Interview with Muhammad Mahdi Karim and the best of the week
In our ongoing series of interviews with editors who contribute to knowledge on little-represented areas, this week The Signpost interviewed Muhammad Mahdi Karim. Muhammad is an avid participant at Featured picture candidates and has shot featured pictures related to his homeland of Tanzania, his current home in India, and Islam.
On dealing with systemic bias:
I don't do anything particularly out of my way to combat the bias. I guess due to my location and the culture I live in, what I consider everyday life, is what is under-represented at wiki. One thing I noticed is some prominent Islamic figures don't have wiki articles or if they had, these have been deleted due to a lack of written sources to back them up. Pictures of such people are thus not put to use.
On representation of Tanzania:
When it comes to Tanzania, I think we may have more than enough insects to keep us going for a while :)
I feel pictures of animals and architecture/landscapes from the eastern part of Tanzania (Dar es Salaam and surrounding areas) are somewhat covered. We are short on pictures of politicians, culture and perhaps landscapes from the northern, western and southern parts. Unfortunately, I don't see us getting many pictures of politicians due to their inaccessibility to photographers like me. The rest of Tanzania could be covered but one would require to travel the country as volunteers from these areas are unlikely.
Photographing in some areas/events in Tanzania require a mandatory media pass. As such, most governments buildings like the Karimjee Hall or the Bunge building (parliament) are out of my reach. I have been stopped a few times and scolded for shooting things even from public space! It would benefit photographers if Wikipedia/Wikimedia offered a media pass to recognized photographers to avoid such skirmishes.
On photography and Islam:
Photography in some sects of Islam is strongly discouraged. Thus taking pictures in some places such as near the Kaaba is very difficult. When I was there, I snuck in a mobile phone and snapped the picture at the top, which is one of the most widely used images of the Kaaba on the net. Unfortunately, this image was not featured due to the quality of the picture. At the nomination, some users maintained that the image should not be featured as a better one was bound to come. It has been over 3 years now and we still do not have any featured image for Islam's holiest place. This is a challenge I face from non-Muslims who expect the same quality of images to be delivered regardless of the limitations.
Some sects of Islam are particularly against depiction of humans or animals. When I was tasked by a potential buyer to get a picture of a Muslim praying, some Muslims I asked refused to pose for me. I in turn felt awkward about asking others.
My mosque in Dar es Salaam has no problem with me taking pictures but every once in a while I do get a weird look from a person wondering perhaps why I was taking pictures and not worshiping.