Blasphemy in Islam
By Akhtar H. Emon
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Blasphemy should be a subject of intellectual discourse rather than an issue of physical punishment. This concept is very clear in the Qur'an, says a renowned Islamic scholar Wahiduddin Khan.
The Qur'an tells us that since ancient times God has sent prophets in succession to every region and every community. It further informs that the contemporaries of all prophets mostly displayed a negative attitude towards them.
There are more than 200 verses in the Qur'an, which reveal that the contemporaries of the prophets repeatedly perpetrated the same act, which is now called blasphemy or abuse of the Prophet, by way of releasing abusive cartoons or movies about the Prophet.
Through the ages prophets have been mocked and abused, Qur'an (36:30). Some of the abusive phrases cited in the Qur'an for slighting prophets are: a liar (40:24), possessed (15:6), a fabricator (16:101), a foolish man (7:66).
The Qur'an mentions these words of abuse used by the prophet's contemporaries, but nowhere does the Qur'an prescribe punishment of lashes, or death, or any other severe handling or physical penalty.
This clearly shows that the abuse of the Prophet is not a subject of punishment, but rather a subject of peaceful admonishment. That is, one who is guilty of abusing the Prophet should not have corporal punishment meted out to him. He should rather be presented with sound arguments in order to address his issues and criticism. In other words, a peaceful persuasion should be employed.
Those who adopt a negative attitude towards the Prophet will be judged by God. It is not the responsibility of the believers to judge others.
Another important aspect of blasphemy is that at no point in the Qur'an is it stated that anyone who uses abusive language about the Prophet should be stopped from doing so, or if he persists, he should be awarded a punishment.
On the contrary, the Qur'an commands the believer not to use abusive language directed against opponents : "But do not revile those beings whom they invoke instead of God, lest they, in their hostility, revile God out of ignorance" (6:108).
This verse of the Qur'an makes it very clear that it is not the task of the believers to establish a media watch and hunt for anyone involved in acts of degradation of the Prophet and then suggest their punishment.
On the contrary, the Qur'an enjoins believers to refrain from indulging in such acts as may provoke people to retaliate by abusing the Prophet. This injunction of the Qur'an makes it clear that this responsibility is a burden on the believers rather than holding others responsible and demanding that they be punished.
When looked at from this angle, any protests are totally against the teachings of the Qur'an. Any act of abuse of the Prophet, in speech or in writing, should not provoke the faithful to take out processions through the streets. Such demonstrations often turn violent.
In the US, the Bill of Rights provides for the freedom of expression. Not hurting the religious sentiments of others is left to individual discretion. The modern secular concept of freedom is that everyone is free, provided he does not inflict physical harm upon others. So the hue and cry against the so-called abuse of the Prophet simply cannot change the system of the world, unless there is a joint effort in future at the international level.
There is a relevant Saying (Hadith) of Prophet Muhammed: "A good human is one who refrains from indulging in a practice that is not going to yield a positive result". This Hadith applies very aptly to the present situation of dealing with blasphemy all across.
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