Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes Are Choking Freedom Worldwide by Paul Marshall, Nina Shea Page A
Authors: Paul Marshall, Nina Shea
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Yemen in March 2010, several leading Muslim scholars declared that people pushing for a ban on child brides were apostates.
Vague Charges
One of our main findings is that “blasphemy,” “insulting Islam,” and even “apostasy,” not to mention a myriad of other related offenses, have no clear definitions; what is perceived as an offense varies not only from country to country, but also within countries and regions. Even there, they can be in constant flux. This means that many persons do not know, and cannot know, at any given time and place what is prohibited and what is not. In 2009, Islam Samham, a Jordanian poet and journalist, was sentenced to a year in prison for apostasy for “combining the sacred words of the Qur’an with sexual themes.” In usually secular Turkey, one can be punished for insulting the “Turkish nation,” which can incorporate a religious dimension because Islam is regarded as an integral part of the Turkish nation.
The possible breadth of what can be banned as blasphemy appears almost limitless. The late Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Baz, while Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, declared, “Those who claim that the earth is round and moving around the sun are condemned as apostates and their blood can be shed and their property can be taken in the name of God.” He annulled the fatwa in 1985, but for a ten-year period in the late twentieth century, any Copernican in Saudi Arabia was thus declared by the highest religious authority as someone who should be killed and stripped of property. Bin Baz also attempted to provide a comprehensive list of religiously forbidden expressions, including “say[ing] that enforcing the punishments prescribed by Allah, such as amputation of the hand of a thief or stoning of an adulterer, is not suitable for this day and age.” He condemned the belief that any system or law that is human in origin can be better than sharia, which would condemn the majority of governments across the Islamic world, most of which have constitutions and incorporate non-sharia laws in their legal and judicial systems. He also listed as banned the belief that “Islam is merely a relationship between Allah and the individual, and that it should not interfere in other aspects of life,” a view that would render many Muslims apostate. 6 His fatwas remain in force after his death and are disseminated by the Saudi government around the world. The Saudi government expects such fatwas of its highest religious authorities to be enforced through temporal punishments and, within its borders, seeks to ensure that they are.
Saudi Arabia punishes those whom it deems
mushrikun
, or “polytheists.” The term “polytheist” can be used expansively, including against those who celebrate the prophet’s birthday, since this can be deemed “an act of imitating Christians.” (Christians and Shias are also called “polytheists.”) This can also have a multiplier effect whereby “[a]nyone who does not consider the polytheists (
mushrikun
) to be unbelievers, or who has doubts concerning their unbelief, or considers their way to be correct, is himself an unbeliever (
kafir
).” So if you do not celebrate the prophet’s birthday, but do not think that those who do so are polytheists, then you too may be a polytheist. Perhaps you might be a polytheist if you disagree with this. Other possible charges in the Kingdom include witchcraft, sorcery, and “harboring destructive thoughts.”
Malaysia works on the premise that Muslim Malaysians are very easily confused, and so it outlaws religious speech that could “create confusion among Muslims” or might contain “twisted facts that can undermine the faith of Muslims.” Pakistan’s blasphemy laws can be violated “by any imputation, innuendo or insinuation, directly or indirectly,” which makes knowing when the law is violated extremely difficult. Iran has probably the widest range of crimes, including “friendship with the enemies of God”
Vague Charges
One of our main findings is that “blasphemy,” “insulting Islam,” and even “apostasy,” not to mention a myriad of other related offenses, have no clear definitions; what is perceived as an offense varies not only from country to country, but also within countries and regions. Even there, they can be in constant flux. This means that many persons do not know, and cannot know, at any given time and place what is prohibited and what is not. In 2009, Islam Samham, a Jordanian poet and journalist, was sentenced to a year in prison for apostasy for “combining the sacred words of the Qur’an with sexual themes.” In usually secular Turkey, one can be punished for insulting the “Turkish nation,” which can incorporate a religious dimension because Islam is regarded as an integral part of the Turkish nation.
The possible breadth of what can be banned as blasphemy appears almost limitless. The late Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Baz, while Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, declared, “Those who claim that the earth is round and moving around the sun are condemned as apostates and their blood can be shed and their property can be taken in the name of God.” He annulled the fatwa in 1985, but for a ten-year period in the late twentieth century, any Copernican in Saudi Arabia was thus declared by the highest religious authority as someone who should be killed and stripped of property. Bin Baz also attempted to provide a comprehensive list of religiously forbidden expressions, including “say[ing] that enforcing the punishments prescribed by Allah, such as amputation of the hand of a thief or stoning of an adulterer, is not suitable for this day and age.” He condemned the belief that any system or law that is human in origin can be better than sharia, which would condemn the majority of governments across the Islamic world, most of which have constitutions and incorporate non-sharia laws in their legal and judicial systems. He also listed as banned the belief that “Islam is merely a relationship between Allah and the individual, and that it should not interfere in other aspects of life,” a view that would render many Muslims apostate. 6 His fatwas remain in force after his death and are disseminated by the Saudi government around the world. The Saudi government expects such fatwas of its highest religious authorities to be enforced through temporal punishments and, within its borders, seeks to ensure that they are.
Saudi Arabia punishes those whom it deems
mushrikun
, or “polytheists.” The term “polytheist” can be used expansively, including against those who celebrate the prophet’s birthday, since this can be deemed “an act of imitating Christians.” (Christians and Shias are also called “polytheists.”) This can also have a multiplier effect whereby “[a]nyone who does not consider the polytheists (
mushrikun
) to be unbelievers, or who has doubts concerning their unbelief, or considers their way to be correct, is himself an unbeliever (
kafir
).” So if you do not celebrate the prophet’s birthday, but do not think that those who do so are polytheists, then you too may be a polytheist. Perhaps you might be a polytheist if you disagree with this. Other possible charges in the Kingdom include witchcraft, sorcery, and “harboring destructive thoughts.”
Malaysia works on the premise that Muslim Malaysians are very easily confused, and so it outlaws religious speech that could “create confusion among Muslims” or might contain “twisted facts that can undermine the faith of Muslims.” Pakistan’s blasphemy laws can be violated “by any imputation, innuendo or insinuation, directly or indirectly,” which makes knowing when the law is violated extremely difficult. Iran has probably the widest range of crimes, including “friendship with the enemies of God”
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