Pakistan has for long struggled to accept diversity, with accusations of blasphemy often used against the country’s religious minorities. Mobs went on a rampage recently in Faisalabad’s Jaranwala, reducing churches to ashes and setting ablaze homes of Christians—allegedly because the holy book Quran was desecrated.
Pakistani Christians, residing in a nation that proudly touts itself as the “land of the pure,” once again find themselves entangled in an inescapable web of persecution often rationalised through blasphemy allegations.
This cycle of violence emanates from two challenges that Pakistan must deal with.
The first is Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code, the country’s colonial-era blasphemy law that underwent a drastic transformation during the tumultuous 1980s—marked by the rise of “Islamisation” under General Zia-ul-Haq’s military rule. This legal decree cast a chilling shadow on the nation, wielding the threat of death or lifelong imprisonment upon those who dared to commit blasphemy. This law continues to echo intolerance and rigid dogma in Pakistan.
Seamlessly interwoven with this is the second challenge—militant Islamists who boldly seize the law’s authority, assuming a disturbing self-appointed role as vigilantes. These zealous crusaders march unwaveringly, proudly displaying their willingness to execute alleged blasphemers on the spot, as if they hold the ultimate power of divine retribution. In this unsettling display of aggression, a political faction known as Tehreek‐e‐Labbaik passionately commits itself to the cause, venerating perpetrators as heroes and rallying their followers with alarming zeal.
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Mobs uphold Pakistani values
While we can certainly contend that mobs in Pakistan disrupt legal and societal order by taking the law into their own hands, we cannot ignore the fact that they are upholding the very values upon which Pakistan was founded. The country’s constitution tolerates blasphemy laws and the marginalisation of minority groups, enforcing regulations that prevent individuals (such as Ahmadiyyas) from identifying as Muslims and prohibits non-Muslims from becoming presidents or prime ministers.
As a nation, Pakistan cannot resolve the issue of marginalisation of its minority groups without acknowledging the flaws in its constitution and in the values it seeks to uphold. The contentious issue of blasphemy is only one glaring manifestation of the problem. Until Pakistan overcomes its constitutional shortcomings and reconsiders the role of blasphemy in shaping its values, achieving equality and inclusivity for all its citizens will remain elusive. Ultimately, the blasphemy law is just one of the numerous tools employed to suppress minorities in Pakistan.
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The rationale behind such laws
Pakistan is not the only nation that subscribes to this concept, though. Countries such as Egypt, Qatar, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and others have varying blasphemy laws. Their severity escalates in some countries – such as Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia – where the offence is punishable by death. Therefore, finding a resolution necessitates an earnest inquiry into a core question: What is the rationale behind blasphemy within the context of Islam, and why do Muslims uphold it?
As a Muslim with profound reverence for the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), I have never been taught that blasphemy warrants physical punishment. It is distressing to witness the suffering and anguish inflicted upon innocent people in the name of my faith. Such actions neither contribute to the honour of religion nor serve the interests of the community for which they are waged.
Traditional Islamic interpretation has supported punishment as a response to blasphemy. However, there are nuanced disagreements among different schools of thought. Differences arise, for instance, over whether repentance could pardon someone who has insulted the holy Prophet. Furthermore, within classical Islam, a less popular viewpoint advocates for punishing only Muslims who commit blasphemy, not non-Muslims.
Yet, these views are just interpretations and perspectives of jurists. Importantly, no explicit foundation exists for blasphemy laws within the two fundamental sources of Islamic law—the Quran and the Sunnah. This is especially evident in the Quran, which, across its 6,236 verses, lacks any direct order to penalise blasphemers (Qur’an 6:108). Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, too, says that “blasphemy is a subject of intellectual discussion rather than a subject of physical punishment.”
Amana Begam Ansari is a columnist and TV news panelist. She runs a weekly YouTube show called ‘India This Week by Amana and Khalid’. She tweets @Amana_Ansari. Views are personal.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)