Capital Punishment for Blasphemy in These Times!
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
9 May 2023
Read in the
newspapers that Iran hanged two men, Yusuf Mehrad and Sadarollah Fazeli Zare,
for blasphemy!
That Iran
is on a hanging spree, 203 executions in '23, is obvious, but carrying out
executions for blasphemy remains rare.
Just think
over it.
Executions
are being carried out for apostasy in a 'civilised' country- I still have fond
memories of Iran where I spent my childhood- is unthinkable in a modern age.
Those two
executed men were accused of being involved in a channel on the Telegram
message app called, “Critique of Superstition and Religion."
My London
and Europe-based Iranian ex-Muslim friends used to interact with the two men.
Thanks to
my Iranian friends, I also got to read their 'sacrilegious' posts written in
Persian and Dari.
They just
questioned the authenticity of Quran and the character of Muhammad. They
questioned the relevance of circumcision and not eating pork. They also
condemned all bogus faiths, including the gods and goddesses of Hinduism.
Alas, they
were executed for questioning Islam, Muhammad and innumerable superstitions
Islam is riddled with. I'm still unable to reconcile and accept that this has
happened in our times.
One can
understand people getting killed for blasphemy in a lawless country like
Pakistan, but when the State executes individuals for blasphemy, it must be
condemned in no uncertain terms.
First of
all, Islam must be criticised for still perpetuating the idea of blasphemy. It
must be noted that Muhammad himself put to sword many blasphemers and didn't
stop his companions and cohorts from killing blasphemers. So, executing for
blasphemy is an Islamic legacy percolated down from the days of Muhammad to these
times. In fact, killing for blasphemy is Sunnah (Muhammad’s way of living)!
An ex-evangelist turned atheist and the author
of ' Godless', Dan Barker wrote in his exceptionally good book, ' God: The Most
Unpleasant Character in All Fiction ' that “Killing for blasphemy was rampant
among Judaism and Christianity till the end of the 17th century. By 1810, both
the faiths 'officially and judicially' stopped executing people for blasphemy.
But Islam, arguably the most uncouth, intolerant and savage of all religions,
continued to punish and kill the religious and scriptural transgressors."
Islam has
never been tolerant of criticism, in spite of claiming Ijtihad (enquiry). 'You
question at your peril' has been Islam's religio-political decree ever since it
came into existence in the deserts of Arabia.
The
apologists of Islam will try to convince you that it's a religion of peace and
killing is forbidden in their faith. I'm afraid, it's just the opposite.
What a
pity! We're killing innocents and sceptics for questioning the existence of
god, religion and its concomitant superstitions in this age. All these
stone-age faiths must immediately be banned from the face of the earth along
with their platoons of gods and bagful of 'holy' books.
-----
A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul
is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He
has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/capital-punishment-blasphemy/d/129735
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