Is it Right to Kill Over Defacement of Quran?
By Ghazala Khan • Aug 4th, 2009 • Category: Politics, Worth A Second Look • 58 CommentsGojra riots, Sheikhupura riots and then similar incidents in Pakistan in which mob kills and burns and beats the alleged person over the disfiguration and insult of the sacred Holy Quran. What is achieved after mob kills the person or burns the locality of non-Muslims? Does Quran really gets defaced if someone tears its pages or throws it away?
These are the questions, which we must answer as a Muslim, because if we follow the blind instincts and emotions and doesn’t think and decide rationally, then its very easy to exploit us. Whenever somebody would want to have an unrest in the Pakistan, they would simply deface the Quran near any minority colony and then inform the nearby Mosque or religious leader and then an angry armed procession will come, who will kill the people without asking any question and would wreck havoc. Minorities will retaliate and this fire will spread throughout the country.
There are even more dangerous implications. If somebody wants to take revenge from someone, he would simply blame him for the desecration of Quran or blame him for insulting the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and the poor person will be lynched by the mob. What happened in Sheikhupura today?
According to the media reports, the armed men killed a factory-owner here on charges of sacrilege to the Holy Quran; also four other people were injured in the ensuing exchange of fire and rampage,. The labourers and owner of leather factory here were locked in dispute over salaries. Today, when factory owner turned up to his factory, armed men attacked on him by leveling charges of irreverence to Holy Quran and killed him along with his servant. Desecration and blasphemy have already become a lethal weapons for the enemies in Pakistan, and that is a very grave trend and alarming trend.
The majority of people in Pakistan, including me are Muslims. We love our Holy Book, we love our religion and everything associated with it and yes we become hurt and sad and angry when anything bad happens or said about our religious things. But then we must not be so weak, brutal, emotional and blind to be exploited by the enemies. Minorities are our brothers and sisters and they are one of us. How could we burn or kill them over just one allegation? Who are we to even touch them? Courts are there, laws are there and law enforcement agencies are there and now justice is very much free in Pakistan.
A Christian friend of mine raised some very valid points in an email: A situation was created, exploited and used by certain people yet to be identified by the government – and it was these people who agitated the innocent Muslims by spreading rumours about the desecration. The second vital question is why do the police and the agencies allow the situation to simmer in spite of a very large history of such incidents in Pakistan?
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NO!
The “Blasphemy laws” must be repealed right away from our statute - it is a licence to kill. We must equivocally demand the government and the parliaments to get rid of these laws now.
Yes indeed, the blasphemy laws must be immediately repealed! LIVE AND LET LIVE!
Ghazala Khan,
It is also the failure of the PML-N Punjab government. They must be brought to justice for failing to provide security to the minority community.
We are yet to see if Justice Chaudhy takes any suo-moto action and shuffles the PML-N Punjab government, just as he recently shuffled the higher courts all across the country!
Congratulations Miss Ghazala Khan!!
Excellent article and extremely valid points raised.
Well done!!
Blasphemy laws don’t allow any body to take law into hand and kill someone. It is not true that Blasphemy laws are a license to kill. There is need here to educate people.
It is irony that we Muslims desecrate Quran everyday by doing everything in our lives which is prohibited in Quran. All these killings over desecration of Quran are not allowed in Islam and the murderers must be punished according to laws. These are people who are doing every thing in their power to defame Islam and create terror in peoples heart and mind.
No one is suggesting that balsphemy laws allow killings, they only make it easy to settle personal scores with anyone and then blame the victim/s for blasphemy and create mass frenzy. Do you know, at all, how easy it is to blame this on anyone, especially, when a weak minority is the target - yes you making the allegation and your buddy being a witnessing. Of course, this or any such laws which can easily be used to paint anyone for blasphemy are responsible for such abuse and amount to legal umbrella for bastial acts as killings, arson, destruction of properties. These laws are creation of that horrible dictator Zia responsible for all that went astray here.
Killing humanbeings itself an act of blasphemy as far as I consider killing humanbeings as a contempt for God - for life & death must be left alone His concern.
If we Muslims do what the writer, aansa, suggest they do then what do you recommend - kill us all?
Indeed it is our right to kill Non Muslims or even Muslims if we THINK they have committed blasphemy. This is the only way to prove ourselves custodian of Islam and to make our way to Jannah. Unfortunately even after such incidents when the whole nation is condemning this incident we have a majority of people who would be justifying such heinous acts. We have made our minorities’ life miserable and compelled to migrate them to countries. We seriously need to think why country is turning into Sufi Mohammad’s Pakistan rather than Jinnahs.
other countries*
No.
It is the message that should matter.Not the physical form.It’s high time we get rid of laws that can easily be manipulated.
All these incidents show the inherent flaws of Islam which are very many! It is definitely not a perfect religion when there are so many interpretations and Muslims themselves clearly do not know what is written in their holy book which they have been reading for hundreds of years and still trying to figure out what to interpret and what not to.
In a village near Gogra when a small little leaf of Quran is said to have been used in performance of some Christian ritual for sake of omen purpose of bride and groom in a marriage*. The emotional Muslim lot is instigated and houses of entire community are burnt along with everything in them which includes Holy Books of Bible also. Hundreds of Bibles have been burnt in this inferno.
All the Muslim believe that Bible is also Holy book which preceds— The Glorious Quran. Is burning of Bible or any other religious sacred book of other religions not a blasphemy?
When the sacred institution like our supreme court is known to have setting a glaring example to issue so called recent historical judgement which turns up to be self serving judgement and uses that judgement to set personnel scoring and a co vendetta against a particular person; (Musharraf); no wonder the common man will also exercise methods to exploit such draconian laws—–such as blasphemy.
*(There is no authentic report-just a hear say)
Scores of Ahmadies have been beaten to death or sentenced to rot in jails for life for known to have possessing Quran or its related books; even saying of common Muslim greetings; Aslaamo aliakum or were seen saying prayers like Muslims or were found reciting Quran or Allah’s names or Salutations(Daroud) to Prophet Muhammad ( peace be upon Him).
It is blasphemous act no witness required, when any Muslim just says that this Ahmadie was trying to preach me and his religious sentiments are heart. Simply this utterance by any Pakistani Muslim without any second witness is enough to send that Ahmadi down to jail or to beat him up by a mob.
# 13
In second Para; Please amend to read.
……religious sentiments are hurt.
Tanzeel says:
[Indeed it is our right to kill Non Muslims or even Muslims if we THINK they have committed blasphemy. This is the only way to prove ourselves custodian of Islam and to make our way to Jannah. ]
What a self-styled short cut devised to pave a way to Jannah that who so ever that the Pakistanis see him as non Muslim who is seen possessing some relic of Quran or part there of——or seen acting like Muslims; ——create a mob and Kill him?
Tanzeel. Who is your grantor here?
Khokar Sahab,
My reaction was same, pissed, about the first part of Tanzeel’s comment when read first time. On second reading I guess I undersood it to be unintentional error of expression (goofing up in a rush!) at least I am willing to give him benefit of doubt. It is upto Tazeel to explain what he has written; what I thought he meant to say, but didn’t / couldn’t, was that people think, ” Indeed it is our right to kill Non Muslims ………” - immediately after this inadvertant ’slip of tongue’, he continues what I understand as condemnation of such thoughts / people. He says, “Unfortunately even after such incidents when the whole nation is condemning this incident we have a majority of people who would be justifying such heinous acts.” See he calls this incident as well as those who might entertain such screwed up pathology - “HEINOUS ACTS” !
Still, it’s his mess and he must clear it up here!
most of us chant alot that we love “our holy Book” but never try to understand it, killing ppl on the doubt that they had defaced quran is only a foolish act, in our muslim majority country we can see ppl fighting on road and abusing each and other while both have memorized some of Quranic Surah, is it not a contradiction that if Written surah is respectable then why not the memorized one is respectable.
This is just is fanatic but not respect and love to Quran
Aftab it was sarcasm :X — Do you expect me to support these animals who in the name of Islam are ready to do any barbaric act ?
When I said “Indeed it is our right to kill Non Muslims or even Muslims if we THINK they have committed blasphemy. This is the only way to prove ourselves custodian of Islam and to make our way to Jannah.” I meant “Mazhabi Junooni” awam of these areas think on this pattern.
Thanks Tanzil, I didn’t think or expect you with such pathological view of human life. I know and that’s why I took it upon myself to clarify the misunderstanding appears here. Hpefully, Khokar Sahab will also accept this.
Asad Ghauri, you have called the display of such hatred and violence as, ” This is just is fanatic but not respect and love to Quran”. Yes, indeed, it is fanatic as well as satanic!
Thanks!