Kanhaiya Lal’s terrible murder, a tailor in Udaipur, and Umesh Kolhe in Amravati has sent shock waves throughout the country. Lal was hacked to death by Riyaz Attari and Ghouse Mohammad after sharing social media posts to support Sharma’s nupur, a former BJP spokesman who made comments underestimated about the Prophet Muhammated. There is a widespread criticism of terrible murder, especially from various parts of the Muslim community, including the All-Indian Muslim Law Council.
Even when the heat and dust began to calm down – after the initial criticism and comments about Sharma’s statements from a number of countries in the Muslim world – the domestic scenario witnessed further mobilization with the parts of the Muslim community that kept it alive for political or social distances. Lal’s murder is clearly a sequel to this mobilization. Although there are reports about ‘Pakistani connections’ for murder, these things need to be widely investigated.
Meanwhile, the Indian Supreme Court accused Sharma of “lighting emotions throughout the country.” Apparently, this problem has the potential to involve festering wounds. Does Sharma apologize to the nation or not – to respect the oral statement of the Puncak Court – the Muslim community also needs to go up to the opportunity by rejecting the heat and dust produced.
The murder has brought a new focus on the blasphemy in Islam and in India as a whole. Defending accusations – with the accompanying violence – sometimes – sometimes reported in many countries. Only three months ago, a 21 -year -old woman was beheaded in Pakistan by three women who accused her blasphemy. There are several examples like that in recent years. Such incidents are often associated with applicable laws and regulations, and how the state imposes these regulations.
Laws that prohibit blasphemy are norms in many countries for centuries, especially where Semitic religions dominate. The law of defamation existed in Judaism and Christianity long before Islam emerged in the 7th century. In the modern era, the defamation law has gained certain meanings with the ruling dispensation using tactics that can maintain the interests of their regime and legitimacy.West Asia and North Africa have the highest parts of countries that prohibit blasphemy. Many sub-Sahara African countries have laws that prohibit defamation, prosecution, or similar behavior, although the level of implementation is not often reported.
Many countries in the Asia-Pacific region also have anti-classfem laws, including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Myanmar, Maldives, Singapore and Turkey. Likewise, a report by the US Congress said that several countries in Western Europe have laws related to blasphemy. Although such regulations are rarely applied, there is prosecution, lately, in Austria, Finland, Germany, Greece, Switzerland, and Turkey. In countries such as Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, there are laws that prohibit the prosecution or religion that is insulting. There are only a few countries in Latin America and the Caribbean which have blasphemy laws. Canada has a blasphemy law, but is not upheld.
In South Asia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan have strict blasphemy laws. The Indian Criminal Code (IPC) still has the provisions of the Indian British Criminal Code which prohibits blasphemy, without using certain words, of course. Section 295, 295A, 296, 297 and 298 IPC provide prison sentences ranging from one year to three years to handle insults to religious groups or communal tensions and violence.
Over the years, there were attacks and fatwas on the writer and media personnel with blasphemy accusations. Salman Rushdie’s the Satanic Verses triggered a heat wave of defamation which continued for several years. After the novel came out in 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s spiritual and political leader, issued a fatwa for the death sentence and a gift of several million dollars for Rushdie’s murder.
There were similar incidents related to blasphemy. The Japanese translator of the devil’s verses was killed in 1991. The translators of the Italian novel were also attacked, but somehow survived. Norwegian publisher by Rushdie also suffered a serious injury in shooting.Terror attacks at the French satire publication office Charlie Hebdo, in early 2015, resulted in the death of a dozen people. This follows cartoon publications about the Prophet Muhammad. There is another attack on the office of magazines and newspapers in Europe. The publication of the picture of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper also resulted in an attack. Since then, the Day of International Purchase (September 30) was observed every year to show solidarity with those who reject the law and regulations that are cruel to freedom of expression and to support the right to challenge religious beliefs that apply without fear of violence, arrest, or persecution .
The terrible murder of a French school teacher in the outskirts of Paris in October 2020 is another manifestation of charges of blasphemy that is often caused.In India, cases that are proposed and calls for violence against the film maker Leena Manimekalai for his portrayal of Hindu Goddess underline the fact that ‘the obsession of blasphemy’ is not limited to Islam.
The law of blasphemy in Islam
Obviously, there are various legal interpretations that have sentenced (including the death penalty) for insulting Islam or the Prophet Muhammad. Al -Koran and Sunnah are the fundamental sources of Islamic law, but various Islamic theology schools have taken a different position on the defamation question. Islamic jurisprudence involves many interpretations of the text and context of the Quran. Islamic scholars show that the Koran symbolizes some allegory, metaphors and ambiguity that calls for interpretation based on the principles of justice, justice, and good life virtues. They also underline that there is no direct reference for blasphemy in the Scriptures. The subject did not find anywhere in the history of Islamic jurisprudence.
However, there are some examples in the Koran when the opponent chooses to mock and mock the Prophet. But, there is no special order to punish those who mock him. Conversely, the Koran asks Muhammad to submit the punishment to God for a act of humiliation and demean comments. Al -Koran also tells people to believe in asking God’s mercy and mercy for the Prophet.
Those who believe that the Islamic tradition has a law for blasphemy because the beginning will argue that such laws are based on the sunnah (speech and practice) of the Prophet. They quoted the example of a Jewish woman, who appeared to be killed for writing provocative poetry against the Prophet and Islam. There is almost no authenticity of this narrative that says that the Prophet ‘praised the man’ who killed him. But there is another story that states that the Jewish woman was actually killed for incitement for violating the agreement signed in Medina, and not for the blasphemy. It can be remembered that every time the Prophet was in Mecca, it was unusual for people to abuse and show disrespect or insulting him over a position without compromise. In the background to establish an Islamic state, it is very common that there are many rivals for the Prophet. However, he stood firmly and showed extraordinary patience. The Koran itself gives some examples like that. “But because of the violation of their agreement, we condemn them and make their hearts grow hard: they change their words from their place (right) and forget the good parts of the message sent or want you to stop finding them except a some people who have been determined (new) Cheating: But forgive them and ignore (their mistakes): because God loves them good “(Al-Maida, translation by Joseph Ali).