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Freedom of Expression, Apostasy, and Blasphemy Within Islam: Sharia

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Freedom of Expression, Apostasy, and Blasphemy Within Islam: Sharia and can be committed by believers and non-believers alike. Apostasy Freedom of expression, from Islam and blasphemy against Islam therefore remain (and have apostasy, and always remained) unacceptable. Despite the grave nature of the offences, the precise remit of blasphemy within Islam: punishment for apostasy and blasphemy remain the subject of Sharia, criminal justice intense controversy. The Quran condemns apostates noting that ‘for those who disbelieve in their Lord is systems, and modern the chastisement of hell, and an evil resort it is’ (Quran 67:6) and ‘whoso Islamic state practices seeks a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and Javaid Rehman investigates the uses and in the life to come he shall be among the losers’ (Quran 3:84–86). Despite abuses of certain interpretations of the condemnation of apostates, the TOPICAL ISSUES AND COMMENT Sharia law and the Quran. Quran does not explicitly prescribe criminal sanctions: the only punishment, albeit a serious one, is eternal hell in the hereafter. The The Danish cartoon saga and the almost exclusively to eliminating sanctioning of the death penalty for Salman Rushdie affair represent two either political dissidents or targeting apostates is derived from a Sunna of high profile examples of alleged vulnerable religious minorities. the Prophet, whereby the Prophet intolerance of Muslim communities. Islamic law is often referred to as commanded ‘whoever changes his Both cases are alleged to have the Sharia. Sharia places its primary religion, kill him’ (Khadduri, 1955). insulted Islam and the Prophet of reliance on the Quran (the Muslim However, as the Prophet did not Islam, Prophet Muhammad. These Holy Book) and the traditions and implement this sentence himself, the cartoonists and Salman Rushdie practices of Prophet Mohammad, validity of this Sunna is open to continue to face serious threats known as Sunna. Different Islamic challenge. – including threats to their life. Schools have also with varying There are thus no clear, degrees relied on a number of unequivocal Sharia principles Both instances have precipitated secondary sources of Islamic law. sanctioning the imposition of considerable violence at a global Within the Sharia, apostasy and criminal liability upon apostates. The level, despite both instances blasphemy are treated separately, Quranic injunctions are no more occurring outside of Muslim although there is often considerable than comments on vile or immoral majority states. In Muslim majority overlap. Apostasy (also known as behaviour. Even critics acknowledge states, particularly those enforcing Ridda) occurs when a Muslim (by his the absence of any criminal law the Sharia – Islamic legal system words or actions) renounces and sanctions for apostates. Arzt (1995– – there have been demands for the rejects Islam. Rejection or criticism 1996) notes that Quranic ‘verses punishment of blasphemers and of the All Mighty or His Prophet is cajole the Muslim into adhering to apostates. Such demands can be perceived as an insult to Islam, the faith, to avoid the temptation to accommodated within the criminal offensive and routinely regarded as convert, but the exhortation is moral, justice systems of many Sharia- blasphemous. Apostasy is universally not penal. Moreover, during his compliant states: in these states acknowledged by Muslim jurists as a lifetime, Muhammed is said never apostasy and blasphemy against Hadd offence alongside adultery, actually to have executed persons, Islam are recognised as criminal defamation, alcoholism, theft, who, once having adopted Islam offences, with the respective legal brigandage and rebellion, and later renounced it’. There are also systems sanctioning severe penalties, corruption of Islam (Bassiouni, 1982) well-publicised disagreements including the death penalty. Despite – the most serious offences within amongst the four Sunni Schools of the apparent harshness of the legal the Sharia, for which fixed, Islam as to the penal punishment to systems, as this paper explores, these mandatory punishments have been be awarded to apostates: the Hanifís punishments are based only upon prescribed. Classical, as well as would not agree to the execution of Islamic traditions and subjective some modern, interpretations of women apostates, while the Shafí interpretations of the Sharia, Sharia regard the death penalty as and the Malikís allow period for rather than any established, firm the most appropriate punishment for repentance before the legal principles. Furthermore, the apostates. Blasphemy connotes the implementation of the death penalty. implementation of the so-called anti- insult of God or Prophet Mohammad More recently, a growing body of blasphemy and apostasy laws relate and other revered figures in Islam, Islamic jurists have relied on Quranic 4 ©2010 Centre for Crime and Justice Studies 10.1080/09627250903569841 rCJM No 79.indd 4 01/03/2010 13:15:37 verses which advocate absolute Nasrin in Bangladesh (1994) and against non-Muslim minorities and freedom of religion. In the re- Iranian academic Hashem Aghajari Muslims alike, under the blasphemy interpretation of classical Sharia, (2002). Nasrin provoked the wrath laws. The situation is such that even these jurists argue for the recognition of the religious lobby with her a recommendation to reconsider the of a guaranteed right of freedom of suggestion that ‘the Quran should be existence of these laws potentially religion or belief including atheism revised thoroughly’ whereas Aghajari evokes serious recriminations and, or the rejection of Islam (Rehman, urged Muslims against blindly therefore, any official proposal of 2005). Some other modern Islamic following the clergy. One of the most repeal appears unlikely. scholars reserve penal sanctions only publicised cases, was the fatwa (legal The primary sources of the in instances where apostates opinion) issued by the late Ayatollah Sharia – the Quran and Sunna challenge the writ of the Islamic Khomeini of Iran in 1989 against the – disapprove of blasphemy and state. Similar controversies are also British author Salman Rushdie, in condemn apostasy. The Quran, found in relation to blasphemy which Rushdie was condemned to however, does not provide any within the Sharia. Juristic opinion death for his depiction of the Prophet criminal sanctions for apostates remains divided on the scope of Mohammed and his wives. or blasphemers in the manner punishment in relation to blasphemy, The dictatorial regime of General that it sanctions punishments for in the absence of unequivocal Zia (1977–1988) introduced adulterers or thieves. Furthermore, statements in the Quran and Sunna. draconian and arbitrary anti- there are Quranic verses which Consequently, a significant body of blasphemy legislation in Pakistan. provide compelling evidence to TOPICAL ISSUES AND COMMENT Islamic jurists have restricted the While ostensibly aimed at the support freedom of religion and criticism of blasphemers to moral Islamisation of Pakistan, the primary freedom of expression. This paper condemnation and punishment in purpose of these laws was to strength has attempted to establish that the the hereafter. However, there is Zia’s theocratic and religiously regimes which continue to apply considerable juristic opinion which fundamentalist regime. Chapter XV punitive sentences for blasphemy or perceives blasphemy as an offence of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) apostasy do so primarily for selfish, warranting serious criminal law 1860 (as amended) lists in Section political motives. Apostasy and anti- sanctions, including imprisonment, 295–297 a series of offences ‘relating blasphemy law are regularly abused: flogging, and the death penalty – as to Religion’. The most controversial, these laws are inherently vague are demonstrated in official state however, has been the interpretation applied arbitrarily. Neither the Sharia policies. and application of Section 295–C of nor international human rights law In the presence of such significant the PPC, which has made it an sanctions their application (Rehman, uncertainty and ambiguity, the offence (subsequently held to be 2009). n continued retention of penal laws punishable by death) to make within Islamic states targeting derogatory remarks about the Holy Javaid Rehman is Professor of Law and Head apostasy and blasphemy is notable. Prophet. The interpretation and of Brunel Law School. In explaining this phenomenon, a application of the so-called anti- number of patterns emerge. With blasphemy laws, in particular Section the politicisation of Islam, the 295–C, has been extremely References criminal justice systems in several unfortunate. Muslims as well as non- Arzt, D.E. (1995–1996), ‘Heroes or Muslim majority states have been Muslims have been charged with the heretics: religious dissidents under manipulated to empower the offence of blasphemy, with spurious Islamic law’, Wisconsin International Law Journal, 14 (Spring 1996), pp.349-421. political elite (often working in charges such as support for Rushdie, conjunction with religious clerics). or for the Ahmaddiyas displaying the Bassiouni, M.C. (1982), ‘Sources of Islamic law and the protection of human Secondly, the enforcement of Kalma Tayyaba in their shops or for rights in the Islamic criminal justice these draconian laws has provided offering Azan (Islamic call for system’, in Bassiouni, M.C. (ed.) The an excuse for the elimination of prayers) (Rehman, 2001). It must be Islamic Criminal Justice System, London: political opponents
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