Miscellaneous Mohammed Images

There have been depictions of Mohammed in every era. Here are a few from periods not covered in other categories:
 

The North Frieze on the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC

features a bas-relief sculpture of Mohammed, among several other historical law-givers.

He is in the center of this image holding a curved scimitar;

on the left is Charlemagne, and on the right is Byzantine Emperor Justinian.

You can download a detailed pdf of the Supreme Court friezes here.

The urban legend site Snopes.com has info about the frieze.


1928 German advertisement for bouillon extract

shows Gabriel guiding Mohammed up to Allah


Mohammed at Mecca, by Andreas Muller, late 19th century;

this is a photogravure reproduction printed in 1889;

the original is in the Maximilianeum Gallery, Munich.

Mohammed is the one on the camel,

and is depicted casting the idols out of the Kaaba.


Color print of Mohammed

in anachronistic 17th- or 18th-century garb.


This 20th-century painting from a Shriners' Hall in Maine

shows Mohammed receiving a vision.
 

Another Shriners' painting showing Mohammed (in the red robe on the right)

being comforted by his uncle as he hides from Meccans during his flight to Medina.


Recent issue of French magazine Le Nouvel Obervateur

with Mohammed on the cover.

The current issue has coverage of the Muslim reaction to the Danish cartoons

but makes no mention of their own Mohammed cover.


Mohammed getting romantic with Khadijah,

who would become his first wife.


Mohammed receiving a vision in a cave.

These two panels are among many depicting Mohammed to be found

in Jack Chick's 1988 booklet The Prophet.

The tract is quite long -- Mohammed doesn't make an appearance until page 13

(as a pawn in a convoluted historical conspiracy).


This reproduction is a bit small, but it shows Mohammed

destroying the idols at the Kaaba in Mecca.

It is not a Christian illustration exactly,

but rather is taken from Manly P. Hall's occult guide

The Secret Teachings of All Ages,

which incorporates ideas from many religions, Christianity (and Islam) among them.

 


This painting was originally done by Russian symbolist painter and Theosophist

Nicholas Roerich in 1932,

and is entitled "Mohammed the Prophet,"

showing Mohammed receiving a vision.

It has appeared in the literature of various Christian groups.

 

Modern-era painting showing Mohammed.

Artist unknown.

 


Contemporary stylized drawing of

Mohammed.
 


Iranian woman artist Oranous (who is a Muslim and lives in Tehran)

created this iconic painting of a young Mohammed and is selling it online.

Though this would seem to violate Islamic and Iranian law,

an expert in Iranian Shi'ite customs writes in to say that

this particular painting is not forbidden because it depicts

a young Mohammed before he was visited by the Angel Gabriel

and started receiving his visions,

which means that at this stage in his life he is not yet the Prophet.
 

Note: What became of the other Iranian icons that used to be on this page? Several readers emailed to say that the few modern icons from Iran (formerly visible here) that supposedly depicted Mohammed in fact depicted his cousin Ali, who is considered the founder of the Shi'ite branch of Islam. The sites from which these pictures were obtained -- The University of Bergen and Jyllands-Posten -- misattributed the images by accident.

 

Our research indicates that it was indeed most likely Ali in the icons, so we apologize for the mix-up. The most well-known of these icons (still misidentified as Mohammed) on the Jyllands-Posten site, can be seen on the right.
 

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