South Asian Muslims Lose Their Heads Over Anti-Blasphemy Beliefs: Does Islam Permit Them To Take Law Into Their Hands Over Actual Or Imaginary Acts Of Blasphemy?
By
Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi, New Age Islam
26 March
2024
Blasphemy
Law Misuse Should Be Addressed Globally With a Unified Solution to Prevent
Injustice
Main
Points:
1. In March
2022, three seminary students killed a madrassa teacher in Anjumabad, Pakistan,
after a relative had a dream that the teacher committed blasphemy.
2. The slogan
"Gustakh-e-Nabi Ki Aik Saza Sar Tan Se Juda" is often used in
religious gatherings and programs against blasphemy cases.
3. The question
remains: who bears the leading responsibility for the misuse of blasphemy?
4. Blasphemy is
a serious issue, causing riots and damaging social or national atmospheres.
5. Islam
forbids Muslims from inciting anyone’s religious sentiment or abusing anyone’s
religion, as it aims to prevent disorder and corruption.
6. The misuse
of blasphemy law has resulted in numerous lives being destroyed, with incidents
like the murder of Madrasa teacher Safoora Bibi leading to severe sentences.
7. The issue of
blasphemy law misuse should be addressed globally, with a unified solution to
prevent similar occurrences.
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The
blasphemy law is regularly abused and weaponized in Pakistan. However, an
unexpected incident that stunned both religious and non-religious societies
surfaced in March 2022. Three female seminary students slashed the throat of
their madrassa teacher in the Anjumabad neighbourhood of Dera Ismail Khan.
Having investigated the incident, District Police Officer Dera Ismail Khan
stated that the preliminary examination of these women revealed that one of
their relatives had dreamed that the deceased had committed blasphemy, and that
is why they killed her. After the case dragged on for almost two years, the
local court convicted the three seminary students guilty of killing Safoora
Bibi by falsely accusing her of blasphemy. A few days ago, the court sentenced
two of them to death and gave the third life imprisonment.
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Also Read: Blasphemy, Islam and
Free Speech
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The
legislation of blasphemy in Pakistan has been controversial ever since General
Zia-ul-Haq's administration proposed constitutional revisions. In a number of
documented incidents, blasphemy has been falsely alleged but not proven;
instead, lawbreakers have taken control of the situation and killed the accused
with brutality.
Blasphemy
allegations are frequently made for a variety of reasons, including religious
intolerance, personal disputes, and sectarian disagreements.
According
to news reports, the frequency of cases involving accusations of blasphemy has
reportedly skyrocketed since Sections 295-B and 295-C were added to Pakistan's
blasphemy legislation in 1987. In Pakistan, 1,534 people were accused of
blasphemy between 1987 and 2017, of whom 829, or 54%, were against members of
religious minorities. Although Christians account for only 1.6% of Pakistan's
total population, 238 charges—or 15.5%—were lodged against them.
Apart from
members of minority religions, several religious individuals and clerics have
also been killed on the pretext of blasphemy. At a PTI rally in Mardan, Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, Maulana Nigar Alam, 40, was beaten to death by
angry attendees who accused him of blasphemy. Maulana Nigar Alam was slain
because, according to reports, many people believed his statements to be
blasphemous and took offence at some phrases he had used in his prayer.
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Also Read: Udaipur Beheading:
Educated Muslims Say Not In My Name
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Murder Of
A Madrasa Teacher On Charges Of Blasphemy
Safoora
Bibi, a 19-year-old madrasa teacher, was killed on March 29, 2022, in the
Anjumabad neighbourhood of Dera Ismail Khan, next to Jamia Islamia Falah
al-Banaat Madrasa, on suspicion of blasphemy. Following the event, the police
apprehended Razia Hanfi, Ayesha Naumani, and Umra Aman, and they filed a
complaint based on the information the villagers had given.
The victim
allegedly died instantly when the assailant women slashed her throat with a
sharp knife. After learning of the traumatic event, the deceased's uncle raced
to the madrasa, where he discovered his niece dead and lying in a pool of blood
next to the gate. Her throat had been slashed. According to the complaint, he
learned that when his niece arrived at the seminary in a rickshaw, as was
customary, some ladies were there waiting in the seminary uniform to attack her
and sever her throat with a sharp object.
Two of the
women who were involved in the murder are sisters, while the third lady is a
cousin, according to the police. One of the ladies informed the police that her
young niece had been instructed to "kill that Madrasa teacher" in a
dream.
A
representative of Jamia Islamia Falah Al-Banaat named Shafiullah told the media
after the Madrasa teacher was killed that one of the female assailants had
previously charged his Madrasa with blasphemy, accusing the teachers of having
taught the wrong lesson. However, he did note that this woman had also later
expressed regret for it. Shafiullah continued, saying that Safoora Bibi had
been teaching in our madrasa for the past two years. She was a well-mannered
and nice young lady. She never made any blasphemous remarks regarding the
Islamic prophet.
The
Pakistani court has legally punished the attacking women in an attempt to teach
other residents a lesson from this occurrence, but there is also room for
reflection. How absurd is it that someone was told to kill someone for
blasphemy in a dream? In Pakistan, the misuse of blasphemy is not a recent
issue; rather, it has become the standard. The attackers feed their egos by
accusing their "enemies" of blasphemy and then murdering them,
sometimes out of personal hatred, sometimes out of communal bias, and sometimes
out of religious conviction.
In 2020,
Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi, the Prime Minister of Pakistan's Special Envoy for
Religious Harmony in the Middle East, acknowledged that forced religious
conversion and the abuse of religious legislation are real issues in the
nation. Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi said in a special interview with Voice of America
in Islamabad, “The government is preparing a report based on recent instances
of crimes perpetrated in the name of religion, such as forced religious
conversion and blasphemy legislation. Incidents involving religious and
sectarian divisions, including the harassment and abuse of non-Muslims, are
being investigated.”
During the
interview, he asserted that the government's actions had significantly reduced
the abuse of the blasphemy law and decreased the number of fraudulent cases
filed under Section 295C. However, organisations that defend religious freedom
and human rights claim that there has been an increase in cases of discrimination
and targeting of non-Muslims in Pakistan due to their beliefs.
Why
precisely is Pakistan unable to stop the misuse of blasphemy? For this failure,
who bears the leading responsibility? From an Islamic perspective, cases
involving false charges of blasphemy are strongly prohibited by Islam. The
question then becomes, "What is the reason when Islam does not justify
it?" Is ignorance the cause of all of this? It is clear that ignorance is
widespread in Pakistan, and an analysis of the majority of cases reveals that
some individuals consider their ignorance to be “a form of religion." Have
they considered their own desires and opinions to be Islamic? Indeed, that
seems to be the case.
If
ignorance is the issue, what steps are being taken to eradicate it? The slogan
"Gustakh-e-Nabi Ki Aik Saza Sar Tan Se Juda [Translation: “One
punishment for insolent of Prophet, head separate from body, head separate from
body”]” is frequently used in religious gatherings and programmes held in
protest against blasphemy cases, as observed on social media. According to the
traditional books on Islamic law, blasphemy against any of the Prophets carries
a death sentence. These writings clearly state that the ruler, Khalifa, Haakim,
and the Court are the only authorities who have the right to punish convicts
for any offense. There are speeches made denouncing blasphemy. However, why
does the improper use of blasphemy law not receive the same strong
condemnation?
It is
questioned why Pakistani Ulama do not react in the same manner when the
blasphemy law is used improperly as they do when someone is accused of
blasphemy, even if it is unclear whether they truly committed the blasphemy.
Why is it not emphasised that the court is the only authority to punish someone
for any crime?
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Of course,
I have heard certain scholars and Ulama declare on social media that the court
alone has the power to impose punishment. Since accusations of blasphemy are
widely made in Pakistan, the Pakistani Ulama and influential scholars should,
on a large scale, inform the public in speeches and writings about this
situation. They should clarify that the false charges of blasphemy are entirely
against Islam and the law of the land, and that the court has the only
authority to convict or acquit, punish, or release the accused.
Not every
common Muslim has the right to assume the role of a judge, decide which words
or statements constitute blasphemy, or use the legal system to destroy the
situation of any country.
One other
facet of a major issue that Muslims face, one that is global in scope, is that
not all of them follow religious precepts when they are taught about them.
Islam, for instance, requires Muslims to offer the Namaz, or prayer; however,
the majority of Muslims do not. In the same way, they disregard religious acts
in other contexts. From this, one might infer something about the common
behaviour of the Muslim population. Some Muslims are extremely uneducated,
while others are not practical Muslims, even with an awareness of Islamic
guidelines.
The
discussion above focused specifically on Pakistan. While Indian law does not
specifically call for the death sentence for blasphemy, it does forbid
insulting any religion or any authority figure. Despite the fact that blasphemy
is not punishable by death in India, two Muslim youths brutally killed
Kanhaiyalal, a Hindu tailor, in Udaipur, Rajasthan, in 2022, on the pretext
that he had committed blasphemy. They subsequently shared a video of the act on
social media. The Muslim community in India strongly condemned this painful
incident and demanded that those responsible for breaking the law be held
accountable. In Bangladesh, such incidents have also happened on a regular
basis.
There is no
doubt that blasphemy is a serious problem. Whether directed at a religion, holy
book, nation, country, or leader, blasphemous remarks, harsh language, or
insolence are undoubtedly undesirable. Rioting is a possibility as a result.
Because of this, it is forbidden in the Islamic holy book, the Holy Qur'an, to
disparage the faith of non-Muslims. The
reason for this is that religious individuals have deep emotional ties to their
religion and religious personalities.
It is a
matter of faith, and insulting someone's faith or religion might damage any
social or national atmosphere. For this reason, it is said that certain
political figures try to dampen the religious feelings of a certain group in
order to gain support from other groups. They are aware that inciting religious
feelings is simple.
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Islam
strictly prohibits Muslims from engaging in inciting anyone’s religious
sentiment or abusing anyone’s religion. The holy Quran clearly says:
“And insult not those whom they (disbelievers)
worship besides Allah, lest they insult Allah wrongfully without knowledge” (6:108)...
The prohibition
of insulting other religions aims to prevent bad possible consequences in the
form of disorder and corruption in the land, as these deeply associated beliefs
are deeply associated with their followers. Islam forbids Muslims from engaging
in such behaviour. This suggests that uttering slanderous words or committing
acts of blasphemy are actually detrimental. But since the charges of blasphemy
have the potential to start riots, endanger national security, or cause the
death of any innocent person, Islam fiercely rejects them. This is a type of Fasad,
and Fasad in general is forbidden in Islam.
You can
view the reports of the number of lives destroyed as a result of the blasphemy
law being misused. In the instance of Madrasa teacher Safoora Bibi, who was
killed on the charges of blasphemy, the court sentenced two women to death and
one to life in jail. We should all take this episode as a lesson and work to
create a plan of action that can totally prevent similar occurrences in the
future. Muslims should think about this problem and come up with a unified
solution, no matter where they may be in the world. This is important because
incidents like these have the potential to spread contempt, undermine religious
confidence, and give Islamophobic minds a great chance to start holding the
religion directly responsible for these kinds of things. The reality is that
Islam strongly forbids lying, fraud, deception, and making false accusations.
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A regular Columnist with NewAgeIslam.com, Ghulam
Ghaus Siddiqi Dehlvi is a Classical Islamic scholar with a Sufi background and
English-Arabic-Urdu Translator.
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism