Depicting the Prophet

As i was driving back from a photo shoot today I got to thinking about image - and more specifically the controversy surrounding the depiction of the prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him.

Looking into this a little I discovered that there is not an explicit prohibition against such depictions, instead there are two statements in the Koran from which these prohibitions are extrapolated:

21:52-54: "[Abraham] said to his father and his people: 'What are these images to whose worship you cleave?' They said: 'We found our fathers worshipping them.' He said: 'Certainly you have been, you and your fathers, in manifest error.'"


42:11 of the Koran does say: "[Allah is] the originator of the heavens and the earth... [there is] nothing like a likeness of Him."


It seems to me then that prohibition as found in the Koran is not to an image of any kind, but rather to the worship of these images. I may have misunderstood..however the point i am interested in is how one who believes that making such an image or displaying it is forbidden could respond to such an image.


There is the possibility of condemning such depictions and anger at those who would create them, or there seems to me to be the option of responding that it is not possible to create a likeness of Allah, or of the prophets, that not one line of the many used in attempts to depict them can carry a single speck of an aspect of that which they try to depict. In fact they fail to be a depiction at all. While the creation of an image of Mohammed, peace be upon him, is prohibited, the actions of those who attempt to create such images is mearly foolishness as it is not possible to create such an image. Such an approach would allow one to instead of being offended by an image, be amused, bemused, and in sympathy for those who might try such a futile thing.


Any thoughts from those who know these issues better than me?