Taken from The Daily Telegraph 26th November 2007 -
"Thomas the Tank Engine to gain Muslim friend.
Much loved children's book and television character Thomas the Tank Engine is to gain a Muslim friend in a bid to widen his appeal amongst Britain's increasingly ethnically diverse population. Philip Ranger, a spokesman for HIT Entertainment, the company that licenses the Thomas brand, said "We are keen to broaden Thomas's appeal in our multicultural society. I am sure that one of the new characters, Mohammed the hump-shunter, will be a hit amongst Muslim children." He also said that his company hoped to sell the Thomas TV programmes to countries like Afghanistan, as soon as the Taliban allow people to have television sets.
One story will involve Mohammed refusing to shunt trucks on Friday because he has to attend prayers. Luckily Thomas comes to the rescue but, after being accused of racism, the Fat Controller is then forced to construct a siding facing Mecca for Mohammed to use for this purpose. Another story involves the Fat Controller banning the Muslim engine from entering tunnels after a theological argument with his driver and fireman, for fear that he'll deliberately blow up his boiler in a suicide protest.
Muslim community leaders, while welcoming the move to broaden Thomas's appeal, have some reservations. "It is forbidden to name railway engines after The Prophet", said Ahmed Mirza, a moderate community leader from Bradford, who admits that he hasn't read the new books. He plans to organise protests at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway's next "Day out with Thomas" event in the spring. "I hope the protest is peaceful", he said, "but feelings about this blasphemy are running very high in the Muslim community". Meanwhile other less moderate imams, not realising that Thomas is a fictional railway locomotive, have called for him to be beheaded."