Islamic stance on Blasphemy

Release_Me

I want to say a few things with regards to the Islamic stance on Blasphemy. A few years ago, probably 2005 if I'm not mistaken, I engaged in a debate with a few forum members about the punishment for Blasphemy in Islam. This was in response to the cartoons that had appeared in some Danish newspaper which mocked the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and caused a furore throughout the Muslim world. My stance was that Islam calls for the death penalty for people who engage in such acts and it was based on a perfunctory glance at a few verses from our holy scriptures which seemed to suggest that such a punishment was valid. That and the opinion of a few 'scholars' who I gave more credit than they deserved.

Recent events forced me to revisit my stance and upon doing a lot of research and putting a lot of time and effort into it, I have come to the conclusion that Islam does not prescribe ANY punishment for Blasphemy. This matter is between the person who has committed the sin and God Himself. That's quite a turnaround on my part you would think and I wouldn't blame you. I was guilty of the same ignorance and intolerance which is threatening to destroy the very fabric of our society today. The majority of the religious clergy has ulterior and political motives and they cannot be depended upon to present the true picture of Islam. There are very few true scholars out there who are brave enough to voice their opinions in such matters because any opinion which contradicts the popular one is simply not tolerated. Luckily, I happened to run into a couple of such scholars and it made me realise that I cannot form a reasonable opinion about religious matters without referring to the holy books myself. A punishment as severe as death needs to be based on something very solid if it is to be valid.

The one thing I've learned through this is to not blindly trust anyone else to interpret my religion for me, every person has a responsibility to do that himself and that is in fact what Islam teaches us. Even if the opinion of a scholar is to be accepted, it must be scrutinized in the light of the Holy Quran and Hadith and if repugnant to their basic prinicples, it must be rejected.

That's maybe more detail than I needed to give, but I just felt it was my responsibility to undo what I had done. I had presented a very distorted view of what Islam says about Blasphemy and I can imagine it turning a lot of people off. I'm not even sure if any of those people are around anymore, but if they are, I hope they read this. It may not mean much, but I would've at least gone some way to undoing the damage that I did with what I had said previously. As it is, Islam is under threat because of ignorant extremists who are doing their best to present Islam as a religion of intolerance and bigotry when it is the complete opposite. The last thing I want is to be one of them.

Peace be to all.

Release_Me

I'm sharing a link which explains Islam's stance on Blasphemy and Apostasy in the context of the Salman Rushdie episode. It's an excellent read for both Muslims and non-Muslims alike:

http://www.khalidzaheer.com/essays/kzah ... _case.html

satansbed

its not just muslim countries, there is a law against blasphemy in ireland

http://blasphemy.ie/history-of-irish-blasphemy-law/

Release_Me

True. Such laws have been in place for a long time in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries.
My point in making this thread was simply to present the correct Islamic position on Blasphemy. The general perception is that Islam is very intolerant and prescribes severe punishments (read death) for such crimes. The fact is that it doesn't, in spite of what Muslims may say. An important thing to realise is that Islam isn't what Muslims say or do, it's what the Quran and Sunnah reflect.
The more academically inclined would do well to check out the link I posted above, it answers almost all the pertinent questions pretty comprehensively.

fuck

Release_Me wrote:

True. Such laws have been in place for a long time in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries.
My point in making this thread was simply to present the correct Islamic position on Blasphemy. The general perception is that Islam is very intolerant and prescribes severe punishments (read death) for such crimes. The fact is that it doesn't, in spite of what Muslims may say. An important thing to realise is that Islam isn't what Muslims say or do, it's what the Quran and Sunnah reflect.
The more academically inclined would do well to check out the link I posted above, it answers almost all the pertinent questions pretty comprehensively.

who are you? why are you presenting yourself as some savior come to correct the wrong paths that Muslims have crossed into? it's not "in spite of what Muslims may say" , it should read "in spite of what SOME Muslims may say." the overwhelming majority of Muslims would not put someone to death for blasphemy. that is absolutely ridiculous. you're here to try to present a case to make against the radical fringes who, like every other ideology or theology or whatever, take various other issues into account and often have a misguided practice. this should be pretty obvious however, and i'm not saying you don't know that. but from the way you have been presenting it, it is as if perhaps not the majority of Muslims believe that the punishment for something like blasphemy is death, but you're acting as if a good number of Muslims do, which is not the case whatsoever. The overwhelming majority of Muslims support basic democratic principles such as freedom of speech, religion, expression, association, press, etc. The reaction to the cartoons were an accumulation of other problems that have been discussed to death. instead of taking a step backward, we should now be looking forward. there are uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, etc., which may result in democracies springing up across the Muslim world. It will be interesting to see what direction this goes in.

Release_Me

___________ wrote:

Release_Me wrote:

True. Such laws have been in place for a long time in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries.
My point in making this thread was simply to present the correct Islamic position on Blasphemy. The general perception is that Islam is very intolerant and prescribes severe punishments (read death) for such crimes. The fact is that it doesn't, in spite of what Muslims may say. An important thing to realise is that Islam isn't what Muslims say or do, it's what the Quran and Sunnah reflect.
The more academically inclined would do well to check out the link I posted above, it answers almost all the pertinent questions pretty comprehensively.

who are you? why are you presenting yourself as some savior come to correct the wrong paths that Muslims have crossed into? it's not "in spite of what Muslims may say" , it should read "in spite of what SOME Muslims may say." the overwhelming majority of Muslims would not put someone to death for blasphemy. that is absolutely ridiculous. you're here to try to present a case to make against the radical fringes who, like every other ideology or theology or whatever, take various other issues into account and often have a misguided practice. this should be pretty obvious however, and i'm not saying you don't know that. but from the way you have been presenting it, it is as if perhaps not the majority of Muslims believe that the punishment for something like blasphemy is death, but you're acting as if a good number of Muslims do, which is not the case whatsoever. The overwhelming majority of Muslims support basic democratic principles such as freedom of speech, religion, expression, association, press, etc. The reaction to the cartoons were an accumulation of other problems that have been discussed to death. instead of taking a step backward, we should now be looking forward. there are uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, etc., which may result in democracies springing up across the Muslim world. It will be interesting to see what direction this goes in.

I thought using the word 'may' qualified the statement enough for people to interpret it as "muslims may say blasphemy is punishable by death, or they may not". The point is that the ones who make the headlines are the ones who take the first view because that's the sort of thing the media latches on to. I am no saviour, just someone trying to put right what I did some 6 years ago on this very forum. I, like most of my countrymen of some 160 million Muslims, defended the death penalty for Blasphemy based on what I had 'heard' about it's validity rather than any actual proof. I apologize if I came off as anything else!

As a sidenote, I don't know what's the percentage of Muslims who support the death penalty for Blasphemy, but I have to say that at least in my country, where religious opinion is formed through blind following of the clergy rather than any individual scrutiny, it's fairly high. Recently, our governor was killed by his own security guard because he had called the Blasphemy Law of Pakistan a 'black law'. The guard felt it was his religious duty to execute the governor since what he had said was tantamount to Blasphemy itself. The shocking thing is that there were people praising him after the event and showering him with rose petals. Lawyers were queueing up to fight his case for free. It just boggles the mind.

Jason P

Pakistani man accuses ambassador to U.S. of blasphemy

MULTAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani police registered an accusation from a businessman on Thursday that the country's ambassador to the United States had committed blasphemy, a crime that carries the death penalty, in connection with a 2010 TV talk show.

The accusation against Ambassador Sherry Rehman is the latest in a string of controversial blasphemy cases in Pakistan, a largely Muslim nation whose name translates as Land of the Pure.

According to Pakistan's blasphemy laws, anyone found to have uttered words derogatory to the Prophet Muhammad can be put to death. Those who are accused are sometimes lynched by mobs even before they reach court.

Rehman has already faced death threats from militants after calling for reforms to the country's anti-blasphemy law, according to court documents. Two politicians who suggested reforming the law were assassinated.

The case against Rehman was brought by businessman Muhammad Faheem Gill, 31, who said that the comments Rehman made about the law on the Pakistani talk show in 2010 were blasphemous.

"I've been trying to get this case registered for the last three years, ever since I saw that TV show," Gill told Reuters. "I've even gone to the highest court. I'm glad that action will finally be taken now."

Gill went to the Supreme Court with his complaint after police refused to register it. The court ordered police in the central Pakistani city of Multan to investigate.

Blasphemy accusations are on the rise, according to a report released by the Islamabad-based think tank, Center for Security Studies. At least 52 people accused of blasphemy have been killed since 1990.

The charge is difficult to defend since blasphemy is not defined and courts often hesitate to hear evidence, fearful that reproducing it will also be blasphemy.

....

http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-accuses-ambassador-u-blasphemy-124213305.html

:fp: :fp: :fp:

badbrains

52 people since 1990, huh, that makes what, 2 1/2 people a year. Shit, and you would think it would be some crazy number. You got more problems in your own country to worry about then blasphemy killings. :roll: