http://talkhaaba.wordpress.com/2009/08/08/we-condemn-the-gojra-killings-maulana-saeed-ahmed-jalapuri-ameer-almi-majlis-e-tahfuz-khatam-e-nabuat-karachi/

“…So an alleged discretion of the Quran can be used to justify burning 7 people alive?. Humanity says No, while the blasphemy law says yes….”

NO LAW in this world allows executing a penalty unless someone is proved guilty. So nowhere in Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) it is written that if it is ALLEGED you’re justified to do anything. Henceforth Section 295C of PPC, commonly known as Blasphemy Law DOES NOT GIVE THE JUSTIFICATION to allegedly do anything. The law is clean as humanity if it is alleged but the law further says that convict shall be penalized if s/he is guilty, but the so called secular humanity may even not allow that, and that is against nature. If someone does wrong, it is his action and we should not make the mockery of the law. It is the person who should be snubbed neither the law.

To give an example to readers of this blog I would paint a scenario where a thief steals a good whose value is let’s say less than quarter of a Dinar (currency at the time of Prophet (PBUH) along with Dirham) and angry people chop his hand off. Now it would be wrong if we start ridiculing the words of Allah saying that Chopping off hand is inhuman (and am sorry to say that currently lots of people take it this way). Note that as narrated by Hazrat Ayesha in Sahih Bukhari in Hadith number 780, 781, 782 in Chapter 81, Limits and Punishments set by Allah, Narrated ‘Aisha: The Prophet said, “The hand should be cut off for stealing something that is worth a quarter of a Dinar or more.” In our example angry mob did wrong to chop off the hand since thief made a theft of less than a quarter but does this mean LAW was wrong since it gave opportunity to miscreants to spur violence in society? NO…

It means our society as a whole needs improvement where we need to inculcate peace, love and tolerance and how would we do that? Yes, Education and awareness! Probably you need to criticize the government or take up on Education instead of taking on this LAW, and see how much progress we have made in education since 70s or may be 60s.

Proceeding further ahead in your article, you write:

…The outburst of sectarian and inter faith violence following the LAW are condemnable. Yet mere condemnation will not save lives. We need to eliminate THESE elements. The society can’t bear co-existence until we break the shackles of RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM…

I have capitalized (CAPS) the words that I disagree. Violence is condemnable but LAW is not since its clean. The uneducated mindset and the society in itself is condemnable. If you take this law as religious extremism then I do not agree with this as I will give reference to ahadith that blasphemy is punishable to death. But I agree with you that violence on the name of religion is not allowed. All those who kill on the name of Islam are out of faith thus should not be labeled as Muslims hence the word Islamic Extremist or Religious Extremist (religious referring to Islam) does not hold true.

Referring your sentence: The rights of minorities can no longer be sabotaged; especially in regards to this LAW, I would like to clear that this law is for every Pakistani irrespective of faith either Muslim or Hindu or Parsi or whatever. If our society indulges into violence based on any rumors, it is the duty of our law enforcement institutions like police, judiciary to take care of that.

In the end you say that: …It’s been 31 years, since the law was introduced, yet the nation shows NO SCRUPLES in abiding by the MOST FUTILE SYSTEM. A system sought to instill BEGUILER VIEWS and flourishing a CONSERVATIVE SOCIETY…

Probably you’re not happy with the fact that blasphemy law enacts death sentence. You are taking the whole system of Zia (Blasphemy Law) as futile flourishing a conservative society. Probably those sahabas who killed blasphemous people did inhuman acts and were they conservative, not listening to others’ opinion? Again, the law in itself is sound but our society is pathetic. It’s the failure of our institutions, our society, our thinkers, our influencers and our elites who have gone miles away from Islam. It is always a societal fact that less privileged follow the elites. If our elites are corrupt, not have minimum Eeman then how can you expect that our society at large will be great and peace loving?

Now at the end I will also give references to Ahadith referring death sentence to Blasphemy. And please don’t take Islam as cruel. There is also death sentence in Bible and Torah for Blasphemy. Jews crucified Jesus (PBUH) on Blasphemy, reference King James Bible; Matt 26:65-67.

Blasphemy is punishable by death:
Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib: A Jewess used to abuse the Prophet (PBUH) and disparage him. A man strangled her till she died. The Apostle of Allah (PBUH) declared that no recompense was payable for her blood. Hadith 4349, Chapter 38, Kitab ul Hudood, Sunnan Abu Dawud.

Narrated Abdullah Ibn Abbas: A blind man had a slave-mother who used to abuse the Prophet (PBUH) and disparage him. He forbade her but she did not stop. He rebuked her but she did not give up her habit. One night she began to slander the Prophet (PBUH) and abuse him. So he took a dagger, placed it on her belly, pressed it, and killed her. A child who came between her legs was smeared with the blood that was there. When the morning came, the Prophet (PBUH) was informed about it. He assembled the people and said: I adjure by Allah the man who has done this action and I adjure him by my right to him that he should stand up. Jumping over the necks of the people and trembling the man stood up. He sat before the Prophet (PBUH) and said: Apostle of Allah! I am her master; she used to abuse you and disparage you. I forbade her, but she did not stop, and I rebuked her, but she did not abandon her habit. I have two sons like pearls from her, and she was my companion. Last night she began to abuse and disparage you. So I took a dagger, put it on her belly and pressed it till I killed her. Thereupon the Prophet (PBUH) said: Oh be witness, no retaliation is payable for her blood.

Looking at the above two ahadith, there is no doubt that blaspheming, disparaging or abusing Prophet (PBUH) is sentenced to death. Therefore the Section 295C is according to Islamic Shariah. But please note that Islam does not allow killing anyone based on accusations. If someone is doing that it is un-Islamic. If there are such elements in our society, we probably need decades of hard work to change our culture and mindset. We need to inculcate love, peace and harmony in our society and that is only possible if we our elites take the lead and interest in spreading the religion, which means peace!

Last but not the least if you wanted to criticize the violent societal elements then am sorry to say that your article was not explicit to that and it looked as if you’re thrashing the LAW altogether. Since it is not explicit on what you want to criticize or condemn, many of the readers take a wrong image of the LAW itself (that I have proved is not wrong). I have observed there is lots of Blasphemy LAW-bashing going on at Twitter as well that has a wider audience who can take another opportunity to defame Islam and its sharia. Since this law is based out of sharia, we all need to accept it. If you agree with my opinion, probably you can re-align the twitter campaign not maligning the law rather the government who has failed to act promptly.

Thanks for bearing such a long comment and no hard feelings!

Agreed but the Blasphemy Law is like a sword given to a blind person and then left at a crowded place o kill. There is no check on its misuse. Musharraf said he would make procedural changes but just a couple of small protest processions in Lahore loosened his belt. Who dares to challenge these hard-liners and their leaders? PMLN – No they are natural allies. PPP – No they started it long ago.

Its those illiterate lunatics, who are to be blamed for this scenario. Not only that, its ourselves who are to be blamed. How can we deserve peace if we ourselves elect eunuchs and murderers to represent us in the parliament and most evil of them our very own President.