Nurfika Osman & Ismira Lutfia – As Indonesia called for calm, Muslim scholars expressed outrage over a page on the social networking site Facebook that encourages people to draw images of the Prophet Muhammad. Visual depictions of the Prophet are forbidden in Islam. "I consider this an act of provocation to mess up religious harmony enjoyed by Indonesians," Communication and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday. "I call on everybody to stay calm. Let us all just cool down."

"These are the things that we want to control in the draft of a ministerial regulation on multimedia content," he added.

The Religious Affairs Ministry's director of Islam and Shariah Law, Rohadi Abdul Fatah, said the site had been deemed haram, or forbidden, under Islam. "We cannot tolerate it. Those who created the account were extremely irresponsible," Rohadi said, referring to the Facebook page titled "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day."

The page said: "May 20th of 2010 is Draw Mohammed Day! Help spread around the knowledge about this important day. Invite your friends!" As of 5 p.m. on Wednesday, more than 43,000 people were following the page.

Another account on Facebook was created to urge people to show anger at the "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" account. It had attracted 1,300 followers by last night. It said: "O Muslims! Stand against people who are slandering our Rasul [Prophet]!"

Tifatul said there must be restricted access to the Internet's negative content. He acknowledged, however, that Indonesia "would not be able to completely restrict access."

Tifatul called on the public to avoid using social networking sites to disseminate blasphemous information that could incite hatred toward other faiths. "We are going to send a letter to Facebook management soon since they are based abroad. We cannot just ban it," he said.

Said Aqil Siradj, chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's largest Islamic organization, said the page was blasphemous. "Based on ijma [consensus] involving Muslim scholars worldwide, we are forbidden from drawing visual depictions of the Prophet," Said Aqil said.

"It is considered slanderous. The imagination can be used to draw visual depictions of other messengers, but not Prophet Muhammad. That is clear." He urged followers of the 40- million strong organization not to follow the account. "It is intended to insult us. I have asked the government to ban the site," he said.

Amidhan, the head of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), said the account was criminal and sanctions should be imposed on all those who followed the page. "This is criminal and humiliating," he said.

The page has also sparked outrage in Pakistan, where a court on Wednesday ordered the government to block the site.

A series of cartoons of the Prophet published in a Danish newspaper in 2005 sparked violent protests and death threats against the cartoonists.

After online threats of violence last month, the US cable network Comedy Central bleeped out Muhammad's name in an episode of the animated series "South Park" that featured the Prophet hiding in a bear suit.