Comments on Prophet Mohammad a writing error: Shah Rukh

MUMBAI - A day after a police complaint was filed against him for “hurting

religious sentiments” in Islam, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh said Friday that his comments to a magazine were misinterpreted due to a “writing error”.

The First Information Report (FIR) was lodged by the Mumbai Aman Committee (MAC) at the Bandra police station here Thursday after they read in Time’N Style-Luxury that Shah Rukh had listed Prophet Mohammad as one of the most unimpressive personalities in history alongside Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill.

But Shah Rukh said it was a “writing error” and that he had named the Prophet among the most impressive personalities in history.

“Obviously I think that there is no more important figure in history than Prophet Mohammad in the most positive way possible. Also, being a Muslim and standing up for the tenets of Islam is my most important agenda. If they (MAC) have seen my interviews on TV about Islam and Prophet Mohammad, they would know it’s a writing error and not a thought or view that I believe in,” Shah Rukh told IANS in an SMS message.

“For all practical purposes, Prophet Mohammad is the most important positive figure in Islam,” he added.

A corrigendum from the magazine was also published across Mumbai newspapers Thursday wherein the magazine accepted the error.

The corrigendum stated: “This is with reference to the interview with Shah Rukh Khan that featured in Time’N Style-Luxury Vol-1 issue: The answer to question ‘According to you (Shah Rukh) who is the most impressive figure in history?’ should have appeared as: ‘There are lots of them. Some negative ones like Hitler. Then Napoleon, Winston Churchill were impressive.

” ‘If I can call it history then most impressive, positive figure Prophet Mohammad and from recent times there are the nice ones like Nelson Mandela, Gandhiji and Mother Teresa.’ This is a clarification and the error is deeply regretted.”

An official from the Bandra police station, however, confirmed that the FIR had not been withdrawn even after the corrigendum was published.