PROPHET'S IMAGE IN TEXTBOOK STIRS ROW IN UP

Taking serious note of a picture of Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless and greet him) published in an officially prescribed textbook, the Uttar Pradesh Minorities Commission on July 28 issued a show-cause notice to the state government. This followed an uproar among Islamic scholars, who consider publication of the Prophet’s picture “blasphemy”. “We have asked the state higher education department to clarify how it could give its go-ahead to a textbook, prescribed for B.Ed courses, to carry the picture of the Prophet,” newly-appointed minorities commission chairman SMA Kazmi was reported as saying. The book titled “Udayimaan Bhartiya Samaj ke Shikshak” (Teachers in Emerging Indian Society), authored by Karan Singh, a retired university professor, and published by Lakhimpur-based Govind Prakashan, is prescribed for the B.Ed course run by the Ram Manohar Lohia Awadh University based in Faizabad.