The cartoon controversy hinged on different theories of what images are.

Evidence

For the religious subject, the “image”—Mahmood prefers the word icon—is intrinsic to a sense of self, not simply a sign to be read semiotically. According to Enlightenment modernity, which follows the Protestant line of development, religious signs are not embodiments of the divine but instead stand in for it. Muslims’ intrinsic view of images as sacred leads to what the West considers “improper reading practices”—for instance, in the Danish cartoon controversy of 2006, when international Muslim outrage at representations of their prophet was depicted in Western media as a rampant (and violent) misreading. — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 492

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the icon vs sign distinction central to postsecular critique of literature.
• XREF: Directly relevant to The Reluctant Fundamentalist — Changez’s posture toward Pakistan’s icons and How Mustafa Khan’s fatal portrait of a black Jesus in Naqvi bears on images.