Hyderabad: It seems that the VGS Publishers Hyderabad have not learned any lesson from its past mistake when a picture of a terrorist holding a machine gun in one hand and the holy Quran on the other was published. After a great furore the publishers have apologized and withdrawn all the copies of their book and assured that they will not repeat such mistakes in future. With the intervention of the Department of Education, the matter was closed then.
The VGS Publishers this time have committed another grave error on the question bank page number 297 where it stated: “In Hinduism, Lord Venkateswara is worshipped; In Christianity, Jesus is worshipped; In Islam, Muslims worship Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).”
In Islam Muslims regard Mohammed – peace be upon him – as the prophet and messenger of Allah to whom the Holy Quran was revealed.
Across the world, no Muslim worships prophet Mohammed (PBUH) they all worship only Allah.
In Islam, Allah is the supreme god or deity. He is the Creator and is described as the “one and only God. Allah is true, perfect, and unique from other beings. On the other hand, Mohammed (PBUH) is a prophet, messenger, and leader. His name means “praiseworthy.” He is the last and most important prophet of Allah.
Islam is a monotheistic religion wherein the figure worship is strictly prohibited. The VGS Publishers printing statement in the question bank that Muslims worship Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) is blasphemous and unacceptable to Muslims.
Such inaccuracies, while it hurt the sentiments of Muslim students, will convey an absolutely wrong concept about Islam to other community students in their tender age.
The question banks or guides are separate from the official textbooks published by the government for the Telangana state board and are known as “study materials”, “question banks’ or “guides”. They are published by private companies based on the state board syllabus and are widely used by students in Telangana as supplementary material.
The VGS Publishers should rectify their mistake forthwith and withdraw all the inaccurate copies of the question banks. They must clearly state in the new copies of the question bank: “Muslims worship Allah alone”.
The VGS Publishers are also advised to consult the Muslim scholars before publishing any material about Islam in their future question bank copies.
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