Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News, 2014-01-09

Israeli Arabs are infuriated after a dress baring the verses of the Holy Qur’an went on display on a designer’s website.

A picture of a model wearing the dress was uploaded to Shenkar's Facebook page with the title – “Cat on a hot tin roof, the Arab Spring version.”

Young Arabs who identified themselves as members of the northern branch of the Islamic movement were infuriated by the dress and demanded an apology for what they said was an insult to the Holy Qura’n.

“There was no intention to hurt the feelings of Muslims”, said the father of the new designer talking with 2 Online. ”Certain elements tried to take it in different directions, but we emphasize that there was no intention to harm Islam or the holy book.”

“Shenkar supports full academic and artistic freedom and denounces all forms of violence and intolerance,” the College said in response.

The picture was removed from the college's Facebook page.

In 1994, Karl Lagerfeld designed a Qur’an dress. Claude Eliette, the chief executive of French haute couture house Chanel, went to the Grand Masjid of Paris to see Dalil Boubakeur, the masjid's imam, and apologised for putting a verse of the Qur’an across the chest of Claudia Schiffer when she modelled a new evening dress in Paris.

Eliette promised Boubakeur that the three offending dresses would be burned.

The fashion house, he said, had never intended 'to commit a sacrilege or to offend the Muslim community.'"

(Twitter: @Faizie143)