A mere query on religious issues, a social media post or a simple human error is enough to get the hapless individuals arrested and incarcerated. Questioning religious beliefs, an act that had been encouraged by the Prophet (sws) himself is equated with apostasy. No one dare debate or critique practices deemed to be religious in nature. Public responses vary from verbal and/or physical abuse to death. When innocent people are killed, bigoted religious fanatics rejoice over what they term “the victory of Islam”. Little do they realise that they are committing the worst of sins: murder, as well as blasphemy itself.
Islam in the Muslim world is being practiced against the Islamic codes of fairness and justice, tolerance and mercy.
There is much here to be learned about the state of true religious understanding in society, as well as among law makers and the judicial system.
There is no verse in the Quran that denounces blasphemy or apostasy as a punishable crime. In fact, it is an act which God has taken under His own jurisdiction. On the other hand, Islam condemns in the strictest terms the spreading of chaos and violence: fasad-fil-ardh. In religion, and especially in matters related to life and death, God and His Prophet (sws) have instructed us to think and to be just and fair, erring on the side of mercy. Those who interpret death as a punishment in case of blasphemy (or apostasy, for that matter), using verse 5:33-34 as a basis, not only might be in error of using a wrong verse, but also of wrong interpretation. The verse that talks of ‘those who fight against God and His Prophet or create disorder in territory’ was meant only for those people who had continued to reject the message of the Prophet (sws) while he was alive, and who had either persisted in defiance and continued to create chaos, refusing to repent or had not denied or explained their reasons or misunderstanding. The punishment was not obligatory, but required leniency to be shown, depending on the state of the offence and the offender. During the life of the Prophet (sws), many people had teased and abused him. He ignored them, and asked his companions to do the same. In verses 2:104, 5:57-58 and 63:7-8, the Qur’an mentions how the Quraish continued to abuse the Prophet (sws) who instructed believers to keep calm and not return the insults. Indeed, the actions of the Prophet (sws) show repeatedly that he had forgiven the worst of his enemies and that his followers chose to keep quiet and move away from the place rather than answer in kind.
Those who commit rape and other serious sexual crimes, and armed robberies, on the other hand, are guilty of creating chaos on earth. State organs such as the police, the judiciary, and state laws are quick to arrest and punish alleged blasphemers but fail to apprehend those who, by their very behaviour, inflict pain and oppression on the public. Almost daily, children and women are raped, sodomised and killed, yet no voice is raised from religious parties, leaders and the imams of mosques. Rape arrests are rare, convictions are rarer. Would this not be blasphemy on a collective scale? People go on a rampage to kill, cause havoc to public life and destroy property, shouting slogans claiming love for the Prophet (sws). This is the ultimate blasphemy, as their behaviour is opposite to what the Prophet (sws) had advised.
It is highly ironic that people claiming to be Muslims bomb mosques, hospitals and schools in the name of religion, but the “lovers” of the Prophet (sws) do not find this a crime against his teachings. It is quite true that many in the West use their right to freedom of speech to ridicule Islam and the Prophet (sws). Muslims are justified in their anger and concern at the rising Islamophobia, but the solution is certainly not to kill and create further mayhem.
Blasphemy laws and their implementation in the current form are against the Shariah of God and the Prophet (sws) and serve not only to alienate several Muslims from Islam on the one hand, and strengthen the hands of fanaticism on the other, they make Muslim countries the target of international scorn and cynicism. Even worse, they might be the cause of God’s wrath on a community misled by the so-called ulema. Islam in the Muslim world is being practiced against the Islamic codes of fairness and justice, tolerance and mercy. This religion had come to free human kind from bondage, not to restrict it through oppression in the guise of religious fervour.
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