Blasphemy, Apostasy and Sharia | Middle East And North Africa

BLASPHEMY AND MUSLIM LAW

Execution of Mansur Hallaj, a Sufi, in AD 922

According to Muslim blasphemy laws the saying blasphemous words against Allah, implied or otherwise, is against Muslim law. Look at how much trouble Saloman Rushdie got into for saying that Muhammad fraternized with a prostitute. In 1989 the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran handed down a death sentence to Salman Rushdie for blasphemy after his publication of "Satanic Verses" in 1989. See Salman Rushdie factsanddetails.com

The Quran admonishes blasphemy, but does not specify any worldly punishment for blasphemy. The hadiths, which are another source of Sharia, suggest various punishments for blasphemy, which may include death. Blasphemy laws, originally established to prevent people from disrespecting Islam, have been used by Muslim extremists to crack down on and harass opponents. See Pakistan, Egypt.

Fareed Zakaria wrote in the Washington Post: “One holy book is deeply concerned with blasphemy: the Bible. In the Old Testament, blasphemy and blasphemers are condemned and prescribed harsh punishment. The best-known passage on this is Leviticus 24:16 : “Anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.” [Source: Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post, January 8, 2015]

“By contrast, the word blasphemy appears nowhere in the Qur’an. (Nor, incidentally, does the Qur’an anywhere forbid creating images of Muhammad, though there are commentaries and traditions — “hadith” — that do, to guard against idol worship.) Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan has pointed out that “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’ .?.?. but nowhere does the Qur’an prescribe the punishment of lashes, or death, or any other physical punishment.” On several occasions, Muhammad treated people who ridiculed him and his teachings with understanding and kindness. “In Islam,” Khan says, “blasphemy is a subject of intellectual discussion rather than a subject of physical punishment.

Websites on Sharia: Sharia by Knut S. Vikør, Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics web.archive.org ; Encyclopædia Britannica britannica.com ; Four Sunni Schools of Thought masud.co.uk ; Law by Norman Calder, Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World web.archive.org ; Sharia Law in the International Legal Sphere – Yale University web.archive.org ; 'Recognizing Sharia' in Britain, anthropologist John R. Bowen discusses Britain's sharia courts bostonreview.net ; "The Reward of the Omnipotent" late 19th Arabic manuscript about Sharia wdl.org

Background Behind Islamic Blasphemy Laws

Qasim Rashid wrote in The Independent: “Blasphemy laws historically began in Christian Europe as a means to prevent dissent and enforce the church’s authority. They were exported to Muslim majority nations via British imperialism. Today, just about every Muslim majority nation that has blasphemy laws can trace them back to British statute from centuries prior. [Source: Qasim Rashid, The Independent, May 12, 2017] “Quran 4:59-60 commands Muslims: “Verily, Allah commands you to make over the trusts to those entitled to them, and that, when you judge between men, you judge with justice... O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey His Messenger and those who are in authority among you.” Thus, the Quran commands Muslims to judge with justice, not religion. Likewise, the Quran could have added that the faithful should only obey those in authority who are Muslim – but that notable omission speaks volumes otherwise.

“In 2009, His Holiness the Khalifa of Islam Mirza Masroor Ahmad delivered a landmark address in Frankfurt, Germany, where he implored religious freedom, concluding: “The followers of any religion should be able to practise their religious customs freely; otherwise if the government will interfere with religion, in this civilised world, such interference will negate their claim to being secular and discharging the rights of others.”“

Terry Matttingly wrote in the Wichita Times Record News, There is a new trend: accusations about alleged blasphemous acts and statements circulating instantaneously across the World Wide Web, often in smartphone videos, photos and audio soundbites that may or may not have been altered to twist the contents. "People who are hackable may be getting framed. That's where the offenses and accusations are picking up," said scholar Paul Marshall, who teaches at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and lectures around the world. He is the coauthor of "Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes Are Choking Freedom Worldwide," with Nina Shea of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. The result is a deadly puzzle. Anyone who shares facts about blasphemy accusations may then be accused of spreading blasphemy. Depending on the time and location, any public opposition to blasphemy laws may be considered an act of blasphemy.[Source: Terry Matttingly, Times Record News, June 17, 2023]

Meanwhile, the definitions of "apostasy" and "blasphemy" keep evolving when used in cultures as different as Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, India and parts of Africa controlled by Islamic State leaders and its sympathizers, Marshall explained. Members of religious minorities — especially Ahmadi Muslims, Sufis, Bah'ais and converts to Christianity — may be accused of fomenting "sectarian strife," spreading "misinformation," "insulting a heavenly religion" or threatening "national security." In regions controlled by Sunni Islam, rival Shia Muslims may face similar accusations, with that equation being reversed in lands, such as Iran, controlled by Shia clerics. "If someone is accused of teaching a false version of Islam, that can be considered blasphemy, even if people do not use the word 'blasphemy' in the charges," noted Marshall, reached by telephone. "The words may vary, but not the intent in these cultures."

Blasphemy and Related Laws

A report, prepared by the staff of the Global Legal Research Center of the Law Library of Congress, surveys laws criminalizing blasphemy, defaming religion, harming religious feelings, and similar conduct in 77 jurisdictions. In some instances the report also addresses laws criminalizing proselytization. Laws prohibiting incitement to religious hatred and violence are outside the scope of this report, although in some cases such laws are mentioned where they are closely intertwined with blasphemy. The report focuses mostly on laws at the national level, and while it aims to cover the majority of countries with such laws, it does not purport to be comprehensive. For each surveyed country, the law in question is quoted or paraphrased and examples of enforcement actions are briefly described where reports of such actions were found. [Source: Library of Congress]

Blasphemy laws are widely dispersed around the globe; regional patterns are apparent. Such laws are more likely to exist and be actively enforced in Islamic countries. In Western Europe, many countries retain blasphemy and related laws. While in some countries they are never enforced, there have been prosecutions in recent years in Austria, Finland, Germany, Greece, Switzerland, and Turkey. In much of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, laws prohibiting proselytization or insulting religion are prevalent. Recent prosecutions are noted in the entries for Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. In Latin America and the Caribbean, there are only a few countries with blasphemy or religious insult laws on the books, and the laws are not enforced. |In North America, Canada has a blasphemy law that is not enforced. |*|

Most jurisdictions in the Middle East and North Africa have laws prohibiting insulting Islam or religion generally. Many of them have recently applied such laws, including in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and the West Bank. Sub-Saharan African countries covered in this report include Comoros, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. These countries have laws prohibiting blasphemy, proselytization, or similar conduct, although only a handful of reports of enforcement were found. |*|

In South Asia, the Islamic states of Afghanistan and Pakistan have blasphemy laws that are actively enforced, and India has a blasphemy law that reportedly is used by all of India’s faith groups when their religious sensibilities are hurt. Islamic countries in East Asia and the Pacific, including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Myanmar, have blasphemy-related laws that are actively enforced. Other East Asian and Pacific countries with such laws include Japan, Laos, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and New Zealand; the latter has a blasphemy law that has been used only once since its 1893 enactment, in a 1922 case where the defendant was found not guilty. |*|

Victims of Blasphemy Laws

Qasim Rashid wrote in The Independent: ““Nowadays, blasphemy cases are becoming increasingly popular as a means to persecute minorities in nations like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. In Pakistan, notable Ahmadi Muslim Tahir Mehdi was finally released after nearly two years in prison for the alleged blasphemy of claiming he is Muslim. Meanwhile another Ahmadi Muslim — 81-year-old Shukoor Ahmad — serves an eight-year prison term for the same alleged crime of blasphemy. [Source: Qasim Rashid, The Independent, May 12, 2017]

“In Saudi Arabia, Raif Badawi is still in prison for the alleged blasphemy of being an atheist...In Indonesia, courts convicted Jakarta’s Governor Aho of blasphemy: the governor, who is a Christian, faces a two year prison sentence. Ahok’s crime? He rebuked claims by clerics that the Quran mandates Muslims to vote for a Muslim over a non-Muslim. By convicting Governor Ahok of blasphemy, Indonesia disgraces itself, violates human rights and ignores Islamic teachings. In fact, despite addressing blasphemy dozens of times, the Quran prescribes absolutely no worldly punishment. That notwithstanding, Governor Ahok is right that the Quran does not mandate Muslims to vote for a Muslim over a non-Muslim.

Fareed Zakaria wrote in the Washington Post: ““Pakistan is now the poster child for the anti-blasphemy campaign gone wild. In March, at least 14 people were on death row in that country, and 19 were serving life sentences, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The owner of the country’s largest media group has been sentenced to 26 years in prison because one of his channels broadcast a devotional song about Muhammad’s daughter while reenacting a wedding. (Really.) And Pakistan is not alone. Bangladesh, Malaysia, Egypt, Turkey and Sudan have all used blasphemy laws to jail and harass people. In moderate Indonesia, 120 people have been detained for this reason since 2003. Saudi Arabia forbids the practice of any religion other than its own Wahhabi version of Islam.” [Source: Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post, January 8, 2015]

Sufi Singer Sentenced to Death Sentence for Blasphemy

Terry Matttingly wrote in the Wichita Times Record News, Kano State authorities in northern Nigeria accused the Sufi Muslim singer Yahaya Sharif-Aminu of circulating social-media messages containing lyrics they said attacked the Prophet Muhammad. What did the song say? It's impossible to find direct quotations, although his accusers say he sang praises for his Sufi faith and, thus, spread false teachings about Islam. Did Sharif-Aminu actually send those WhatsApp messages? Again, it's hard to separate facts from rumors backed by mob attacks. [Source: Terry Matttingly, Times Record News, June 17, 2023]

But this much is clear: Sharif-Aminu was found guilty of blasphemy in 2020 by a regional sharia court and sentenced to death by hanging. He remains imprisoned, while human-rights activists around the world — including the European Union parliament — keep urging his release and the end of blasphemy laws. "You're not sure, in many of these cases, what the person is actually accused of doing or saying because key people are afraid to discuss the details,"said Marshall.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's special envoy for religious freedom issued a direct appeal to Nigeria's outgoing president, Muhammadu Buhari. Fiona Bruce urged him to "exercise clemency by granting a pardon to the young Sufi singer, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu" since his case is on appeal. "He was accused of blasphemy because a song he wrote was circulated — as I understand it, by someone else — on social media," she noted.

At the time of the original accusations, mobs "completely destroyed the family home and everyone ran for their lives," said Nigerian lawyer Kola Alapinni, who is working with ADF International on this case. The original legal proceedings were skewed by the fact that no lawyers stepped forward to defend Sharif-Aminu, since "they were scared for their lives." While singer's original death sentence was "quashed," he said, this sent the case back for retrial in the sharia court — which will almost certainly reaffirm the death sentence. "You can think of all sorts of trauma going on in his head. … The whole family is devastated," said Alapinni, in a video statement.

Apostasy

Apostasy laws (2013): 1) death penalty (red); 2) prison or loss of marriage or child custody (brown); 3) converting a Muslim a crime (yellow)

The dictionary definition of apostasy is “having rejected your religious beliefs or your political party or a cause (often in favor of opposing beliefs or causes)." In Islam, any sane Muslim who renounces Islam and persists in doing so after being given chances to repent loses a variety of rights. There is no penalty for any Muslim who kills such a convert on the grounds of his apostasy.

A Muslim converting to Christianity is regarded as a form of apostasy, a crime punishable by death in some Muslim countries but rarely pursued. Explaining why such a conversion is such a serious offense an Afghan imam told the Washington Post, “You must understand how shameful it is for us that a Muslim would become a Christian. If other people want to come to Islam, we encourage and appreciate them. But ours is the complete and final religion. If you leave it, that is like throwing God away...If you leave Islam, our law says you must be killed." As many as 15 percent of Muslims in Western societies have lost their faith, which means that there are around 200,000 apostates in Britain alone. It is difficult to tell exactly how many because people don't admit it for understandable reason.

Among the countries with apostasy laws on the books are Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan and Egypt. Killing for apostasy is rare even in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, which say they fully implement Islamic law. In July 2007, Egypt's Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, one of the highest religious authorities in Islam, said there is no basis for the Islamic law that requires Muslims who have abandoned their religion to be killed, causing an outcry among Muslim conservatives. In an editorial in the Washington Post he wrote, “The essential question before us can a person who is Muslim chose a religion other than Islam? The answer is yes they can, because the Quran says, “Into you your religion, and unto me my religion”...If the cause in question is one of merely rejecting faith, then there is no worldly punishment. The matter is left until the Day of Judgement, and it is not to dealt with in the life of this world."

Gomaa added that if the apostate is “undermining the foundations of the society," then he could be prosecute by the judicial system to “protect the integrity of society” but did not say anything about death as a punishment. Among those who objected was the hardline Egyptian cleric Youssef el-badri, who said, “Shariah is punishes those who convert with death; religion is not a game to play with."

Islamic Apostasy Laws

A Library of Congress surveys of the apostasy laws of 23 countries in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia focused on jurisdictions that made apostasy, or renouncing one’s religion, a capital offense. However, several countries that have adopted broadly-defined laws on blasphemy and insult to religion, which could potentially be used to prosecute persons for apostasy, have also been included, as well as one country that expressly prohibits extrajudicial punishment for allegations of apostasy as well as one country that expressly prohibits extrajudicial punishment for allegations of apostasy.[Source: Library of Congress Law Library, Legal Reports, 2014 |*|]

The countries surveyed that expressly make apostasy a capital offense are Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. However, only a small number of cases showing the application of these capital punishment laws were identified. Only two cases were identified that resulted in conviction for religious conversion — one in Iran in 1994 and another in Sudan in 2014. The country surveys also indicate that apostasy laws are frequently used to charge persons for acts other than conversion. For example, in Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Yemen, individuals were charged with apostasy for their writings or comments made on social media. Of the countries researched, it appears that Iran is the only one that has executed a person convicted of apostasy to date.

In some places, such as Saudi Arabia, the criminalization of apostasy is a result of the wholesale adoption of Sharia’a (Islamic law). In most of the countries that make apostasy a capital offense the crime is made part of the countries’ penal code either directly or by reference. For instance, the offense is part of Mauritania’s 1983 Criminal Code, the United Arab Emirates’ Penal Code of 1987, Sudan’s Penal Code of 1991, Yemen’s Penal Code of 1994, Qatar’s 2004 Penal Law, and Brunei’s 2013 Criminal Code (however, in Brunei the provision on apostasy is not yet in force). Afghanistan and Qatar have incorporated the crime of apostasy into their criminal laws by reference to what are known as the hudud offenses.

The debate regarding the criminalization of apostasy appears to be ongoing in some of the surveyed countries. In Pakistan, a draft bill making apostasy by men a capital offense was proposed in 2007, but was not adopted. Similarly, in Iran a draft Penal Code containing a provision on apostasy was initially adopted by the country’s Parliament in 2008, but ultimately rejected.

How Islamic Apostasy Laws Are Meted Out

Apostasy fatwa
It is important to note that in many jurisdictions where apostasy is a capital offense, sentencing is conditional on the defendant’s behavior once he is charged or convicted. For instance, in Afghanistan, Brunei, Sudan, and Yemen, a conviction for apostasy can be vacated if the defendant denounces his new faith and rejoins Islam. In Mauritania, a person brought on charges of apostasy is given an opportunity to repent both before and after his conviction. If the person repents after his conviction, the country’s Supreme Court can dramatically reduce his sentence. [Source: Library of Congress Law Library, Legal Reports, 2014 |*|]

In some of the countries surveyed there is less clarity as to the status of apostasy as a crime. In Morocco, the Penal Code does not criminalize apostasy; however, the country’s Supreme Council of Religious Scholars, the sole entity with constitutional authority to issue religious decrees, recently (in April 2013) decreed that apostasy is a capital offense. The legal status of this decree remains unclear. Although there is no statutory law criminalizing apostasy in Pakistan, some scholars believe that this gap could be filled by Sharia’a, which makes apostasy a capital offense.

In other countries, where formal laws do not criminalize apostasy, religious laws are used to prosecute persons for apostasy. Although Iran’s current Penal Code does not criminalize it, courts have prosecuted individuals for apostasy based on their understanding of Sharia’a and legal opinions issued by religious leaders. In Jordan, where the Penal Code does not include specific provisions on apostasy, it is prosecuted in religious courts, including at the request of any member of the community. Of the surveyed jurisdictions, Tunisia appears to be the only country that expressly prohibits extrajudicial punishment of individuals based on allegations of apostasy.

In many of the jurisdictions surveyed, both those that impose criminal penalties for apostasy and those that do not, a finding of apostasy may have consequences related to matters of inheritance and the validity of the marital relationship of the individual concerned. For example, under Sharia’a, a Muslim spouse who converts to any other religion may not inherent from his/her Muslim relatives or spouse. Where a Muslim husband converts to another religion, his marriage is considered annulled under Islamic law.

Of the surveyed jurisdictions that do not expressly criminalize apostasy, many have laws that include broadly-worded provisions on insulting Islam or its Prophet and blasphemy, which could potentially be used to prosecute persons for apostasy. This category of countries includes Algeria, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, and Syria. However, of the countries surveyed, Egypt is the only country known to have prosecuted apostasy in this manner. In 2007, a person who converted to Christianity was convicted under the country’s blasphemy laws.

Although this aspect of the issue was not explored in detail in this report, researchers identified instances of extrajudicial punishment for apostasy. The surveys for Iran and Syria note that extrajudicial killings on the basis of allegations of apostasy have taken place in both countries at least once. Similarly, in Mauritania, where a journalist was arrested for apostasy in early 2014 for comments he published online, a local businessman offered a bounty to anyone who would kill the defendant.

People Accused of Apostasy

But that doesn't mean people accused of apostasy don't suffer. One British family of Pakistani descent---the Husseins---that converted to Christianity had bricks thrown their window of their house and their car. Their car was rammed and torched. Garbage was thrown in the front of their house. On the streets they were regularly jostled, shouted at and given death threats. Mobs gathered around their house. Police offered little help and simply told them they should move.

Another convert named Yasamin converted when she was in her 30s after having a vision of Jesus while giving birth to her youngest son. She told the Times of London: “My family disowned me. I was born a Muslim, so must die a Muslim. When my husband found out, he totally disowned my sons. One friend tried to strangle me when I told him I was converting...I was spat on in the street because they thought I was dishonoring Islam. I had to go to court to get an injunction against my husband because he was inciting others to attack me."

Describing what happened to a friend who family found she was hiding a Bible in her room and secretly went to church Yasamin told the Times of London, “I tried to do as much as possible to help her, but they took her to Pakistan ---on holiday." Three week later, she drowned---they said she went out in the middle of the night and slipped into the river, but she just wouldn't have done that."

Another Pakistani convert named Ruth said that when her family found out: “My brother even hit me---I later found out he wanted me dead." Another said that after she confided her conversion, her father “went into a state of shock." “He took the family to Pakistani to a secluded village with no roads to it. He kept us there for many years, putting pressure on me to leave my Christian faith. I endured mental and emotional suffering that most humans never reach...In desperation he threatened to take my life. If someone converts, it is a must for family honor to bring them back to Islam, if not, to kill them."

Britain's most high profile apostate is IbnWarraq, a Pakistani-born intellectual and former teacher from London, who lost his father after the Salman Rushdie affair and wrote the books Why I am not a Muslim and Leaving Islam . On he hostility he has experienced he told the Times of London, “It's very strange. Even the most liberal Muslim can become incredibly fierce if you criticize Islam."

In the Netherlands, former Muslim MP Aryan Hirsi Ali had to go into hiding after renouncing her faith. One former Shia Muslim businessman who converted to Christianity was condemned by Islamic authorities as an apostate, received death threats and was not allowed to see his family.

See Afghanistan, Egypt

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Internet Islamic History Sourcebook: sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Arab News, Jeddah; “Islam, a Short History” by Karen Armstrong; “A History of the Arab Peoples” by Albert Hourani (Faber and Faber, 1991); “World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File Publications, New York); “Encyclopedia of the World’s Religions” edited by R.C. Zaehner (Barnes & Noble Books, 1959); Metropolitan Museum of Art, Encyclopedia.com, National Geographic, BBC, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Library of Congress and various books and other publications.

Last updated April 2024