Blasphemy Laws in Islam | Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi

 

Eight-year-old becomes youngest person charged with blasphemy in Pakistan

An eight-year-old Hindu boy is being held in protective police custody in east Pakistan after becoming the youngest person ever to be charged with blasphemy in the country.

The boy’s family is in hiding and many of the Hindu community in the conservative district of Rahim Yar Khan, in Punjab, have fled their homes after a Muslim crowd attacked a Hindu temple after the boy’s release on bail last week. Troops were deployed to the area to quell any further unrest.

On Saturday, 20 people were arrested in connection with the temple attack.

The boy is accused of intentionally urinating on a carpet in the library of a madrassa, where religious books were kept, last month. Blasphemy charges can carry the death penalty.

The Guardian knows the name of the boy and family members, but has chosen to protect their identities for their safety.

Speaking from an undisclosed location, a member of the boy’s family told the Guardian: “He [the boy] is not even aware of such blasphemy issues and he has been falsely indulged in these matters. He still doesn’t understand what his crime was and why he was kept in jail for a week.

“We have left our shops and work, the entire community is scared and we fear backlash. We don’t want to return to this area. We don’t see any concrete and meaningful action will be taken against the culprits or to safeguard the minorities living here.”

Blasphemy charges filed against a child have shocked legal experts, who say the move is unprecedented. No one this young has ever been charged with blasphemy before in Pakistan.

Blasphemy laws have been disproportionately used in the past against religious minorities in Pakistan. Although no blasphemy executions have been carried out in the country since the death penalty was introduced for the crime in 1986, suspects are often attacked and sometimes killed by mobs.

Ramesh Kumar, a lawmaker and head of the Pakistan Hindu Council, said: “The attack on the temple and blasphemy allegations against the eight-year-old minor boy has really shocked me. More than a hundred homes of the Hindu community have been emptied due to fear of attack.”

Kapil Dev, a human rights activist, said: “I demand charges against the boy are immediately dropped, and urge the government to provide security for the family and those forced to flee.”

He added: “Attacks on Hindu temples have increased in the last few years showing an escalating level of extremism and fanaticism. The recent attacks seem to be a new wave of persecution of Hindus.”

Footage circulating on social media appears to show an angry mob attacking and vandalising the temple with iron bars and sticks last week.

Ahmad Nawaz, a spokesperson for the Rahim Yar Khan district police, said: “Police are hunting the attackers and police teams are conducting raids to arrest the culprits but there has been no arrest made yet.”

Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, condemned the mob attack on Twitter and said he has ordered the provincial police chief to take action against anyone involved, including negligent police officers. He promised the government would restore the temple.

In New Delhi, India’s external affairs ministry summoned a Pakistani diplomat to protest the attack and demand the safety of Hindu families living in Muslim-majority Pakistan.

In December last year, a large violent mob of conservative Muslims demolished a century old Hindu temple in the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedoms, published last year, Pakistan reported the highest number of incidents of mob activity, mob violence, and/or threats of mob violence as a result of alleged blasphemous acts.

Four countries account for nearly 80% of all reported incidents of mob activity, mob violence, and/or threats of mob violence as a result of alleged blasphemous acts in countries with criminal blasphemy laws between 2014 and 2018.

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On Insulting Islam: Does the Quran Ask Muslims to Respond with Patience or Violence?

Last Friday at least 30 Hindu homes were burned to the ground by thousands of enraged Muslim protesters after a local Hindu named Titu Chandra made a ‘blasphemous Facebook post’ insulting Islam and the Prophet (ﷺ) in Rangpur, Bangladesh. After initially seeing the post, hundreds of Muslim locals began protesting and gave the authorities an ultimatum to arrest Chandra within twenty four hours. Since the police failed to do so, the protesters were joined by around 8,000 Muslims from surrounding villages and began torching homes in Chandra’s village named Thakubari, a predominantly Hindu neighbourhood. The resultant fires and destruction has left dozens of Hindu families totally homeless and penniless.

Similar atrocities have occurred in the past in other parts of the country. For instance, in November last year, a Muslim mob armed with locally-made weapons demolished at least 10 temples to the ground and vandalised hundreds of houses of the Hindu community in Brahmanbaria‘s Nasirnagar upazila, similarly in response to a Facebook post which allegedly insulted Islam.

Aside from the absurdity of attacking a whole community for the purported actions of single individuals within that community, it is important to note that these incidents are also utterly absurd and unacceptable from an Islamic point of view. Even if the miscreants had not opted for collective punishment and had simply gone after the specific individuals who had ‘insulted Islam’, that would also be condemnable since the Quran categorically prohibits violence in response to insults. For Muslims who are unsure about how to respond to insults about Islam or are even the slightest bit doubtful as to the unacceptability of the miscreants’ actions, I quote only two Quranic verses from the plethora of Islamic sources which preach patience and forgiveness in the face of insult and slander.

In chapter 73 (Al Muzammil – The Wrapped Up), verse 10, in relation to those who insult or mock the Prophet (ﷺ) or Islam, the Quran instructs to ‘be patient over what they say and keep away from them in a graceful manner.’ Some may argue that the injunction of this verse is repealed by verses of jihad which were revealed later on. However, in Maariful Quran, one of the most comprehensive and authoritative Quran commentaries of all time, Pakistani Islamic scholar Mufti Muhammad Shafi argues that a careful analysis indicates that the injunction is not repealed. The above verse enjoins patience and steadfastness in the face of hurtful things the enemies say and cutting ties with them courteously. This is not in conflict with verses that deal with reproof, punishment and armed struggle that were revealed subsequently since the former is a verse of general application (which is applicable under normal circumstances), whereas the latter verses on jihad and armed struggle are of specific application (to be followed during times of war). He makes clear that Islamic jihad and armed struggle is not a matter of taking revenge or expression of anger, which would be totally in conflict with patience, fortitude and courteous severance which is generally required of Muslims. He further argues that in cases of slander and insult, true Muslims do not even entertain the thought of revenge.

In Chapter 3 (Al-i-Imraan – The Family of Imraan), verse 186, the Quran states ‘You will absolutely hear hurtful words from those who were given the book way before you and people who commit adultery and blasphemy with Allah. If you can be patient and you can maintain your consciousness of Allah then that is the most noble of deeds – the highest of accomplishments that you can accomplish’. This verse was revealed in the context of a specific incident. Abu Bakr had angrily slapped a Jew who had snidely remarked that ‘Allah is poor and we are rich’. The Jew then complained to the Prophet (ﷺ) and thereafter this verse was revealed and again instructs Muslims to practice to be patient when faced with situations of insult and mockery. Mufti Shafi comments that these situations are nothing but a trial for Muslims. The best course for them is to observe restraint and remain calm and composed.

Thus from the study of the above two verses which deal with cases of ‘insulting Islam’ or ‘hurting religious sentiments’, it becomes clear just how unacceptable both the Rangpur and Brahmanbaria incidents are. By trying to use Islam as a cloak to legitimise their senseless violence, these miscreants end up insulting the religion they claim to follow a thousand times more than any single anti-Islam Facebook post by a non-Muslim ever could. Interestingly, in both cases the victims complained of how all their houses were looted prior to being burned by the perpetrators. It is unsurprising that in their collective fit of rage they conveniently had the composure to ransack the Hindu homes and pocket the valuables before setting them on fire, possibly showing ulterior motives as in the Brahmanbaria attacks.

We can no longer remain passive in the face of attacks against our minorities, that too in the name of Islam. We need to unite and eradicate the fanatics from within our own communities and expose the fallacy of their ways to show they are not serving the interests of anyone but themselves.

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https://taqbirhuda.wordpress.com/2017/11/13/on-insulting-islam-does-the-quran-ask-muslims-to-respond-with-patience-or-violence/

Pakistan needs laws against misogyny, not blasphemy

 The national narrative regarding blasphemy in Pakistan is that the offense is unpardonable: Once you utter words that disrespect the Prophet Muhammad, his companions or the Quran, only death or life imprisonment awaits you.

But earlier this month, Junaid Jamshed, an influential Islamic preacher, sought an alternative outcome. Accused of blasphemy by members of a different Islamic sect for remarks he made in a video posted on Facebook, Jamshed released a subsequent apology video, in which he pleaded ignorance and asked for forgiveness.

Jamshed’s case has attracted international attention and opened debate about whether blasphemy is pardonable. The week after the events, Dawn, Pakistan’s leading English newspaper, published a blog post outlining how Advocate Ismaeel Qureshi, the creator of Pakistan’s blasphemy law, has acknowledged the possibility that the regulation rests on an error in theological interpretation. Religious clerics and talk-show hosts on television devoted much airtime to discuss the blasphemy law and Jamshed’s apology video.

But one aspect of this episode ignored in the debate is the misogyny Jamshed displays in the alleged blasphemy video.

In the clip, Jamshed, speaking in front of a small group of men, tells them a story about how Ayesha, one of the wives of Muhammad, would often feign being ill to receive attention from him. The moral of the story, according to Jamshed, is that if Muhammad could not reform women’s crooked ways, then ordinary men do not stand a chance.

The message is simple: Even under the holiest of influences, women, by the simple virtue of being women, cannot be “fixed.”

Whether Jamshed committed blasphemy under Pakistani laws — and whether there is room for a pardon — is for the Pakistani courts to decide. But in this particular instance, Jamshed must be held accountable for more than the alleged blasphemy. And it is the moral responsibility of Pakistan’s media and civil society to call him out for imparting misogynist views to an unsuspecting audience.

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Pakistan 'Koran plot' imam remanded in blasphemy case

A Pakistani imam has been remanded in custody, accused of planting pages of the Koran among burnt pages in the bag of a Christian girl held for blasphemy.

The girl was detained two weeks ago near the capital Islamabad after an angry mob demanded she be punished.

Prosecutors say Imam Khalid Chishti will himself face charges of blasphemy.

The girl, named as Rimsha, is said to be about 14 and to have learning difficulties.

Imam Khalid Chishti allegedly told a witness, after tampering with the girl's bag, that this was a "way of getting rid of Christians", a prosecutor said.

The case has sparked international condemnation.

Earlier this week, a court extended Rimsha's detention at a maximum-security prison by a further two weeks.

Her father has said he fears for his daughter's life and for the safety of his family. He has called on Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to pardon her.

Rimsha's parents have been taken into protective custody following threats, and many other Christian families have fled the neighbourhood.

Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws are often used to settle personal vendettas, correspondents say.

Last year two leading politicians were assassinated after speaking out against the legislation.

'Proven conspiracy' 

Imam Chishti appeared in the Islamabad court with a white blindfold and shackled hands.

There was a large police presence as he was ushered into the building.

"The imam was arrested after his deputy Maulvi Zubair and two others told a magistrate he added pages from the Koran to the burnt pages brought to him by a witness," an investigator Munir Hussain Jaffri said.

He said Mr Zubair and some others had told the imam not to interfere, urging him to "give the evidence to the police as he got it".

According to Mr Jaffri, Imam Chishti had told them: "You know this is the only way to expel the Christians from this area."

The investigator said the cleric had been arrested at his home on Saturday under Pakistan's blasphemy law.

"By putting these pages in the ashes he also committed desecration of the Holy Koran and he is being charged with blasphemy," he said.

The girl's lawyer told AFP news agency that Rimsha "should be acquitted immediately", as it had been "fully proven that it was a conspiracy".

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Pakistan's blasphemy laws have left even judges in fear of their lives

So he's going to swing – perhaps. On Saturday a Pakistani judge sentenced Mumtaz Qadri, the police bodyguard who assassinated the Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, to death by hanging. The young policeman smiled and thanked God. "My dream has come true," he reportedly said.

It was a predictably theatrical turn from Qadri, a former nobody who murdered Taseer in cowardly fashion – shooting the governor 27 times in the back – and who has since revelled in the notoriety of his blood-stained celebrity. Equally predictable, alas, was the reaction on the streets outside.

Close to the courtroom in Rawalpindi, angry young men attacked a monument to the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, defacing her image on the spot where she died in a suicide bombing in 2007. Down in Lahore, turbaned men with long sticks surged through the ancient Anarkali bazaar, thrashing traders who refused to shutter their shops in sympathy for Qadri.

Meanwhile the clerics engineering the protests – old men with soft palms and tinder-dry beards – issued po-faced statements decrying the sentence. Qadri was a good Muslim, they insisted, and Taseer got what he deserved. The governor had offended them by advocating reforms to Pakistan's antiquated blasphemy laws. In particularly they hated him for defending Aasia Bibi, a Christian mother-of-five sentenced to death under those laws last November. He deserved to die, they said.

Taseer's wife and children, in contrast, were silent. They stayed at home, busy worrying about their son and sibling, Shahbaz. The 27-year-old was kidnapped in August as he purred through Lahore in a sports Mercedes – his father's old car, in fact. Word has it he is being held in the tribal badlands of Waziristan; whether his captors are religious extremists, common criminals, or both, remains unclear.

The family is also reeling from character assaults. When Taseer was still alive, conservatives circulated photos of his children, lifted from their Facebook pages, showing them engaged in objectionable activity, such as dating and swimming in a swimming pool. After Taseer died, Qadri's lawyers aired allegations about his sex life, drinking habits and apparent taste for pork – proof, they said, of a licentiousness that justified his cold-blooded murder.

The distasteful spectacle is partly a product of Pakistan's social gulf. The Taseers inhabit the gilded bubble of a tiny elite whose westernised lives play out in Hello!-style photospreads of society magazines. In fact the Taseers own one of the most popular magazines. But it also goes to the heart of a bigger ideological crisis.

In theory, Pakistan is a country that welcomes all creeds and castes. But in practice it is proving to be anything but. Ask Faryal Bhatti, a teenage girl recently expelled from school for the crime of bad spelling.

A week ago last Thursday, the 13-year-old Christian girl was sitting an Urdu exam which involved a poem about the prophet Muhammad when she dropped a dot on the Urdu word naat (a devotional hymn to the prophet), accidentally turning it intolanaat, or damnation. Spotting the error, her teacher scolded her, beat her and reported the matter to the principal. The news soon flamed through her community in Havelian, 30 miles north of Islamabad.

Mullahs raged against Bhatti in their sermons; a school inquiry was hastily convened to examine the matter. Bhatti was expelled; her mother, a government nurse, was banished to another town, and the family has since fled Havelian in fear of their lives. All over a missing dot.

What accounts for such madness? In some parts Taseer's death has inspired a McCarthyite atmosphere in which nobody wants to seen to be soft on blasphemy. But there is also a more profound reason. Devotion to the prophet Muhammad is central to the faith of the Barelvi Sunnis, who make up the majority of Pakistani Muslims. Even a whiff of insult to the prophet can whip up feverish anger.

The core problem, in fact, is that the blasphemy furore exposes the fragility of the Pakistani state – ideological, legal and security-wise. The mixing of religion and politics has long troubled Pakistan, but over the past 30 years that dangerous cocktail has been spiked by the army's policy of nurturing extremists – hence men like Qadri who believe they have a right to kill in the name of God.

Meanwhile President Asif Ali Zardari's government has shown zero leadership when it comes to reforming the blasphemy law – in fact, cowardly ministers have run a mile from any suggestion of change. And those who do dare to stand up for progress – or just the rule of law – live in fear of the next Qadri-style hit.

In truth, Taseer's baby-faced killer is unlikely to be hanged any time soon. A lengthy appeals process is just starting, and the Zardari government has imposed an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment. But the judge who sentenced him, Pervez Ali Shah, faces perhaps shorter odds.

Judges who rule the "wrong" way on blasphemy face immense dangers in Pakistan. In 1997 extremists burst into the chambers of a high court judge who acquitted an accused blasphemer three years earlier, and shot him dead. Justice Shah will be fearing a repeat.

Reporters at Qadri's hearing on Saturday noted that the judge slipped from the courtroom via the back door. He knows he is a marked man. Now only time will tell if the discredited Pakistani state can stand up for at least one good man.

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