A Hamline Adjunct Showed a Painting of the Prophet Muhammad. She Lost Her Job. - The New York Times

Erika López Prater, an adjunct prof astatine Hamline University, said she knew galore Muslims person profoundly held spiritual beliefs that prohibit depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. So past semester for a planetary creation past class, she took galore precautions earlier showing a 14th-century coating of Islam’s founder.

In the syllabus, she warned that images of beatified figures, including the Prophet Muhammad and the Buddha, would beryllium shown successful the course. She asked students to interaction her with immoderate concerns, and she said nary 1 did.

In class, she prepped students, telling them that successful a fewer minutes, the coating would beryllium displayed, successful lawsuit anyone wanted to leave.

Then Dr. López Prater showed the representation — and mislaid her teaching gig.

Officials astatine Hamline, a small, backstage assemblage successful St. Paul, Minn., with astir 1,800 undergraduates, had tried to douse what they feared would go a runaway fire. Instead they ended up with what they had tried to avoid: a nationalist controversy, which pitted advocates of world liberty and escaped code against Muslims who judge that showing the representation of Prophet Muhammad is ever sacrilegious.

After Dr. López Prater showed the image, a elder successful the people complained to the administration. Other Muslim students, not successful the course, supported the student, saying the people was an onslaught connected their religion. They demanded that officials instrumentality action.

Officials told Dr. López Prater that her services adjacent semester were nary longer needed. In emails to students and faculty, they said that the incidental was intelligibly Islamophobic. Hamline’s president, Fayneese S. Miller, co-signed an email that said respect for the Muslim students “should person superseded world freedom.” At a municipality hall, an invited Muslim talker compared showing the images to teaching that Hitler was good.

Free code supporters started their ain campaign. An Islamic creation historiographer wrote an effort defending Dr. López Prater and started a petition demanding the university’s committee analyse the matter. It had much than 2,800 signatures. Free code groups and publications issued blistering critiques; PEN America called it “one of the astir egregious violations of world state successful caller memory.” And Muslims themselves debated whether the enactment was Islamophobic.

Arguments implicit academic freedom person been fought connected campuses for years, but they tin beryllium particularly fraught astatine tiny backstage colleges similar Hamline, which are facing shrinking enrollment and increasing fiscal pressures. To pull applicants, galore of these colleges person diversified their curriculums and tried to beryllium much welcoming to students who person been historically unopen retired of higher education.

Meanwhile, professors everyplace often face pushback for their world decisions from activistic students oregon blimpish lawmakers.

Dr. López Prater’s concern was particularly precarious. She is an adjunct, 1 of higher education’s underclass of teachers, moving for small wage and receiving fewer of the workplace protections enjoyed by tenured module members.

University officials and administrators each declined interviews. But Dr. Miller, the school’s president, defended the determination successful a statement.

“To look upon an representation of the Prophet Muhammad, for galore Muslims, is against their faith,” Dr. Miller’s connection said, adding, “It was important that our Muslim students, arsenic good arsenic each different students, consciousness safe, supported and respected some successful and retired of our classrooms.”

In a December interrogation with the schoolhouse newspaper, the pupil who complained to the administration, Aram Wedatalla, described being blindsided by the image.

“I’m like, ‘This can’t beryllium real,’” said Ms. Wedatalla, who successful a nationalist forum described herself arsenic Sudanese. “As a Muslim and a Black person, I don’t consciousness similar I belong, and I don’t deliberation I’ll ever beryllium successful a assemblage wherever they don’t worth maine arsenic a member, and they don’t amusement the aforesaid respect that I amusement them.”

Todd H. Green, who has written books astir Islamophobia, said the struggle astatine Hamline was “tragic” due to the fact that administrators pitted earthy allies — those acrophobic astir stereotypes of Muslims and Islam — against 1 another.

The administration, helium said, “closed down speech erstwhile they should person opened it up.”

The Image

The coating shown successful Dr. López Prater’s people is successful 1 of the earliest Islamic illustrated histories of the world, “A Compendium of Chronicles,” written during the 14th period by Rashid-al-Din (1247-1318).

Shown regularly successful creation past classes, the coating shows a winged and crowned Angel Gabriel pointing astatine the Prophet Muhammad and delivering to him the archetypal Quranic revelation. Muslims judge that the Quran comprises the words of Allah dictated to the Prophet Muhammad done the Angel Gabriel.

The representation is “a masterpiece of Persian manuscript painting,” said Christiane Gruber, a prof of Islamic creation astatine the University of Michigan. It is housed astatine the University of Edinburgh; akin paintings person been connected show astatine places similar the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And a sculpture of the prophet is astatine the Supreme Court.

Dr. Gruber said that showing Islamic creation and depictions of the Prophet Muhammad person go much communal successful academia, due to the fact that of a propulsion to “decolonize the canon” — that is, grow program beyond a Western model.

Dr. Gruber, who wrote the essay successful New Lines Magazine defending Dr. López Prater, said that studying Islamic creation without the Compendium of Chronicles representation “would beryllium similar not teaching Michaelangelo’s David.”

Yet, astir Muslims judge that ocular representations of Muhammad should not beryllium viewed, adjacent if the Quran does not explicitly prohibit them. The prohibition stems from the content that an representation of Muhammad could pb to worshiping the prophet alternatively than the deity helium served.

Omid Safi, a prof of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies astatine Duke University, said helium regularly shows images of the Prophet Muhammad successful people and without Dr. López Prater’s opt-out mechanisms. He explains to his students that these images were works of devotion created by pious artists astatine the behest of devout rulers.

“That’s the portion I privation my students to grapple with,” Dr. Safi said. “How does thing that comes from the precise mediate of the contented extremity up being received aboriginal connected arsenic thing marginal oregon forbidden?”

A Warning, and Then the Image

Dr. López Prater, a self-described creation nerd, said she knew astir the imaginable for struggle connected Oct. 6, erstwhile she began her online lecture with 30 oregon truthful students.

She said she spent a fewer minutes explaining wherefore she was showing the image, however antithetic religions person depicted the divine and however standards alteration implicit time.

“I bash not privation to contiguous the creation of Islam arsenic thing that is monolithic,” she said successful an interview, adding that she had been shown the representation arsenic a postgraduate student. She besides showed a 2nd image, from the 16th century, which depicted Muhammad wearing a veil.

Dr. López Prater said that nary 1 successful people raised concerns, and determination was nary disrespectful commentary.

After the people ended, Ms. Wedatalla, a concern large and president of the university’s Muslim Student Association, stuck astir to dependable her discomfort.

Immediately afterward, Dr. López Prater sent an email to her section head, Allison Baker, astir the encounter; she thought that Ms. Wedatalla mightiness complain.

Ms. Baker, the seat of the integer and workplace creation department, responded to the email 4 minutes later.

“It sounded similar you did everything right,” Ms. Baker said. “I judge successful world state truthful you person my support.”

Ms. Wedatalla declined an interrogation request, and did not explicate wherefore she had not raised concerns earlier the representation was shown. But successful an email statement, she said images of Prophet Muhammad should ne'er beryllium displayed, and that Dr. López Prater gave a trigger informing precisely due to the fact that she knew specified images were violative to galore Muslims. The lecture was truthful disturbing, she said, that she could nary longer spot herself successful that course.

Four days aft the class, Dr. López Prater was summoned to a video gathering with the dean of the assemblage of wide arts, Marcela Kostihova.

Dr. Kostihova compared showing the representation to utilizing a radical epithet for Black people, according to Dr. López Prater.

“It was precise wide to maine that she had not talked to immoderate creation historians,” Dr. López Prater said.

A mates of weeks later, the assemblage rescinded its connection to thatch adjacent semester.

Dr. López Prater said she was acceptable to determination on. She had teaching jobs astatine different schools. But connected Nov. 7, David Everett, the vice president for inclusive excellence, sent an email to each assemblage employees, saying that definite actions taken successful an online people were “undeniably inconsiderate, disrespectful and Islamophobic.”

The administration, aft gathering with the school’s Muslim Student Association, would big an unfastened forum “on the taxable of Islamophobia,” helium wrote.

Dr. López Prater, who had lone begun teaching astatine Hamline successful the fall, said she felt similar a bucket of crystal h2o had been dumped implicit her head, but the daze soon gave mode to “blistering choler astatine being characterized successful those presumption by idiosyncratic who I person ne'er adjacent met oregon spoken with.” She reached retired to Dr. Gruber, who ended up penning the effort and starting the petition.

An Emotional Forum

At the Dec. 8 forum, which was attended by respective twelve students, module and administrators, Ms. Wedatalla described, often done tears, however she felt seeing the image.

“Who bash I telephone astatine 8 a.m.,” she asked, erstwhile “you spot idiosyncratic disrespecting and offending your religion?”

Other Muslim students connected the panel, each Black women, besides spoke tearfully astir struggling to acceptable successful astatine Hamline. Students of colour successful caller years had protested what they called racist incidents; the university, they said, paid articulator work to diverseness and did not enactment students with organization resources.

The main talker was Jaylani Hussein, the enforcement manager of the Minnesota section of the Council connected American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civilian rights group.

The instructor’s actions, helium said, wounded Muslim students and students of colour and had “absolutely nary benefit.”

“If this instauration wants to worth those students,” helium added, “it cannot person incidents similar this happen. If idiosyncratic wants to thatch immoderate arguable worldly astir Islam, spell thatch it astatine the section library.”

Mark Berkson, a religion prof astatine Hamline, raised his hand.

“When you accidental ‘trust Muslims connected Islamophobia,’” Dr. Berkson asked, “what does 1 bash erstwhile the Islamic assemblage itself is divided connected an issue? Because determination are galore Muslim scholars and experts and creation historians who bash not judge that this was Islamophobic.”

Mr. Hussein responded that determination were marginal and extremist voices connected immoderate issue. “You tin thatch a full people astir wherefore Hitler was good,” Mr. Hussein said.

During the exchange, Ms. Baker, the section head, and Dr. Everett, the administrator, separately walked up to the religion professor, enactment their hands connected his shoulders and said this was not the clip to rise these concerns, Dr. Berkson said successful an interview.

But Dr. Berkson, who said helium powerfully supported field diversity, said that helium felt compelled to talk up.

“We were being asked to accept, without questioning, that what our workfellow did — teaching an Islamic creation masterpiece successful a people connected creation past aft having fixed aggregate warnings — was someway equivalent to mosque vandalism and unit against Muslims and hatred speech,” Dr. Berkson said. “That is what I could not stand.”

Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the lawman enforcement manager of the nationalist section of the Council connected American-Islamic Relations, said that helium did not person capable accusation to remark connected the Hamline dispute. But portion his radical discourages ocular depictions of the prophet, helium said that determination was a quality betwixt an enactment that was un-Islamic and 1 that was Islamophobic.

“If you portion a brew successful beforehand of me, you’re doing thing that is un-Islamic, but it’s not Islamophobic,” helium said. “If you portion a brew successful beforehand of maine due to the fact that you’re deliberately trying to offend me, good then, possibly that has an intent factor.”

“Intent and circumstances matter,” helium said, “especially successful a assemblage setting, wherever world state is captious and professors often code delicate and arguable topics.”

Dr. Safi, the Duke professor, said Hamline had efficaciously taken sides successful a statement among Muslims. Students “don’t person to springiness up their values,” helium added. “But immoderate portion of the acquisition process does telephone for stepping beyond each 1 of our vantage points capable to cognize that nary of america person the monopoly connected truth.”

Dr. Safi has his ain idiosyncratic representation of the prophet. When helium was 14, his household fled to the United States from Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war. He packed an representation of Muhammad holding a Quran into 1 of the family’s fewer suitcases.

That representation present hangs connected his partition astatine home.

Graham Bowley and Mable Chan contributed reporting.