By Dr. Syed Ahmed for TwoCircles.net,
Imphal: Various Muslim civil organizations in Manipur have condemned the publication of a General Knowledge school text-book which carries the picture of Prophet Muhammad. The school textbook, Prime General Knowledge Book – O, published by Prime Publications and printed in Sangai Offset Printers, Sega Road, Imphal is written by S. Babyla Jassal. The illustration of the Prophet is found in the chapter on Indian Deities (Page 51), of the text book.
An official source claims that the general knowledge text-book is not prescribed by the Manipur government. The Board of Secondary Education, Manipur (BOSEM) prescribes textbooks from Class I onwards. For pre-Class I students in private schools, the text-books are selected by the respective school authorities. The text-book is reportedly taught in kinder-garden level in many private schools in the state.
The text-book
A Muslim students’ body in Manipur, Pangal Students Organization (PSO) has decided to boycott the school textbook. PSO, at a press-meeting held on June 22 at its office building in Minuthong Golapati at Imphal, announced its decision to ban all books written by S. Babyla Jassal immediately and further warned of stern action against the writer in case the writer fail to clarify on the said issue. The body gave a deadline of 3 days for him to clarify. The President of PSO, Mohd Burhanuddin, said no one has ever known or recorded the picture of Prophet Mohammad in the history of mankind. The depiction of the Prophet in the textbook has misled the Muslim community and the students of the state, he added. Burhanuddin also said that the copies of the said text-book will be collected and consigned to fire.
The Pangal (Manipuri Muslim) Political forum, Manipur (PPF) has also strongly condemned the depiction of Prophet Muhammad in the textbook. The forum in its press-release expressed that the text-book has insulted the Muslim community and the Islamic law. According to the Islamic Law, no Muslim man and woman should take their photo if the need is not arisen, PPF noted. The book will mislead the younger generations. The forum asked the Chief Minister and the Education Minister to look in
Press-conference on June 23
Popular Front of India (PFI), Manipur Unit has also condemned the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad in the school text-book. The President of PFI, Manipur Unit, Mufti Arshad Hussain said in a press-conference held at Manipur Press Club on June 23 that the publication of the text-book has seriously hurt the sentiments of the Muslims. There is no known picture of the Prophet and it is also against Islam to depict the Prophet. The education department of the State should look into the matter and ban the book. The other communities should also support in our move to ban the book. Later copies of the text-book were burned.
The first protest meeting was held on June 19 at Darul-uloom Markaz at Lilong. The meeting, attended by Muslim religious leaders, madrasa students and the educated sections of the community, discussed t the depiction of Prophet Muhammad in the General Knowledge text-book. The meeting observed that the depiction of the Prophet has misguided the Muslim students, and it’s a challenge to Islam. The meeting resolved to take various steps including burning of the text-book if the authorities associated with the publication of the text-book fail to stop the publication of the book immediately.
Burning of the books by PFI
However, today (June 24), one Nishikanta Sapam, who claims to be the publisher of the General Knowledge text-book, published a small note of apology in the local daily, The Sangai Express, titled “Text Book Rectification.” The note reads, “Due to an error in our book ‘Prime GK Bk-O’ my Muslim brothers’ sentiments have been hurt. I as publisher take responsibility. I sincerely regret the error and apologize to the Muslim community for the error. We have already stopped the sale of the mentioned book and invite those who purchased the books to return them and take the refund for the same. The error will be rectified right away.”