Herald publishes picture of Prophet Mohammed's daughter

The state controlled Herald newspaper on Friday apologised for publishing a picture of Fatima Zahra, the daughter of Prophet Mohammed.

The Islamic faith disapprove any depiction/publication of prophets and their close ones. The disapproval extends to Jesus and Moses.

Prohibitions against depicting the Prophet Mohammed may mystify many

Some non-Muslims may not realise but the prohibition of depicting the Prophet Mohammed speaks to a central tenet of Islam: the worship of God alone.

Nothing in the Quran, Islam's holy book, strictly bars portrayals of Mohammed. But the faith, like the Hebrew Bible's Ten Commandments, has long discouraged any graven images, scholars say, to avoid the temptation toward idol worship.

Instead, the teaching about images comes from the hadith, a record of the sayings and actions of the Prophet Mohammed and his closest companions. According to the CNN, the hadith is considered secondary only to the Quran in terms of textual authority, but the sometimes contradictory accounts have led to centuries of debates within the umma, or global Muslim community.

In its publication on Friday Zimbabwe's top state controlled newspaper wrote:

In our Religion Section of The Herald yesterday, we published a story about Fatima Zahra, the daughter of Prophet Mohammed, with an accompanying picture.

It has been kindly brought to our attention that the Islamic faith does not allow the publication of images of the Prophet Mohammed and his close companions.

We unreservedly apologise for the offence the publication could cause.