Book teaches the faceless (not nameless) heroes of Quran

In Shahada Sharelle Abdul Haqq’s new children’s book, Moses’ staff flairs into a scary cobra, confronting the cobras from the Pharaoh’s magicians. A puzzled camel peers over the edge of a well, looking down to where Joseph had just been thrown by his brothers. And David, his face hidden in the shadow of his headscarf, […]

In Shahada Sharelle Abdul Haqq’s new children’s book, Moses’ staff flairs into a scary cobra, confronting the cobras from the Pharaoh’s magicians. A puzzled camel peers over the edge of a well, looking down to where Joseph had just been thrown by his brothers. And David, his face hidden in the shadow of his headscarf, hurls the fatal rock at a towering Goliath. But nowhere in the 120-page “Stories of the Prophets in the Holy Qur’an” is there a portrait of even one of the 25 prophets recognized as special messengers of God. No Moses. No Jesus. No Muhammad. “We take the prohibition against making graven images literally,” Haqq said as she looked through a proof copy of the book. “We can’t portray the faces of the prophets.”

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