By Khalid Neimat

AMMAN - The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on Tuesday started an investigation over the distribution of a brochure in its offices across the Kingdom that allegedly provided "misleading" information about the Prophet Mohammad.

The brochure was part of an international campaign to promote certain archaeological sites registered with the World Heritage Alliance (WHA) across the world, a top official told The Jordan Times yesterday.

The WHA is a membership-based initiative that works to support world heritage conservation, sustainable tourism, and local economic development for communities in and around the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage sites, according to the WHA website.

In its attempt to provide a "brief description" for the Umm Al Rassas archaeological site, about 20 kilometres south of Amman in Madaba Governorate, the WHA stated, "it is here that the Prophet Mohammad, travelling as a tradesman, met a monk who convinced him of the virtue of monotheism".

According to Islamic history sources, when the prophet started spreading his message, he, an illiterate man, was accused by disbelievers in Mecca of learning about monotheism from Christian monks, among other accusations.

The official, who asked to remain unnamed, said: “There is a possibility that the statement implies malintention".

The Arabic translation of the document was free of any kind of misleading information or improper wording in connection to the Prophet Mohammad, he noted.

Prime Minister Nader Dahabi has issued directives to immediately look into the case, the official added.

Accordingly, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Maha Khatib yesterday ordered that all hard copies of the brochure be removed from the ministry's departments across the Kingdom, the official said.

Khatib also decided to form an investigative committee to hold accountable those responsible for the incident, particularly the people who edit and translate such documents, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported yesterday.

She said the ministry will correct any "unintentional mistakes" included in the brochure, Petra added.

The UNESCO official website was still posting the English version of the brief description yesterday with the original wording that carries "false" information about the Prophet Mohammad.

The soft copy is posted in English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.