For Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, blame Zia-ul-Haq. it’s more political than religious

text size:
a-
A+

a Sri Lankan Priyantha Kumara, working in Pakistan, was lynched to death by a mob of hundreds on December 3, 2021. on accusations of blasphemy, or sacred work. After being attacked, he was dragged into the streets and set ablaze, and the lynching was recorded and shared widely on social media.

Such tragic killings end in Pakistan accusations of blasphemy Not just about extra-judicial vigilance. Pakistan has the second strictest blasphemy law in the world after Iran, according to which American Commission on International Religious Freedom,

In December 2019, Junaid Hafeez, a university lecturer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani court for insulting Prophet Muhammad on Facebook.

Hafeez, whose death sentence is less SubmissionMILF is about one 1,500 Pakistanis accused of blasphemy over the past three decades. There has never been any hanging.

but since 1990 70 people have been murdered By mobs and checkpoints on charges of insulting Islam. Several people who defended the accused were also killed, including One of Hafeez’s lawyers And two high level politicians who publicly opposed the death sentence of Asiya Bibi, a Christian woman convicted of verbally insulting the Prophet Muhammad. although the bibi was acquitted in 2019, she fled to Pakistan.

blasphemy and apostasy

Of 71 countries Of those who consider blasphemy to be a crime, 32 are majority Muslims. Punishment and enforcement of these laws To be separated,

Blasphemy is punishable by death in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania And Saudi Arab, In non-Muslim majority cases, Italy has the strictest blasphemy laws, where the maximum punishment is three years in prison.

Half of the world’s 49 Muslim-majority countries have additional laws ban apostasy, which means people can be punishment for leaving islam, All countries with apostasy laws are Muslim-majority except India, Apostasy is frequent accused of blasphemy,

This class of religious laws is quite popular in some Muslim countries. as of 2013 pew surveyNearly 75% of respondents in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia favor making Sharia or Islamic law the official law of the country.

Among those who support Sharia, about 25% in Southeast Asia, 50% in the Middle East and North Africa, and 75% in South Asia say they support “the execution of those who leave Islam” – that is, they are apostasy. Supporting death penalty laws. ,

Ulema and State

my 2019 bookIslam, authoritarianism, and underdevelopmentTraces the root of blasphemy and apostasy laws in the Muslim world to a historical alliance between Islamic scholars and government.

Around the year 1050, some Sunni scholars of law and theology, known as “ulema”, began to work together. political ruler to challenge what they considered sacred influence Muslim philosopher on society.

Muslim philosophers were making major contributions to this for three centuries. mathematics, Physics And Medicine, they developed arabic number system used today throughout the West and invented the forerunner of the modern camera,

The orthodox ulema felt that these philosophers were unduly influenced Greek philosophy And Shia Islam Against Sunni beliefs. Respected Islamic scholars were foremost in strengthening Sunni orthodoxy ghazaliWho died in the year 1111.

in many influential books Still widely read today, Ghazali proclaimed two long-dead prominent Muslim philosophers, Farabi and Ibn Sina, as apostate for his unorthodox views on the power of God and the nature of the resurrection. His followers, Ghazali wrote, may be sentenced to death,

as historians of modern times omid safi And frank griffel Emphasizing, the Declaration of Ghazali provided justification to Muslim sultans from the 12th century onwards, who wanted Afflict – Even that To perform , thinkers Seen as a threat to orthodox religious rule.

This “ulema-state alliance,” as i call it, originated in mid 11th century In Central Asia, Iran And Iraq, and spread a century later Syria, Egypt And North Africa, In these regimes, questioning religious conservatism and political authority was not just protest – it was apostasy.

---

Read also: 100 arrested after Pakistani Islamist party mob lynched Sri Lankan national over ‘blasphemy’

---

wrong direction

parts of Western Europe The Catholics were governed by a similar alliance between the Church and the monarchs. These governments also attacked independent thinking. During the Spanish Inquisition between the 16th and 18th centuries, thousands of people He was tortured and killed for apostasy.

Blasphemy laws were also in force, if rarely used until recently, in various European countries. Denmark, Ireland And Malta All recently repealed their laws.

But they persist in many parts of the Muslim world.

military dictator in pakistan zia-ul-haqi, who ruled the country from 1978 to 1988, is responsible for its harsh blasphemy laws. an associate of ulema, zia updated blasphemy law – Written by British colonialists to avoid inter-religious conflict – specifically to protect Sunni Islam and increase the maximum death penalty.

From the 1920s until the Xia, these laws were enforced only about a dozen times, Since then, they have become a powerful tool to quell dissent.

A few dozen Muslim countries have gone through this phase same process over the past four decades, including Iran And Egypt,

voice of dissent in islam

The orthodox ulema base their case for blasphemy and apostasy laws on certain purported sayings of the Prophet, known as hadith, primarily: “kill anyone who changes his religion,

but many Islamic scholar And Muslim intellectual reject This approach is radical. In form of, They argue that the Prophet Muhammad never Execution none for apostasy, nor encouraged His followers to do so.

Nor is sacrilege being declared a crime on the basis of the Quran, the main holy book of Islam. over it. is included 100 verses To encourage peace, freedom of conscience and religious tolerance.

In Chapter 2, Verse 256, the Qur’an says, “There is no coercion in religion.” Chapter 4, verse 140 urges Muslims to leave only blasphemous conversations: “When you hear God’s verses in disapproval and mockery, do not sit with Him.”

by using your political contacts and historical authority In interpreting Islam, however, orthodox ulema are more marginalised. baritone,

---

Read also: Muslims must reject misinformation spreading violence in the name of blasphemy non-Islamic

---

Reaction to Global Islamophobia

The debate about blasphemy and apostasy laws among Muslims is influenced by international affairs.

Around the world, Muslim minorities – including Palestinians, important clue not found of russia, Kashmir is of India, Rohingya Myanmar and Uighurs of China – has experienced severe persecution. No other religion has been so widely targeted in so many different countries.

Along with harassment there are some western policies laws prohibiting those who discriminate against Muslims, such as scarves in schools,

Like this islamophobic Laws and policies can create the impression that Muslims are under siege and provide one Forgiveness That punishing profanity is the defense of the faith.

Instead, I think, such rigid religious rules may contribute to anti muslim stereotypes, Some of my Turkish relatives also discourage my work on the subject, fearing it promotes Islamophobia.

But my research shows that criminalizing blasphemy and apostasy is more political than it is religious. The Quran doesn’t need to be punished for sacrilege: authoritarian politics does.

Ahmet T. Kurush Portius Professor of Political Science, San Diego State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. read original article Here.

subscribe our channel youtube And Wire