Mohammed Image Archive

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Recent Responses to the Controversy

The furor over the Danish cartoons has provoked a wide variety of responses from the media and from artists. Several European publications not only reprinted the original cartoons, but published new cartoon portraits of Mohammed as well. Many professional and amateur artists have also been inspired to fashion their own satirical portraits of Mohammed as a statement about freedom of speech. (The contemporary depictions of Mohammed on this page are for the most part respectful, neutral, or at most mildly satirical. To see new Mohammed portraits that are intentionally direspectful and/or obscene, go to the Extreme Mohammed page.)

Filibuster cartoons featured a comic that pointedly exposed the hypocrisy of the Islamic response.
(Hat tip: Ole and Benjamin.)

A wide selection of Mohammed Smileys -- also known as Mocons (Mohammed Icons) -- are available at Hodja's Blog: here's a small sampling of them: Muhammad (((:~{> Muhammad as a pirate (((P~{> Muhammad on a bad turban day ))):~{> Muhammad with sand in his eye (((;~{> Muhammad wearing sunglasses (((B~{> Mohammad with a lit bomb in his turban *-O)):~{> The devil mo ]:~{> Mohammed with a nuclear bomb in his turban. @=(((:~{> Muhammad being shot by Starship Enterprise =-o * * * (((:~{> Muhammad sees a Danish cartoonist !((((8~{o> Mocons are the most ecient way to digitally propagate the maximum amount of Mohammed imagery per byte.

This stencilled grati version of one of the cartoons on a wall was photographed by a reader in Hamburg, Germany on February 16, 2006. The words under the image say, "Hallo Mittelalter '06" -"Hello Middle Ages '06".
(Hat tip: Tim.)

As reported in the New York Daily News, an entrepreneur in Hawaii created and is successfully selling bobblehead Mohammeds on his site called Dashboard Mohammed. The product, which costs $14.99, is shown on the left, and was based on the rendering of Mohammed shown on the right, which was itself based on the famous Danish "bomb-in-the-turban" cartoon. More bobblehead Mohammed images can seen on the site's "Proofs" page, showing step by step how the drawing was turned into the toy.
(Hat tip: Nordish and Martin.)

On February 1, France Soir newspaper published this cartoon on its cover, caricaturing Mohammed equally with other religious gures. The artist Delize drew another similar cartoon as well.
(Hat tip: Gathers and etienne.)

On February 3, Le Monde newspaper published this cartoon by artist Plantu on its front page -- a drawing of Mohammed composed of sentences that say "Je ne dois pas dessiner Mahomet," or "I must not draw Mohammed."
(Hat tip: John, Erik, and Breteuil.)

In May of 2006, Harper's magazine nally got around to reprinting the original 12 Mohammed cartoons, along with an article by Art Spiegelman -- who also created this updated portrait of Mohammed (in the center) based on one of the 12 cartoons, surrounded by racist stereotypes -- somehow implying that the depiction of Mohammed is a racial issue, not a religious and free speech issue. Several blogs gave extensive coverage to the story, including Michelle Malkin and Nordish, among others.
(Hat tip: Killgore Trout.)

Several postmodern satirists have highlighted the point that -- since no one really knows what Mohammed looked like -- any image could be said to depict him. To that end, they have captioned photos of their thumbs or rudimentary stick gures as "Mohammed." This image -- of a generic gure from the Danish toy company Lego, identied as being Mohammed -- is a good example of the genre.
(Hat tip: darmin.)

MSNBC political cartoonist Daryl Cagle emphasized the point with this response to the story, which includes a stick-gure Mohammed. Cagle also maintains an excellent collection of political cartoons about the controversy.

Slate cartoonist Jack Higgins drew this cartoon of Mohammed responding violently to the Pope's suggestion that Islam is violent -- with a ri on the old aphorism, "If Mohammed can not go to the mountain, then the mountain must come to Mohammed."
(Hat tip: Ted K.)

When the Taliban oered a reward to anyone who killed cartoonists who drew Mohammed, "Normal Bob Smith" created this interpretation of someone taking advantage of their oer.
(Hat tip: Fenris.)

The proprietor of the Chaikaroma blog wore a "Mo-bomb-head" costume for Halloween 2006 and posted the pictures online. .

In the nation of Sweden there is a contemporary urban folk custom of placing in the center of "roundabouts" (the circular trac islands in the middle of major intersections) whimsical homemade sculptures representing pet dogs. The sculptures, which are fairly commonplace in Sweden, are called "roundabout dogs" (rondellhund in Swedish). In the summer of 2007, Swedish artist Lars Vilks made some paintings of Mohammed as a roundabout dog; after they were rejected by two art galleries wary of controversy, a sketch based on one of the paintings ended up being published in a small local Swedish newspaper, Nerikes Allehanda. Incredibly, this ignited an international furor, with protests, diplomatic quarrels, and threats of violence. The original sketch, seen above, was also posted on Vilks' blog.
(Hat tips: Martin H., Jonathan R., Gilles C., Politically Incorrect Lib, Raafat.)

Link directly to this section about Lars Vilks' roundabout dog Mohammeds

Over the following month, Vilks continued to draw additional sketches of Mohammed as a roundabout dog, as a regular dog, and as a human in various satirical settings, and posted them to his blog on July 21, July 22, July 23, July 25, July 26, July 27, July 29, July 30, August 11, August 13, and August 18.

More details about the international furor can be found at these links: The Lars Vilks Muhammad drawings controversy, at wikipedia. Newspaper article in Swedish about the beginnings of the incident. Turkish hackers attacked Swedish Web sites as retaliation for the roundabout dog Mohammed. .

In early August of 2006, at a Copenhagen social gathering of the anti-immigrant Danish People's Party (DPP, or Dansk Folkeparti in Danish), drunken young revelers staged an impromptu Mohammed cartoondrawing contest, probably as a satire of the original Mohammed cartoon contest sponsored by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten several months earlier. Danish artist Martin Rosengaard Knudsen, who had inltrated the DPP in order to gather evidence of what he felt was the party's "extremist" beliefs, videotaped the contest and gave the tape to a local Danish television station, which broadcast it. This picture shows one of the cartoons in the process of being drawn. (Click on it to view the video.) To simply view a clear jpeg of this image without the video, click here. Link directly to this section about the Danish People's Party cartoon contest

Although the contest was nothing more than a drinking party game, the tape of the raucous evening caused a minor scandal in Denmark, where the DPP has been growing in popularity. The tape -- edited into several short segments -- had also been posted on YouTube, but all the segments were subsequently taken oine once various blogs started focusing on them. Luckily, I had already downloaded copies, so you can click on each of the screenshots shown on this page to see the videos from which they were taken. (Some of the videos have now apparently been re-uploaded, but in case they are later taken oine as well, I will use my own versions here to be sure.) This picture seems to show Mohammed as an allegorical defecating camel (click here to see the jpeg without the words "Click to play" on it.)

Here are two close-ups of the cartoon shown in the rst picture; click the image on the left to watch the video (or here to see the plain jpeg). There were originally over ten video segments in all visible on YouTube before they were taken oine; the three shown here were the most interesting. Two of the videos, along with another screenshot and more info about the political fallout in Denmark, can be found on the "Tabooh" blog. Additional screenshots can be viewed at Riehl World View, and a roundup of links on this incident can be found at Hot Air. On October 8, 2006, the scandal over the drunken cartoon-drawing contest went international when the President of Iran and the Prime Minister of Denmark both strongly condemned the incident, with Ahmadinejad saying of the amateur cartoonists, "Those who make these insults are low life, lost, without human values." The government of Iran berated the Danish envoy over the drinking game, comparing it to the Holocaust. The International Herald Tribune has reported that two of the people shown in these videos have gone into hiding out of fear, and the Danish government has now warned its citizens not to travel to Muslim countries.

The Norwegian newspaper Adresseavisen ran this cartoon on June 3, 2008 as a commentary on the continuing violence in the Muslim world over the Mohammed cartoons. The text on his chest translates as: "I am Muhammed and nobody dares to print me."
(Hat tip: Luuk.)

The Humanist site "Freethunk" features this cartoon of Mohammed declaring his own reection to be blasphemous; the page also features a few other Mohammed cartoons and clip-art images.

Mohammed and Allah in paradise laughing at the Danish cartoons, with a suicide bomber below them.

Cox and Forkum snuck a Mohammed picture into their cartoon about the controversy.

Someone made a Mohammed version of the "Mr. Bill" claymation character from Saturday Night Live, called "Mr. Billhammad."

This is one frame from an animated gif showing the Arabic characters for Mohammed's name little by little building up a stylized portrait of Mohammed himself. It was designed to be a "test of piety" for Muslims, since the written version of Mohammed's name is supposed to be revered, whereas portraits of him are now considered by many to be blasphemous; so, at which point will the growing image cease being sacred and start to become blasphemous? If the full animated sequence is found, it will be posted here.

Mohammed oers some Koranic wisdom about meddlesome artists in the "Mohammed the Prophet Answers Your Emails" cartoon strip.

The French blogger "HerbeDeProvence" had his original blog deleted after he posted this satirical cartoon of Mohammed in jail. The caption under the picture says, "If the Koran had been written last week...", and Mohammed is saying, ""Let me out! I am Mohammed, the prophet of Islam!" while the jailer replies, "No sir! Under French law you are a child molester, a pillager and an assassin." The picture appears to be a drawing by famed Tintin artist Herg (or one of his imitators), and probably originally depicted a 20th-century Arab in jail -- which was subsequently given a new caption and new word-balloons by the satirist.

Another cartoon posted on the same HerbeDeProvence site mocks Mohammed as a failed stand-up

comedian. The title reads, "Mohammed, an unjustly ignored comedian." Mohammed is saying a quote historically attributed to him, "Any Jew who falls under your hand, kill him."

Charlie Hebdo, a French humor weekly, published an issue devoted to Mohammed satires (visible here) on February 7 after winning a court case granting them permission to do so. The publication has sparked anger in France's Muslim community. In the cartoon above, Mohammed is saying, "It's hard to be loved by idiots."
(Hat tip: etienne.)

Le Nouvel Observateur also has scans of the Charlie Hebdo edition online, including this panel with two surrealist visual jokes: the one on top says, "Can one represent Mohammed...like he is today?"; the bottom caption says, "This is not a caricature of the Prophet" (a take-o on This Magritte painting).
(Hat tip: Martin.)

Islamic groups in France have repeatedly dragged Charlie Hebdo into court, accusing them of blasphemy for publishing Mohammed cartoons. So far Charlie Hebdo has been victorious in all the judgments.

When a Russian newspaper published this cartoon, it was shut down by authorities and its editor faced criminal charges. Reader John M. sends a translation of what Moses is saying: "But we didn't teach them this," refering to the people ghting on the television.
(Hat tip: Martin.)

"Muhammad and Sam," a drawing by artist Andrew Lavin, appeared on the Real Politiks blog in February, 2008.
(Hat tip: Fenris)

This variation on the turban-bomb Mohammed appeared on the ISLAM & Graphic blog, and is apparently a commentary on the Koranic commandment that it is allowable to enslave and then rape women during wartime.
(Hat tip: Francesca C.)

This Russian cartoon, titled "Pigs of War," shows Mohammed holding a banner that says (in Russian) "Islam = Peace" while leading a herd of pigs labeled "Al Qaeda," "Hamas," "Hezbollah," etc.
(Hat tip: Nikki N.)

This black-light painting of a kitschy evil Elvis-Mohammed was created by the team at Velvet Prophet. (To get a version that doesn't have the "Copy" watermark on it, you'd have to buy one of the Velvet Prophet paintings or t-shirts.)
(Hat tip: Killgore Trout.)

Many pundits, weary of repeating his name so often, have given Mohammed the nickname "Mo" -which inspired this portrait of Mo as Moe of the Three Stooges.

"Mohammed -- Seconds before his destruction," is the title of this anonymous allegorical montage. A full-size version can be viewed here.

This unusual complimentary portrait compares Mohammed with Miss Liberty as a political liberator against tyrants.
(Hat tip: Martin.)

Dutch artist Gregorius Nekschot created this new Mohammed cartoon (one of many by Nekschot) as a response to the Danish cartoon crisis.

Belgian artist Ben Heine drew this image entitled "Jesus versus Mohammed." Though his political cartoons generally are virulently anti-Israel and anti-America, he has also drawn several other Mohammed satires, such as this one.

Blogger and pundit Bill Hobbs drew this stick-gure representation of Mohammed and posted it on a now-defunct blog, along with the comment, "Exercise your right to free expression by drawing pictures of Islam's 'Prophet Mohammed' before the West gives in to Islamist intimidation and fear of Islamist violence and makes it illegal to do so." Incensed, a columnist named John Spragens of the Nashville Scene wrote an attack piece implying that Hobbs had violated some rule of decency. A restorm of accusations erupted, resulting in Bill Hobbs announcing his resignation from his job at a local university, apparently due to political pressure.
(Hat tip: Dar ul Harb.)

The board of Finnish culture magazine Kaltio red its editor for publishing a ve-panel comic about Mohammed; the rst panel is shown here, and the other four are visible in the linked article. (Highresolution versions can be downloaded here.) Editor Jussi Vilkkuna was told to leave after he refused to remove the cartoons from the publication's website as requested by the magazine's board of directors. He served as editor for almost seven years.
(Hat tip: Paul B., nord, Tuomas H., and Martin.)

Danish cartoonist Ivar Gjrup created this gruesome update of a classic '50s comic called "Crazy Cartoonist" (or, literally, "Crazy Penciller") in which the hero's drawings came to life as he drew them. In this version, a shaved-headed image that's apparently supposed to be Mohammed nally cuts o the head of the cartoonist who drew him -- a subtle commentary that either suggests the threat from extremists is real, or alternately that we are creating the threat ourselves. The caption reads "The Crazy Cartoonist's Last Work." More info on the drawing can be found at Gateway Pundit.

Another version of the same concept appeared at the Caric caricatures site -- along with the cartoon below.
(Hat tip: Alexander Z.)

A series of Mohammed sketches accompany a satirical "interview" with Mohammed in a pdf document entitled "Cartoon Bob Interviews the Prophet!" created and circulated on the Web in 2006 after the Danish cartoon furor. This sample image is taken from the document.

Cartoonist John Cole of The Times-Tribune syndicate commented on the controversy over The New Yorker magazine cover which depicted Barack Obama as a Muslim by comparing his supporters' outrage to the outrage actual Muslims feel over satirical images of Mohammed.
(Hat tip: Fenris.)

"Married to Children," a parody of the TV sitcom "Married with Children," lampoons Mohammed's marriage to the 6-year-old Aisha. It circulated extensively on the Web in the months after the 2006 cartoon crisis.

In response to the furor over British teacher Gillian Gibbons allowing her Sudanese students to name their teddy bear Mohammed, resulting in riots, violence and jail time for Gillian, archive reader "stuckin-ca" created this image of a Sudanaese Islamic guerilla teddy bear Mohammed.

Here's another Mohammed Teddy Bear, made in response to the Gillian Gibbons incident. It was widely posted on the Internet, though it's not clear who rst created the image.

The "There Is No God" blog had this gangsta teddy Mohammed as their illustration for another story about the Sudanese teddy bear crisis.
(Hat tip: CiberTrix.)

Links to additional recent images:

The Six Faces of Mohammed is Macker's Warholesque parody of the most notorious Danish cartoon. Mohammed (Peas be upon him) jokes UK's The Freethinker magazine, whose editor once was convicted of blasphemy. (Hat tip: foreign devil and nord.) A peaceful Mohammed confuses the mujahedeen. The "Satan's Salvation" comic by Normal Bob Smith featured Mohammed beheading Jesus in one of a series of cartoons. Normal Bob Smith's cartoon "The Sheeples" also featured an image of a Muslim praying to Mohammed among worshippers from other religions.

Click here to return to the main Mohammed Image Archive page Other Archive Sections: Islamic Depictions of Mohammed in Full Islamic Depictions of Mohammed with Face Hidden European Medieval and Renaissance Images Miscellaneous Mohammed Images Dante's Inferno Book Illustrations Book Covers Satirical Modern Cartoons The Jyllands-Posten Cartoons Recent Responses to the Controversy Extreme Mohammed Email Responses from Readers Links