The art history instructor was diligent, empathetic and sensitive. She gave plenty of warning, including in her class syllabus, letting her students know ahead of time that she planned to show them ancient depictions of the Prophet Muhammad as part of her global art history course at Hamline University, a private liberal arts college in Minnesota.
The teacher, Erika López Prater, 42, did this because she was aware that many Muslims believe showing the face of the prophet is a kind of blasphemy, and that some of her Muslim students might take offense at the images she planned to show. In any case, their participation in the lesson was optional. As it happens, the images she planned to show are hundreds of years old and considered masterpieces of Islamic art.
The class took place online on Oct. 6, and again, any student who did not wish to view the images did not have to. According to Hamline’s student newspaper, the Oracle, which obtained a recording of the class, the professor gave a content warning, described the images — in one from the 16th century, Muhammad’s face is veiled; in the other, from the 14th century, it is not — and spoke about their “controversial nature” for more than two minutes before displaying them.
