From Pakistan To Nigeria Mob Violence To Protect The Honour Of The Prophet Defames Islam
By
New Age Islam Staff Writer
23 March
2024
Two
Female Madrasa Students Sentenced To Death And The Third To Life Imprisonment
For Killing Their Teacher For Blasphemy In Pakistan.
Main
Points:
1. The three
students studied in Jamia Islamia Falahul Binat in Dera Ismail Khan of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan.
2. The madrasa
teacher Safoora Bibi was accused of insulting the prophet.
3. Blasphemy
killings have become rampant in Pakistan.
4. Nigeria and
Bangladesh are also the countries where blasphemy killings are common.
5. Extremist
clerics in these countries are responsible for mob violence over the
accusations of blasphemy.
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Photo: The Dawn, Pakistan
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A district
court in Pakistan has sentenced two female madrasa students to death and the
third to life imprisonment for the murder of their female madrasa teacher
Safoora Bibi, 18, for allegedly committing blasphemy against the holy prophet
in March 2022. The convicts are Razia Hanfi, Ayesha Naumani and Umra Aman.
Reportedly, a minor girl among their relatives was told in her dream that the
teacher had committed blasphemy against the prophet and that if they killed
her, they would be rewarded with Paradise. Upon being told about the dream the
three decided to kill Safoora Bibi for winning God's blessings.
The
sentence has brought to focus the rampant killings of Muslims by Muslims in the
name of protecting the honour of the prophet or of the Quran or of Islam in
Pakistan. According to Human Rights Watch, at least 65 people have been killed
in Pakistan since 1990 for alleged blasphemy. Most of the victims are Muslims.
In February
this year, a woman was surrounded by an illiterate mob in Ichhra market in
Lahore for wearing a shirt with the word Halwa in Arabic calligraphy printed on
it. The mob accused her of blasphemy against the Quran and were bent on
lynching her. Fortunately, a brave lady police officer saved her.
This
violent approach to blasphemy is only the result of an intolerant and extremist
view on blasphemy by the prominent clerics of Pakistan and other Islamic
countries. There have been dozens of cases of lynching of blasphemy accused in
Pakistan. Some of the accused were mentally deranged while some were Hafiz-e-Quran
and Aalim-e-Deen. The Quran says that the blasphemy accused should be
dealt with restraint. The Quran does not prescribe any punishment for blasphemy
though it foresees that the People of the Book and the Polytheists would use
hurtful words directed towards Muslims. The Quran says:
"...and you will certainly hear many
hurtful words from those who were given the Scripture before you and from the
polytheists. But if you are patient and mindful of Allah, surely this is a
resolve to aspire for."(Al-e-Imran:186)
Hurtful
words may include blasphemous remarks about the prophet, the Quran and Islam.
The Quran asks Muslims to observe restraint in face of blasphemy by the
followers of other religions. The Quran does not anticipate Muslims to commit blasphemy
against the prophet, the Quran or other sacred and respected figures of Islam.
No Muslim was punished to death for blasphemy or showing insult or disrespect
to the prophet pbuh. There is one example of showing disrespect to the prophet
pbuh by a Muslim but the prophet did not order any punishment for him. After
one of the battles, the holy prophet pbuh was distributing the spoils of the
war among the warriors. One of the Muslims accused the prophet of distributing
the spoils of the war unjustly. The prophet pbuh became angry and said, 'If I
do not do justice then who will?" Hadhrat Umar took out his sword and said
to the prophet pbuh, "O prophet of Allah, if you permit me, I will severe
his head.' The prophet pbuh replied, "Leave him as he has his companions,"
He suggested that killing him would create differences among Muslims.
Therefore,
insult to the prophet pbuh by a Muslim is out of the question and even if
someone makes a remark that can be interpreted as an act of blasphemy, Islam
asks Muslims to ignore it. In Pakistan, comprehensive books have been written
to prove that even Muslims can be killed for blasphemy and the verses of the
Quran have been presented in support of this theory. These books have provided
the argument in favour of mob lynching of the accused of blasphemy.
Today,
blasphemy has been made a crime punishable by death thanks to extremist
interpretations of the Quran by some prominent Islamic scholars of the Arab and
the Indian sub-continent. Since blasphemy has not been made punishable by the
Quran under 'hurtful words', the clerics have applied the verses that prescribe
death punishment for causing 'Fasad'(mischief) on earth to cases of
blasphemy. In Iran, blasphemy is made a punishable crime under 'Fasad Fil Arz'
and criticism of the religious leaders or the government or criticism of
misinterpretation of Quranic verses comes under blasphemy. A number of
blasphemy cases have appeared in Iran in the last two decades. However, in Iran
there is no history of mob violence or lynching as a punishment for blasphemy.
In Iran, the blasphemy laws are used against those who criticise theocracy. In
May 2023, two men were hanged in Iran for alleged blasphemy. In 2014, a
psychologist Mohsin Amir Aslani was hanged for blasphemy.
In Afghanistan
too, blasphemy is a crime that can invite death and blasphemy can include even
translating the Quran without the permission of the clergy .In November 2007,
Ghaus Zalmay was charged with blasphemy for translating the Quran into Dari
language without authorisation from the Afghan clergy. He was sentenced to 20
years of imprisonment.
A
journalist Pervez Kambaksh was sentenced to death for writing on the
mistreatment of women in Islamic society. Later his punishment was reduced to
20 years of imprisonment. However, during the tenure of President Hamid Karzai,
he was granted amnesty and he chose to leave Afghanistan.
The brutal
mob lynching and burning of a 27 year old girl Farkhundah Malikzadeh in Kabul
in March 2015 sent shock waves around the world. A mob of unruly men beat her
to death, tore her clothes and burnt down her dead body for allegedly burning
the Quran. In fact she had launched a campaign against the peddlers about their
practice of selling charms to women as remedy for their diseases. Some one
spread the rumour that she had burned the Quran. Since Afghans share their
borders and religious ideology with Pakistan, they have the same approach to
blasphemy as Pakistanis.
Nigeria is
another country where Muslims commit lynching of Muslims and Christians for
alleged blasphemy. There have been a number of riots due to reports of
blasphemy.
In 1999, a
mob beheaded a Muslim man named Abdullah Umaru for allegedly insulting the
prophet. In March 2007, a Christian lady teacher was beaten to death for touching
a bag that contained a copy of the Quran. The Muslims believed that by touching
the bag, she defiled or desecrated the Quran. In April 2008, a mob beat a
Muslim man to death in Kano state of Nigeria for allegedly insulting the
prophet. Even a 13 year old boy named Umar Farouque was sentenced to 10 years
of imprisonment for blasphemy. Another youth Yahya Sharif was sentenced to
death for circulating a song on WhatsApp allegedly defaming the prophet in
2020.
Bangladesh
is also one of the countries where the definition of blasphemy is quite broad
and a number of men both Hindu and Muslim have been lynched during the last two
decades. The reason for this is that the Muslims of Bangladesh follow the same
clerics of the Arab and the Indian sub-continent.
However,
the Muslims of Indonesia and Malaysia do not follow a violent definition of
blasphemy though the use of blasphemy is catching up with the politicians of
Indonesia and Malaysia. They use the issues of alleged blasphemy for political
purposes. In Saudi Arabia too, blasphemy is a tool to repress dissent. There is
no history of mob lynching for blasphemy there as is rampant in Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Nigeria. A couple of killing for blasphemy have also occurred in
India.
The
killings for blasphemy occur because of the misinterpretation of the Quranic
verses. To the Muslims of these countries, even touching the Quran by a
Christian, translating the Quran into another language without the permission
of the clergy, criticising the religious leadership and the government,
criticising the mistreatment of women etc. comes under blasphemy.
Therefore,
the violence and bloodshed in the name of protecting the honour of the prophet
and of Islam, the exegetes, preachers and extremist scholars of Islam are
responsible. This trend of violence in the name of blasphemy cannot be curbed
unless the mob violence of any kind is declared against Sharia and brought
under 'Fasad Fil Arz' and the need for the laws dealing with blasphemy
are reviewed in the light of the Quran.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-sectarianism/pakistan-nigeria-mob-violence-honour-prophet/d/131981
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