Ex-Muslim Mobarak Bala Of Nigeria Gets 24 Years In Jail For Blasphemy Despite His Apology
He Had
Called The Prophet Of Islam A Terrorist
Main
Points:
1. Ex- Muslim Mobarak Bala
is now an atheist.
2. He had
renounced Islam in 2014 after the killing of a Christian woman.
3. He had been
admitted to a psychiatric hospital before his blasphemous remark.
4. He was an
advocate of freedom of religion.
5. He
criticised Islamist extremism in Nigeria and had antagonised the clerics.
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By
New Age Islam Staff Writer
7 April
2022
Mubarak Bala / FACEBOOK
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Mobarak
Bala, a 29 year old atheist of the Muslim majority state of Kano in Nigeria was
sentenced to 24 years in jail by the high court. He was accused of blasphemy
against Islam and the prophet of Islam and had been arrested in 2014.
Mobarak
Bala is the President of Humanist Association of Nigeria and has advocated
freedom of religion. He regularly criticised Islamist extremism in his country
where Al Shabab and Al Qaida are active which perpetrate violence against the
Christians regularly.
Mobarak was
born in a religious Muslim family but had renounced Islam in 2014 after
watching the video of the beheading of a Christian woman by some boys of his
age in 2013. Sinc then he had become a die hard critic of extremist ideology of
Islam. He would often post blasphemous remarks against Islam on the facebook.
He had also antagonised the cleric who preached extremist ideas.
After he
had renounced Islam in 2014, his family thought he had gone mad and so they had
forcibly got him admitted to a psychiatric hospital from where he was
discharged after 18 days.
In 2020,
Mobarak Bala posted a blasphemous remark against the prophet of Islam calling
him a terrorist.Subsequently, a group of lawyers filed a case against him and
he was arrested.
But later
Mobarak repented and told the court that the intention of the posts was not to
cause violence but he had realised that they were capable of causing violence.
He had promised to be mindful in future.
He also
pleaded guilty to all 18 charges in the hope that this will win him leniency
but the court was not moved by his apology. He was sentenced to 24 years in
prison.
Mobarak
Bala is one of those Muslims who have turned apostates due to the violence and
persecution against non-Muslims by the extremist Muslims who subscribe to the
intolerant ideology of Al Qaida, al Shabab and other terrorist outfits. Many
ulema and even politicians of Nigeria glorify the terrorist outfits as the flag
bearers of Islam. These terrorist outfits regularly kill Christians and
sufi-minded Muslims and burn houses of minorities and Christians.
Blasphemy
is one of the reason for the violence and persecution. For example, in 2007, a
group of Muslims beat a Christian woman to death only because she had touched a
bag containing a copy of the Quran.
In 2007
again, the Muslims killed nine Christians and burnt some churches because some
Christian students had shown disrespect to the prophet of Islam.
Though
Mobarak pleaded guilty to the court and pleaded for mercy and leniency, he was
neither forgiven nor shown leniency. He was sentenced with 24 years
imprisonment.
The
international human rights agencies have criticised the judgment. Even from
Islamic standards, the accused should have been forgiven. Firstly, because he
had been treated for mental abnormality and secondly, he had pleaded for mercy
and had promised not to commit blasphemy again.
Thirdly, he
had renounced Islam because of the misdeeds of his religious brethren who had
killed innocent Christians on the charges of blasphemy and the clergy had
justified their actions. The Quran says that the polytheists of Makka would
commit blasphemy against the holy prophet pbuh by calling him 'Majnoon',
'possessed', 'sorcerer' and 'poet' but still God asked him and the Muslims to
ignore it and observe self restraint.(Al An'am:186). The Quran though warns
those committing blasphemy against the prophet pbuh of the gravest punishment
in the Hereafter, it asks Muslims to forgive them in the world. The Quran does
not prescribe any punishment either for blasphemy or for apostasy. The holy
prophet pbuh aso forgave those who asked for forgiveness after committing
slander against hm.
The case of
Mobarak Bala ia another reminder of the fact that blasphemy is a major cause of
Islamophobia in the world. Even touching of a bag containing the Quran by a
Christian is considered blasphemy in Nigeria. In Pakistan, if even a Muslim
(hafiz) drops the Quran by mistake on the oven, he is killed for blasphemy. In
Afghanistan, a Muslim girl was killed by a Muslim mob because she burnt the
book of talisman containing Quranic words.
There are
numerous incidents of blasphemy killings in the Muslim world.
Mobarak
Bala's case was heard by a common court and not by a Sharia court. If his case
had been heard by a Sharia court, he would have got death sentence. There are a
dozen Muslim majority states including Kano in Nigeria where Sharia courts
parallel to the common courts exist. Though his case was heard by a common
court, it pronounced a harsh judgment probably under the influence of the
cleric.
Mobarak
Bala's case is a grim reminder of the extremism and intolerance that prevails
in Nigeria and other African countries.
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