Banning Muhammad's fake Image at Hamlin University

 When Hamlin University let a college Professor’s employment terminate after the prof showed a painting of Muhammad made in the 14th century it was cited as an example of pervasive far-left extremism ubiquitous on college campuses in the U.S.A. that shoehorn students into leftist-Democrat party political correctness. Yet the largely unreported element in play was the location of Minnesota and it’s largest in the nation concentration of Somali immigrant Muslims. The Muslim community of Minnesota of course became notable for being a source of Isis recruits.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/01/hamline-university-what-to-think-firing.html

https://www.mprnews.org/conflict/called-to-fight

https://religionnews.com/2023/01/03/an-image-of-the-prophet-muhammad-ignites-an-academic-storm/

Maybe the quiet college didn’t feel up to putting a red flag in front of bored potential ISIS recruits fallen on hard times with the downfall of Isis in the Middle East. Isis may not have had sufficient time to reorganize in Afghanistan to export or outsource a conflict to begin a new Islamic State someplace else. After 2001 and the WTC attack prohibitions on images of Muhammad were ironically elevated virtually to an Islamic law in some places with a fatwa, perhaps to pre-empt cartoon images of Muhammad made by anti-Muslim publications. Middle-Eastern Muhammadanism is heavily associated, commonly, with ruling powers and/or sectarian conflicts.

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2015/01/16/quran-prophet-images

The era of integration and affirmative action drafted a couple of generations of new educators to academia and changed the demographics and content, focus and spin of higher education significantly. That wasn’t all bad if the educators resonate overseas enough to improve educational prospects of the uneducated. It can become counterproductive though if truth and the facts are spun into obscurity and replaced by politically correct narratives reinforcing the ancient, venerable problem of educators becoming sycophants of political power locally instead of independent auditors, objectively of secular and religious affairs.

It is possible that the old conservative though disappearing Lutheran community didn’t object too much to not featuring a reasonably good, simple painting of Muhammad and the angel Gabriel meeting either. Ancient fiction art doubled down as a sacrilege being shown to the public when it is not kosher to make an image of Muhammad for Muslims- although the painting was done by a Muslim with a good Arabian kind of name. That was an era where Orthodox iconoclasm and the Turkish conquest of Constantinople and attack on Vienna were, or would be in the air of worldly affairs. Islam was reempowered in its war against Europe. Maybe the iconoclast movement was stimulated  by increasing Muslim pressure and hegemony upon Byzantine culture and land.  I would give Hamlin a pass for demurring on joining the Greek fire waters of controversy since their educators may not carry many concealed weapons to class and there aren’t heavily armed campus security personnel with a large supply of sandbags around.