“Now hidden – Islam’s rich history of images of the prophet” (In Focus, last week, page 35) said: “From around 1500AD, in Ottoman areas, images began to show Muhammad with his face covered by a veil, or in some cases replaced by golden flames, an abstraction to reflect his divinity.” The basis of Islamic belief is monotheism – ie, that there is only one God. Muhammad is a prophet of God; he is not seen as divine.
In “Islam is a religion of love of peace. My brother was a Muslim” (News, last week, page 2), we reported that Malek Merabet, brother of murdered Paris policeman Ahmed Merabet, had called for calm and said meeting violence with violence “won’t bring our dead back and won’t appease the families” – suggesting the families needed placating. This was a mistranslation; he said it would not “bring the families peace”.
Some confusion crept into “Security services had been warned and knew the attackers” (News, early editions, last week) when it referred to an attack on the “train museum at Orsay in 1995 which killed eight people”. The attack, on 17 October 1995, took place between Musée d’Orsay and Saint-Michel-Notre Dame stations, injuring 30 people. Eight were killed on 25 July 1995 in a bombing at Saint-Michel RER station.
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