Muslims have no right to punish, much less kill, anyone for blasphemy. I can agree that freedom of speech protects satire. While condemning the extremists who committed the horrible attack, Muslims simply seek some decency from those advocating free speech.
Source/Credit: The Morning Call
By Ahmad Chaudhry | January 27, 2015
The tragic attacks on Charlie Hebdo have once again focused light on a dark and difficult issue for many Muslims. The issue is blasphemy. Charli Hebdo's insulting cartoons of Prophet Muhammad represent to Muslims a clear example of blasphemy. To some extremists, it rose to the level of offense that mandated death.
Though Islam forbids any worldly punishment for blasphemy, let alone death, too many Muslim-majority countries have clear blasphemy laws contradicting this view. For example, Pakistan, a country of 200 million Muslims, defines one form of blasphemy in its criminal code as the "use of derogatory remarks, spoken, written, directly or indirectly, etc. [that] defiles the name of Muhammad." This offense carries "mandatory death and fine."
In Iran, Ayotollah Khomeni called for the killing of Salman Rushdie for his book, "The Satanic Verses." Khomeni's fatwa gained worldwide prominence in 1989. In 2009, an Iranian songwriter, Mohsen Namjoo, was sentenced in absentia to a five-year jail term for apparently insulting the Quran with his lyrics.
The list of Muslim-majority countries that enforce blasphemy laws is a staggering 70 percent. These nations include Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iraq, Malaysia and the most populous Muslim country, Indonesia.
If Muslims want to truly change the perception of Islam, they need to forcefully reject blasphemy laws. As mentioned, the primary source of all Islamic teachings, the Quran, gives no worldly punishment for blasphemy. The Quran 4:141 declares "when you hear the Signs of God being denied and mocked at, sit not with them until they engage in a talk other than that." Far from killing the blasphemer, Muslims are urged to simply walk away.
In fact, the Quran speaks repeatedly of the public ridicule that Prophet Muhammad faced on account of his faith and mission. His opponents called him a "madman" (15:7), stated "there is madness in him" (23:71), and called him "a fabricator" (16:102). But never once does the Quran permit Muhammad or his followers to harm, let alone kill, for this blasphemy. Instead, the punishment for blasphemy is spiritual and left exclusively to God, not to man.
Muslims have no right to punish, much less kill, anyone for blasphemy. I can agree that freedom of speech protects satire. While condemning the extremists who committed the horrible attack, Muslims simply seek some decency from those advocating free speech. In fact, it was with such decency and respect for others that a Muslim police officer — Ahmed Merabet — gave his life in Paris while protecting those in Charlie Hebdo's offices.
Offensive speech is a right. It is not, however, a duty. Knowingly publishing speech that more than 1.5 billion Muslims will find offensive is nothing more than immaturity and childishness. Too many in the conservative camp jump on the bandwagon of free speech, forgetting the self-imposed limitations they have when it comes to other forms of offensive speech. When did publishing the N-word for blacks, derogatory words for gays and anti-Semitic remarks become a rallying cry for free speech advocates? Because such speech is what Charlie Hebdo prides itself on.
Muslim leaders would do Islam and the world a favor by rejecting all blasphemy laws. Likewise, free speech advocates could lessen their hypocrisy by also criticizing cartoons of Prophet Muhammad for the tasteless propaganda they are.
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Ahmad Chaudhry, D.M.D, M.D., who lives in Lower Nazareth Township, is president of the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association.
Copyright © 2015, The Morning Call
Read original post here: Perspective: Muslims should 'forcefully reject' blasphemy laws | Ahmad Chaudhry
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