Recently in Pakistan there was yet another frenzied attempt to malign and insult Islam. It was not a Christian, Hindu, or Jewish conspiracy — the usual targets of the militant Islamists. Instead it was done by the so-called Muslims who claim the mantle of Prophet Muhammad.
In the 1980s during the dictatorship of General Zia ul Haq, his hand picked parliament passed a law that made blasphemy and insult to Prophet Muhammad punishable by death. General Zia was an observant Muslim and he really believed that he is the one who would implement Islamic laws in the country. Call it a marriage of convenience, he courted the religious parties and together he was able to perpetuate his rule for 10 years until his ignominious death in a plane crash in 1989.
The blasphemy law and its implementation ride on the emotional wings of hyper-charged and emotive rhetoric of mullahs. The hapless masses unable to differentiate between mere allegations and a proof are all too content to avenge an insult when there is none.
The story of Christian woman Aisa Bibi is a case study in bigotry, disregard for the rule of law and trampling of religious values. According to the story Asia Bibi, a Christian woman and a mother of five, was working in the field with some Muslim women. She was asked by one of Muslim Women to get her some water. She handed her the cup from which the Christian woman had drunk. The Muslim woman made a fuss about drinking from the cup that had touched the lips of a Christian. As such the incident would have been a minor cultural disagreement. However the village mulla made it appear that she had insulted the prophet, which she vehemently denied. It all happened in 2009.
A case was registered against her and she was arrested and later sentenced to death. She languished in prison as the appeals against the verdict made their way up the rickety, un-sturdy and corrupt ladder of Pakistani justice system. In the meantime people who raised their voices against this injustice were silenced. The most important was Salmaan Taseer, the liberal governor of the province of Punjab, home province of Asia Bibi, who visited her in the prison and said that the Blasphemy Law ought to be changed. Shortly thereafter Mr. Taseer was gunned down by one of his bodyguard. The assassin was later hanged for killing the governor and his grave has now become a shrine and rallying point for right wing religious political parties in the country.
In the intervening years Asia Bibi’s appeals against the death sentence were rejected until the case finally made it to the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
In a rare display of courage the 3-member panel of judges found Asia Bibi innocent of blasphemy. Their well-reasoned arguments found inconsistencies in the investigative process, dubious role of the police and the instigation by the local mullahs to rile up the mob against her. It also stated that none of the women at the time of incident could recall what Asia Bibi had actually said.
But the religious parties are not interested in the rule of law. They have already determined that the woman is guilty and therefore needs to be killed. One firebrand clerk, head of the militant Tehrik Labaik Khadim Rizvi has openly urged his followers to kill the three Supreme Court Judges and also the head of the army Qamar Javed Bajwa. He also urged the armed forces to rise against general and remove him from office.
The acquittal and subsequent nation wide strikes by the militants forced the hand of the newly appointed Prime Minister Imran Khan. In a shameful U-turn he negotiated with the militants and promised that the government would ask the Supreme Court to review the case again. And then in another U-turn (Imran Khan is now being referred to as U-turn Khan) the government has arrested the firebrand preacher and hundreds of his followers.
Blasphemy law has become a tool in the hands of mullahs who use it to harass Christians and grab their land. Even Muslims are not immune. Last year a young college student Mashal Khan was lynched by a mob of students and outsiders on a university campus in Mardan in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Province on trumped up charges of blasphemy.
Does Islam sanction punishment for blasphemy? In the Quran there is no mention of punishment for blasphemy. Instead the Prophet is asked to walk away from and do not associate with those who commit blasphemy. It also says that when confronted by blasphemous people just say ‘Peace’. During his life time the prophet did not punish anyone who insulted him and there were many people who did just that.
It must be mentioned that no one has been hanged for blasphemy by the courts in Pakistan. Though hundreds of people accused of blasphemy have lost their lives because of mobs and vigilantes.
S. Amjad Hussain is an emeritus professor of surgery and humanities at the University of Toledo. His column appears every other week in The Blade. Contact him at: aghaji@bex.net.
First Published December 3, 2018, 11:45 a.m.
