The punishment of blasphemy, if any, cannot be executed by an individual or a group on their own, outside the nation of Muslims. It does not serve any purpose of Muslims but only makes things difficult for them in the present global situation. There are only some half a dozen cases from the entire Seerah literature where the Prophet (sws) seems to have executed a punishment on those who slandered him. The cases where he pardoned those who insulted him vastly outnumber the cases where the punishment was given. Even the punishment cases when analyzed do not appear to be solely about blasphemy, as the culprits in those cases were guilty of some other crimes also, making it debatable whether they were punished merely for blasphemy. The case of Kab bin Ashraf is an example where Kab seems to have been killed for hatching conspiracies to harm Muslims and even to kill the Prophet. It was not merely a case of composing some blasphemous poetry. For rest of the cases where punishment was executed, the Divine Law of Itmaam al-Hujjah was in the background, where God inflicts punishment on those who reject the call of a Messenger after the message was made clear to them by all means and persisted in their denial and obstinate opposition. This does not apply to people when the Messenger is no longer present. The dominant strategy in the Islamic literature, seems to be ignoring (Iraadh) and pardoning (afw) those who insult the sacred figures rather than punishing, which again has to be done through a proper judicial process and not how it was done in Paris. Following case from the Madinan period also illustrates the pardoning attitude of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the face of blasphemous remarks. Narrated Ibn Abi Mulaika: Aisha said, The Jews came to the Prophet and said to him, As-Samu Alaika (i.e., Death be upon you). He replied, The same on you. Aisha said to them, Death be upon you, and may Allah curse you and shower His wrath upon you! Allahs Apostle said, Be gentle and calm, O Aisha! Be gentle and beware of being harsh and of saying evil things. She said, Didnt you hear what they said? He said, Didnt you hear what I replied (to them)? I have returned their statement to them, and my invocation against them will be accepted but theirs against me will not be accepted. [Bukhari Kitab ad-Dawaat Hadith 6401] P.S. Blasphemy against a sacred figure in Islam, if punishable, does not call for a fixed punishment of death. Imprisonment and even levying some hefty fine can be legislated, just like various countries have laws against the dishonour done to national symbols and flags. Islamic sources do not categorically mention any fixed punishment for blasphemy. Comments are welcome.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 16:02:22 +0000
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