15. A man was sentenced to death in Pakistan for ‘insulting the Prophet Muhammad’ on Facebook. What are your views on this?
It is generally held that Islam prescribes capital punishment for those who commit blasphemy, that is, using abusive language against the Prophet of Islam. But this is quite untrue. According to Islam, blasphemy is simply a misuse of freedom and not at all a cognisable offence; the blasphemer is not liable to incur any legal punishment. This kind of law has no basis in Islamic scriptures.
If someone uses abusive language against the Prophet, Muslims must take it as a case of misunderstanding, and then try to remove this misunderstanding in peaceful ways. They are required to do so by engaging in discussion or by providing the ‘blasphemer’ with Islamic literature that gives the true image of the Prophet of Islam. This notion of killing in the name of blasphemy is itself haram or forbidden.
The basis of such rulings in countries like Pakistan is religious extremism, which is the biggest hurdle Islam faces today. In fact, the reverse of prescribing death punishments has been enjoined on the believers.
As a part of His creation plan, God has granted freedom to people and no one can take away this freedom. While exercising one’s freedom of expression, the only condition should be that one does not resort to violence of any kind.
We find many instances in the life of the Prophet of Islam where he did not punish people for acts which insulted or humiliated him. Once a person approached the Prophet and addressed him as Mudhammam, which means the condemned one, while the Prophet’s real name was Muhammad (the praiseworthy one). According to a tradition narrated by Abu Huraira, at this incident the Prophet said:
Does not it astonish you how God protects me from the Quraysh’s abusing and cursing? They abuse Mudhammam (the condemned one) and curse Mudhammam, while I am Muhammad. (Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith no. 3533)
The Prophet took no action against the person who called him by the derogatory name of Mudhammam, similarly there are verses in the Quran about gatherings where the Makkan people used to abuse the Prophet of Islam. For example:
They say, ‘He is certainly mad.’ (Quran 68:51)
They say, ‘You to whom the Reminder [the Quran] has been sent down, you are surely possessed.’ (Quran 15:6)
The Prophet did not react to such comments and also refrained others also from reacting. Islam provides for complete freedom of expression. This is the spirit that Islam instils in its adherents – to not react in the face of misuse of freedom of expression but to handle it gently and with prudence. As per another tradition, the caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab was once walking on the street one night and accidently stepped over the leg of a homeless man. The man in the dark yelled out, “Are you blind?” Umar simply replied: “I am not blind, I am Umar ibn al-Khattab”, and walked away.
It is important to understand that an insult (or blasphemy) is an imposed allegation; it is not claimed to be an insult by the doer of the action. A person who is accused of blasphemy simply voices his opinion, while it is Muslims who begin to address him as ‘blasphemer’. This is similar to referring someone with nicknames, which is discouraged in Islam:
Do not call each other by [offensive] nicknames. (Quran 49:11)
A person never says he is committing blasphemy (called shatm in Arabic). It is Muslims who impose the allegation of blasphemy on the person, and in doing so they go against the above teaching of the Quran. The correct way should be to attempt to address the mind of the other person by healthy discussion and providing him with books on Islam. The option to kill does not exist.
