WASHINGTON - — Offended by a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad etched in marble inside the U.S. Supreme Court chamber, a coalition of Muslim organizations is quietly pushing to have the artwork sandblasted into propriety.
A petition signed by 16 groups across the country has asked that the larger-than-life frieze of great lawgivers be altered "in the spirit of religious tolerance and pluralism," because Islamic tradition discourages artistic renderings of people, and showing the face of Muhammad is considered particularly offensive.
The Supreme Court refuses to comment publicly on the controversy, but coalition spokesman Nihad Awad said there already has been one "fruitful" meeting and "a lot of phone calls" since the 66-year-old artwork first came to its attention three months ago.
"We've been trying to keep this quiet," Awad said. "We believe the court had good intention by honoring the prophet, so we appreciate that. We want to be flexible, and we're willing to pay for the changes ourselves."
Designed by Adolph Weinman, the frieze on the chamber's north wall is part of the original Supreme Court architecture. The Beaux-Arts sculpture in ivory Spanish marble features a procession of history's great lawmakers, from the ancient Egyptian ruler Menes to Napoleon. The bearded Muhammad is shown clutching a scimitar in one hand and the Koran in the other.
At present, the Supreme Court sculpture is the coalition's only target. According to Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, one of the petition signatories, the coalition is unaware of any other public representations of the prophet in such a prominent location.
"Every once in a while we get a call about a textbook or something minor. Typically it's clip art or some artist's rendering of what he thinks the prophet looks like," he said. "Usually we send a letter and say that this kind of thing is offensive to Muslims and it's resolved pretty easily with an apology. But this is different. This is a major American institution."