. painted after life, or photographs) exist, it is a longstanding practice on Wikipedia to incorporate images that are historically significant artwork and/or typical examples of popular depictions. Using images that readers understand to be artistic representations, so long as those images illustrate the topic effectively, is considered to be more instructive than using no image at all. Random recent depictions may be removed as undue in terms of notability, while historical artwork (in this case, of the Late Medieval or Ottoman period) adds significantly to the presentation of how Muhammad was being topicalized throughout history. These depictions are not intended as factual representations of Muhammad's face; rather, they are merely artists' conceptions. Such portrayals generally convey a certain aspect of a particular incident, most commonly the event itself, or maybe the act, akin to the Western genre of history painting. The depictions are, thus, not meant to be accurate in the sense of a modern photograph, and are presented here for what they are: yet another form in which Muhammad was depicted. None of these pictures hold a central position in the article, as evident by their placement, nor are they an attempt to insult the subject. Several factions of Christianity oppose the use of hagiographic imagery (even to the point of fighting over it), but the images are still on Wikipedia, exactly for what they are—i.e. artistic renditions of said people.
Q3: How can I hide the images using my personal Wikipedia settings?
A3: If you do not wish to view Muhammad images, you can hide the depictions in this article from your personal account by following these steps:
Please note that this will not hide the images for other users, or from yourself if you log out of your account. Alternatives: If you do not have an account, and do not wish to register an account, you can disable all images on Wikipedia by going to the mobile version of the website (en.m.wikipedia.org), then going to "settings" and choosing "images off". You may also block a list of specified images, following the format of this example. Experienced JavaScript programmers can hide depictions of Muhammad on the desktop site using Greasemonkey or a similar tool.
Q4: Why does the infobox at the top of the article contain a stylized logo and not a picture of Muhammad?
A4: This has been discussed many times on Talk:Muhammad and many debates can be found in the archives. Because calligraphic depictions of Muhammad are the most common and recognizable worldwide, the current consensus is to include a calligraphic depiction of Muhammad in the infobox and artists' depictions further down in the article. An RFC discussion confirmed this consensus.
Q5: Why is Muhammad's name not followed by (pbuh) or (saw) in the article?
A5:
Wikipedia's biography style guidelines recommend omitting all honorifics, such as The Prophet, (The) Holy Prophet, (pbuh), or (saw), that precede or follow Muhammad's name. This is because many editors consider such honorifics as promoting an Islamic point of view instead of a neutral point of view which Wikipedia is required to maintain. Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people) also recommends against the use of titles or honorifics, such as Prophet, unless it is the simplest and most neutral way to deal with disambiguation. When disambiguation is necessary, the recommended form is the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Q6: Why does the article say that Muhammad is the "founder" of Islam?
A6: While the Muslim viewpoint about Muhammad is already presented in the article, a Wikipedia biography article should emphasize historical and scholarly viewpoints. The contention that Islam has always existed is a religious belief, grounded in faith, and Wikipedia cannot promote religious beliefs as facts. Because no religion known as "Islam" exists in any recorded history prior to Muhammad, and Muhammad created the conditions for Islam to spread by unifying Arabia into a single religious polity, he effectively founded the establishment of Islam as the dominant religion in the region. The word "founder" is used in that context, and not intended to imply that Muhammad invented the religion he introduced to Arabia.
Q7: Why does it look like the article is biased towards secular or "Western" references?
A7:
Accusations of bias towards Western references are often made when an objection is raised against the display of pictures of Muhammad or lack of honorifics when mentioning Muhammad. All articles on Wikipedia are required to present a neutral point of view. This neutrality is sometimes mistaken for hostility. Note that exactly the same guidelines apply to articles about Christianity or any other religion. In addition, this article is hosted on the English-language Wikipedia. While references in languages other than English are not automatically inappropriate, English-language references are preferred, because they are of the most use to the typical reader. This therefore predisposes the material used in this article to some degree (see WP:NONENG).
Q8: Why can't I edit this article as a new or anonymous user?
A8: Persistent disruption of the page has forced us to disable editing by anonymous editors and new accounts, while still allowing edits by more experienced users who are familiar with Wikipedia's editorial policies and guidelines. This is likely to remain the case for the foreseeable future.
In any case, the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License grants everybody the right to republish this article elsewhere, and even to modify it themselves, so long as the original authors (Wikipedia contributors) are also credited and the derivative work is distributed under the same license.
Q9: Can censorship be employed on Wikipedia?
A9: No. The official policy is that Wikipedia is not censored.
Q10: Because Muhammad married an underage girl, should the article say he was a pedophile?
A10:
This question has been actively discussed in Talk:Muhammad, and those discussions are archived. According to most traditional sources, Muhammad consummated his marriage to his third wife Aisha when she was nine years old. This was not considered unusual in Muhammad's culture and time period; therefore, there is no reason for the article to refer to Muhammad in the context of pedophilia.[1] Even today, in parts of the world, the legal age of consent is as young as eleven years old, or any age inside of a marriage. In any case, any modern controversy about Aisha's age is not best dealt with in a biography about Muhammad. See the articles on Aisha and Criticism of Muhammad § Aisha for further information.
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 | Muhammad was one of the Philosophy and religion good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Frequently asked questions, please read before posting[edit]
Please read Talk:Muhammad/FAQ for answers to these frequently-asked questions (you need to tap "Read as wiki page" to see the relevant text):
- Shouldn't all the images of Muhammad be removed because they might offend Muslims?
- Aren't the images of Muhammad false?
- How can I hide the images using my personal Wikipedia settings?
- Why does the infobox at the top of the article contain a stylized logo and not a picture of Muhammad?
- Why is Muhammad's name not followed by (pbuh) or (saw) in the article?
- Why does the article say that Muhammad is the "founder" of Islam?
- Why does it look like the article is biased towards secular or "Western" references?
- Why can't I edit this article as a new or anonymous user?
- Can censorship be employed on Wikipedia?
- Because Muhammad married an underage girl, should the article say he was a pedophile?
This section is for mobile-device users who do not see the normal talk page header. This section should not have any comments, so that it stays on this talk page and does not get archived.
GA Reassessment[edit]
Muhammad
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
- Article (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch • • Most recent review
- Result: While instability is not in itself a reason to delist, poor quality sourcing is; the discussions on the talk page constitute, in my view, consensus that the sourcing has been degraded. Delisted. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 21:49, 10 September 2023 (UTC)
It has recently been brought to light that this page and its sourcing have been altered fairly wholesale since the page was last reviewed and kept as GA, and that there is little reason to believe the level of former quality has been maintained; on the contrary, recent informal assessments by editors have uncovered significant issues in terms of prior content and source removal, as well as in terms of the quality of new sourcing and the resulting balance of the page and its contents. The sum conclusion of the current state of affairs has already been assessed by several editors as no longer meeting GA standard. For details, see the existing talk page discussion at Talk:Muhammad#Removal of "good article" status, as well as the broader discussion entitled Talk:Muhammad#Recent neutrality concerns, and other subsequent talk page discussions. Iskandar323 (talk) 15:43, 1 September 2023 (UTC)
- Fails Wikipedia:Good article criteria It is not stable due to edit warring on the page....: it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute. Moxy-
04:08, 5 September 2023 (UTC)
- Even excluding the wholesale rewriting the article has undergone recently, 2012 is a long time ago, and the article quality standards back then were arguably lower. I do not see a reason to maintain GA status given the current edit warring. Hemiauchenia (talk) 18:51, 10 September 2023 (UTC)
Proposing minor extension of information.[edit]
In the Household section the content "According to traditional sources, Aisha was six or seven years old when betrothed to Muhammad, with the marriage not being consummated until she reached the age of nine or ten years old. She was therefore a virgin at marriage."
Can it be added that "betrothed to Muhammad, with the marriage not being consummated until she reached the age of nine or ten years old or by some accounts, twelve or more at marriage." which aligns with the Aisha article. StarkReport (talk) 10:04, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
- The lead of the Aisha article currently states "A preponderance of classical sources converge on Aisha being 6 or 7 years old at the time of her marriage, and 9 at the consummation; her age has become a source of ideological friction in modern times." Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 11:03, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
- @Gråbergs Gråa Sång, Apologies for the misunderstanding, I was referencing the info given in the body's section Age at marriage and consummation. "Al-Tabari notes Aisha to have stayed with her parents after the marriage and consummated the relationship at nine years of age since she was young and sexually immature at the time of marriage; however, elsewhere Tabari appears to suggest that she was born during the Jahiliyyah (before 610 C.E), which would translate to an age of about twelve or more at marriage." StarkReport (talk) 11:41, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
- And that's probably fine for that article, which naturally goes into more detail. It's not obvious why the view of Al-Tabari should be in this article, which is "tip-of-the-iceberg" and so heavily summarized in many parts. That' my view. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 11:55, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
- I see. Well, it was just 8 words I was looking to incorporate which I think is Due. StarkReport (talk) 12:21, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
- And that's probably fine for that article, which naturally goes into more detail. It's not obvious why the view of Al-Tabari should be in this article, which is "tip-of-the-iceberg" and so heavily summarized in many parts. That' my view. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 11:55, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
- @Gråbergs Gråa Sång, Apologies for the misunderstanding, I was referencing the info given in the body's section Age at marriage and consummation. "Al-Tabari notes Aisha to have stayed with her parents after the marriage and consummated the relationship at nine years of age since she was young and sexually immature at the time of marriage; however, elsewhere Tabari appears to suggest that she was born during the Jahiliyyah (before 610 C.E), which would translate to an age of about twelve or more at marriage." StarkReport (talk) 11:41, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 1 Feb 2024[edit]
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In the lead it is said that Mohammed was born after few months after his fathers death. But actually , according to the Islamic sources he was born after 4 years after his father's death.
So the corrected sentence is from 'few months' to 'few years' Afv12e (talk) 14:55, 1 February 2024 (UTC)
Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Specify what sources you are talking about. Shadow311 (talk) 15:40, 1 February 2024 (UTC)
Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 7 February 2024[edit]
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prophet Muhammad is not the founder of islam , he is the last messenger in islam 117.201.203.37 (talk) 18:38, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
Not done Muhammad is the founder of Islam from an objective etic perspective, even if the internal Muslim emic perspective views Islam to have existed prior to him. Hemiauchenia (talk) 19:16, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
The page image[edit]
I get that it causes controversy but is there a reason aside from that for the page image being something other than an image of the person in question? I know in some cases there aren't recognizable/available images but this obviously isn't one of those times. I mean there's a whole FAQ about why images of him are included in the article but it's too far to include one in the infobox? XeCyranium (talk) 01:43, 11 February 2024 (UTC)
- The images in the body are depicting scenes from the life of Muhammad, rather than for the purpose of specifically depicting Muhammad. As Muhammad, like many figures from antiquity, is not know from any authentic images from his lifetime, there's not really any point of showing a depicition of him in the infobox that has no basis in reality. Hemiauchenia (talk) 01:47, 11 February 2024 (UTC)
- Are there any ancient religious figures for whom we use contemporary depictions for the infobox? I know other stuff exists and all that but this seems to be far and away an outlier in that regard. Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Zoroaster, Confucius (maybe not religious necessarily), all of them employ images concocted centuries to millennia after their deaths. I don't see why a contemporary depiction would be necessary in the first place, rather than a historically significant depiction. XeCyranium (talk) 01:53, 11 February 2024 (UTC)
- The depicitions of Jesus and the Buddha are iconic for their particular religious traditions, and Confucius also has a long tradition of being depicted by Chinese artists. Neither of these is really the case for Muhammad. The aniconic depicition of Muhammad as caligraphy is the most well known representation of him. Hemiauchenia (talk) 02:02, 11 February 2024 (UTC)
- Most of those other visual traditions only began hundreds of years after the death of the figure in question, much like with Muhammad. Just because calligraphy is popular doesn't make it a useful image for depicting the actual person in question. XeCyranium (talk) 02:14, 11 February 2024 (UTC)
- @XeCyranium: Did you read the whole FAQ? Q4 addresses your question, specifically about why calligraphy is used in the infobox instead of an iconic representation. It is the most common way to depict him, that's all. I recall there was also some consensus in the past that images of Muhammad should appear "below the fold" but I don't remember how long ago that was. ~Anachronist (talk) 02:17, 11 February 2024 (UTC)
- Boy I feel silly now, I promise I did read the FAQ but somehow I missed that one. Well if that's what consensus has been I won't argue with it. XeCyranium (talk) 02:20, 11 February 2024 (UTC)
- @XeCyranium: Did you read the whole FAQ? Q4 addresses your question, specifically about why calligraphy is used in the infobox instead of an iconic representation. It is the most common way to depict him, that's all. I recall there was also some consensus in the past that images of Muhammad should appear "below the fold" but I don't remember how long ago that was. ~Anachronist (talk) 02:17, 11 February 2024 (UTC)
- Most of those other visual traditions only began hundreds of years after the death of the figure in question, much like with Muhammad. Just because calligraphy is popular doesn't make it a useful image for depicting the actual person in question. XeCyranium (talk) 02:14, 11 February 2024 (UTC)
- The depicitions of Jesus and the Buddha are iconic for their particular religious traditions, and Confucius also has a long tradition of being depicted by Chinese artists. Neither of these is really the case for Muhammad. The aniconic depicition of Muhammad as caligraphy is the most well known representation of him. Hemiauchenia (talk) 02:02, 11 February 2024 (UTC)
- Are there any ancient religious figures for whom we use contemporary depictions for the infobox? I know other stuff exists and all that but this seems to be far and away an outlier in that regard. Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Zoroaster, Confucius (maybe not religious necessarily), all of them employ images concocted centuries to millennia after their deaths. I don't see why a contemporary depiction would be necessary in the first place, rather than a historically significant depiction. XeCyranium (talk) 01:53, 11 February 2024 (UTC)
Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 14 February 2024[edit]
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The criticism of Muhammad is extremely vague and only go in depth in regards to the theological issues, however with other religious figures/leaders on Wikipedia, there is depth into the criticism of their character, actions, etc. 112.141.49.219 (talk) 12:26, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. GrayStorm(Talk|Contributions) 14:50, 14 February 2024 (UTC)- You can find a little more in the sub-article Criticism of Muhammad. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 15:16, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
Your view is welcome. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 17:48, 4 March 2024 (UTC)
Mistakes in the article in[edit]
In this article there are some mistakes, In this article it says that Muhammadﷺ. is the founder of Islam and that's not true . Islam existed from the time of Adam(AS) The first human being and the first prophet of Islam. Islam,The religion of The only true God ALLAH(SWT). MUHAMMADﷺ got revelation from God(ALLAH) and he was a Messanger and prophet of God(ALLAH) he Warned the Wrongdoing peopleto go to the right path. BrotherAnasibnmalik (talk) 17:30, 10 March 2024 (UTC)
- See Q6 in the FAQ at the top of this page. This is an encyclopedia, not a religious text. O3000, Ret. (talk) 17:37, 10 March 2024 (UTC)
Il y a une erreur sur le nom[edit]
Il est écrit Mahomet alors que c’est mohammed et non Mahomet qui a été changé par l’occident cela est une insulte s’il vous plaît pouvez-vous remplacer je vous en prie. 2A01:E0A:BA7:C090:CDF0:8B54:567:CA80 (talk) 12:59, 31 March 2024 (UTC)
- Please use English in the English version of Wikipedia. "Mahomet" is only used in titles of other works, as it must be. O3000, Ret. (talk) 13:16, 31 March 2024 (UTC)