The roots of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws can be traced back to the British colonial rule in India, but their harsher clauses were added to the Pakistan Penal Code during a wave of intense Islamization in the 1980s. Everyone in Pakistan is threatened by the misuse of these laws, even Muslims; however a disproportionate number of victims targeted by these laws have come from two minority groups, the Ahmadis and Christians. Dr Qaiser Julius focuses on how these two groups have been affected by Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, their different reactions to these laws, and more specifically, why they are responding differently despite living under the same circumstances. In this well-structured and understandable study, Julius provides a valuable tool for Christians to understand what it means to be a minority in a hostile culture. This thorough analysis presents a way forward for the Christian church in Pakistan, providing hope amidst the discrimination and persecution.
Dr Julius focuses on how Ahmadis and Christians have been affected by Pakistan's blasphemy laws, their reactions to these laws, and why they respond differently. He provides a tool for Christians to understand what it means to be a minority in a hostile culture and presents a way forward for the Christian church.
In this book, Mashal Saif explores how contemporary 'ulama, the guardians of religious knowledge and law, engage with the world's most populated Islamic nation-state: Pakistan. In mapping these engagements, she weds rigorous textual analysis with fieldwork and offers insight into some of the most significant and politically charged issues in recent Pakistani history. These include debates over the rights of women; the country's notorious blasphemy laws; the legitimacy of religiously mandated insurrection against the state; sectarian violence; and the place of Shi'as within the Sunni majority nation. These diverse case studies are knit together by the project's most significant contribution: a theoretical framework that understands the 'ulama's complex engagements with their state as a process of both contestation and cultivation of the Islamic Republic by citizen-subjects. This framework provides a new way of assessing state - 'ulama relations not only in contemporary Pakistan but also across the Muslim world.
A data-driven explanation of when successful religious parties reduce the civil liberties of their citizens in Muslim-majority countries and when they don't. Religious parties are increasingly common across the world. More and more, they participate in elections, win legislative seats, and join governments, particularly in Muslim-majority countries. Since they are often founded on orthodox principles that are inconsistent with liberal democracy, their rise potentially holds consequences for the prospects of liberal democratic values and practices-and this risk has inspired much heated debate. In Religious Parties and the Politics of Civil Liberties, the award-winning political science scholar Vineeta Yadav considers a question that has been central to the discussion: Will the success of religious parties lead to declines in the civil liberties of their citizens? Yadav summarizes the popular and academic sides of the conversation and addresses the weaknesses of both by presenting an original empirical analysis of religious parties' actual relationship to civil liberties. Many believe that if religious parties come to power, they will curb civil liberties in order to realize their religious visions. Academic research on religious parties, however, claims that the need to compete in elections incentivizes religious parties to moderate their behaviors and policies, including on civil liberties. Neither of these assertions has been systematically tested until now. With this book, Yadav adjudicates the debate using systematic data that covers all Muslim-majority countries for a period of almost forty years. She highlights the role that religious lobbies play in this issue and goes on to identify the specific conditions under which religious parties do or don't curb civil liberties. A sweeping comparative account that combines large-N analysis with focused studies of Turkey and Pakistan, this book will reshape our understanding of the relationship between religious party strength and the preservation of civil liberties.
How can we make religious equality a reality for those on the margins of society and politics? This book is about the individual and collective struggles of the religiously marginalised to be recognised and their inequalities, religious or otherwise, redressed. It is also about the efforts of civil society, governments, multilateral actors, and scholars to promote freedom of religion or belief whatever shape they take. The actors and contexts that feature in this book are as diverse as health workers in Israel, local education authorities in Nigeria, indigenous movements in India, Uganda, or South Africa, and multilateral actors such as the Islamic Development Bank in Sudan and the World Bank in Pakistan. Some of the case studies engage with development discourses and narratives or are undertaken by development actors, while other cases operate completely outside the international development paradigm. These case studies present some important insights, which while highly relevant for their contexts also draw out important insights for academics, practitioners, activists, and others who have an interest in redressing religious inequalities for socioeconomically marginalised populations.
This volume examines both historical developments and contemporary expressions of blasphemy across the world. The transgression of religious boundaries incurs more or less severe sanctions in various religious traditions. This book looks at how religious and political authorities use ideas about blasphemy as a means of control. In a globalised world where people of different faiths interact more than ever before and world-views are an increasingly important part of identity politics, religious boundaries are a source of controversy. The book goes beyond many others in this field by widening its scope beyond the legal aspects of freedom of expression. Approaching blasphemy as effective speech, the chapters in this book focus on real-life situations and ask the following questions: who are the blasphemers, who are their accusers and what does blasphemy accomplish? Utilising case studies from Europe, the Middle East and Asia that encompass a wide variety of faith traditions, the book guides readers to a more nuanced appreciation of the historical roots, political implications and religious rationale of attitudes towards blasphemy. Incorporating historical and contemporary approaches to blasphemy, this book will be of great use to academics in Religious Studies and the Sociology of Religion as well as Political Science, Media Studies, History.
Under the guise of Islamic law, the prophet Muhammad’s Islam, and the Qur’an, states such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Bangladesh are using blasphemy laws to suppress freedom of speech. Yet the Prophet never tried or executed anyone for blasphemy, nor does the Qur’an authorize the practice. Asserting that blasphemy laws are neither Islamic nor Qur‘anic, Shemeem Burney Abbas traces the evolution of these laws from the Islamic empires that followed the death of the Prophet Muhammad to the present-day Taliban. Her pathfinding study on the shari’a and gender demonstrates that Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are the inventions of a military state that manipulates discourse in the name of Islam to exclude minorities, women, free thinkers, and even children from the rights of citizenship. Abbas herself was persecuted under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, so she writes from both personal experience and years of scholarly study. Her analysis exposes the questionable motives behind Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which were resurrected during General Zia-ul-Haq’s regime of 1977–1988—motives that encompassed gaining geopolitical control of the region, including Afghanistan, in order to weaken the Soviet Union. Abbas argues that these laws created a state-sponsored “infidel” ideology that now affects global security as militant groups such as the Taliban justify violence against all “infidels” who do not subscribe to their interpretation of Islam. She builds a strong case for the suspension of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and for a return to the Prophet’s peaceful vision of social justice.
The laws and legislation in Pakistan related to religious offences are intended to protect all religious communities, but have also become a significant threat to communities of religious minorities who are vulnerable to false accusation, violent retribution outside of the judicial system, and erroneous convictions that sometimes even lead to the death penalty. What is not well known is how these laws came about; from originally being designed in Chapter XV of the Pakistan Penal Code, to safeguard all religions of British India. Dr F. A. Nazir places the discussion of offences relating to religion in the historical context of the south Asian subcontinent, the institution of penal codes in British India during the colonial period, and developments in legislation after 1947 independence and the creation of the state of Pakistan and in postcolonialism. Dr Nazir’s historical and legal analysis demonstrates how these laws affect indigenous Christian communities and other religious minorities, including Muslim groups. Nazir’s thorough and rigorous historical research brings important understanding and reflection to contemporary religious laws, religious rights and multi-faith society in Pakistan.
“A global journey revealing multiple expressions of the Islamic faith... We no longer have any excuse to train others to reach all Muslims in the same way.”—J. D. Payne What do you do when “Islam” does not adequately describe the Muslims you know? Margins of Islam brings together a stellar collection of experienced missionary scholar-practitioners who explain their own approaches to a diversity of Muslims across the world. Each chapter grapples with a context that is significantly different from the way Islam is traditionally presented in mission texts. These crucial differences may be theological, socio-political, ethnic, or a specific variation of Islam in a context— but they all shape the way we do mission. This book will help you discover Islam as a lived experience in various settings and equip you to engage Muslims in any context, including your own.
"People accused of violating Pakistan's draconian 'blasphemy laws' face proceedings that are glaringly flawed, said the ICJ in a new report published today. 'Pakistan's blasphemy laws fly in the face of Pakistan's international legal obligations, including the duties to respect the rights of freedom of expression and freedom of religion and belief,' said Sam Zarifi, ICJ's Asia Director. 'But even worse, those facing accusations of blasphemy suffer through trials that are often fundamentally unfair.' In the 60-page report On Trial: the Implementation of Pakistan's Blasphemy Laws, the ICJ has documented in detail systematic and widespread fair trial violations in proceedings related to blasphemy offences in Pakistan, particularly in trial courts. Some of the problems documented in the report include: Intimidation and harassment of judges and lawyers that impede on the independence of the judiciary and the right to a defense; Demonstrable bias and prejudice against defendants by judges during the course of blasphemy proceedings and in judgments; Violations of the right to effective assistance of counsel; Rejection of bail and prolonged pre-trial detention; Incompetent investigation and prosecution that do not meet due diligence requirements under the law; The prosecution and detention of people living with mental disabilities; Inhumane conditions of detention and imprisonment, including prolonged solitary confinement. Pakistan's laws on 'offences related to religion'--sections 295-298-C of the Penal Code that are commonly known as 'blasphemy laws'--include a variety of crimes including misusing religious epithets, 'defiling' the Holy Quran, deliberately outraging religious sentiment, and using derogatory remarks in respect of the Prophet Muhammad. Sentences for these offences range from fines to long terms of imprisonment, and in the case of defamation of the Prophet Muhammad (section 295-C), a mandatory death sentence. 'Section 295 is a relic of the British colonial system that lends itself to human rights violations, including in Pakistan, India, Myanmar, and elsewhere,' Zarifi said. 'In Pakistan, General Zia-ul-Haq made additions to the laws that made them truly draconian.' Based on the analysis of over 100 judgments of the high courts and courts of first instance from 1986-2015 as well as interviews with defendants in blasphemy cases, their families, and defense counsel; judges, lawyers and police officials; and human rights activists, the report found: In 19 out of 25 cases under section 295-C (defamation of the Prophet Muhammad) studied by the ICJ, high courts have acquitted individuals convicted for blasphemy by trial courts. Glaring procedural irregularities and mala fide complaints are the grounds for acquittal on appeal in over 80 per cent of cases; Even in cases that ultimately result in acquittal, blasphemy proceedings suffer from undue delay--proceedings in trial courts can take on average three years, and appeals can take even longer, more than five years on average; Individuals accused of blasphemy under section 295-C are frequently denied bail even though they meet requirements under the law; Individuals detained pending trial or convicted for blasphemy are often kept in prolonged solitary confinement, at times, over a number of years. The report also confirms concerns recently raised by the Supreme Court of Pakistan that individuals accused of blasphemy 'suffer beyond proportion or repair', in the absence of adequate safeguards against misapplication or misuse of such blasphemy laws, the Geneva-based organization says. The ICJ has also made a number of recommendations to the Pakistani executive, legislative and judicial branches to address the defects in the framing of the blasphemy laws as well as of the shortcomings at the investigative, prosecutorial, procedural, administrative and judicial levels highlighted in the report to minimize the misuse of the blasphemy laws and ensure that those accused of blasphemy have a fair chance at defending themselves. 'It's time Pakistan and other countries got rid of these noxious laws, which continue to stifle freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief, and instead promote extremism and intolerance,' Zarifi added."--
