Despite the fact that there is irrefutable evidence to conclude that blasphemous speech and apostasy are sins, the undisputed primary and only infallible source (according to a majority of scholars) of Islamic theology, philosophy and laws, the Qur’an, mandates no worldly punishment for blasphemy or apostasy, and certainly not death.
Yet our review of the ground realities in Pakistan and Malaysia in the respective context of blasphemy and apostasy reveal that there are serious tensions in these societies. The main conflict revolves around the Islamic legitimacy of existing laws or proposed laws (in the context of the hudud enactment in Malaysia).
As societies aiming to be rooted in Islam, there is a groundswell of interest and support to ensure that laws are consistent with Shari’ah or the divine will. Indeed, surveys have documented widespread support for a return to Islam and Shari’ah. Although there is obvious agreement at this general level, differences undoubtedly emerge as one begins to define Shari’ah. Fiqhi differences and even theological differences ensure that these mean different things to different people.As a number of scholars have argued, the apostasy laws in Malaysia and the blasphemy legislation in Pakistan are the ‘product of undiluted imitation (taqlid) failing to acknowledge the contemporary realities’ of modern society.[858] [859] Blindly abiding by classical rulings on such issues does a disservice to Islam and Muslims. Moreover, they fail to take into consideration the universal and ethical vision imagined by the Qur’an bounded by the maqasid al Shari’ah (higher objectives of Shari’ah). As Shaikh Jamal Badawi noted in the context of apostasy: ‘As religious opinions (fatwas) change with the changing time, place, custom, and circumstances, this issue should be reexamined within the basic boundaries of Islamic jurisprudence...’I48 How can we help change the status quo? This chapter proposes three recommendations to help alter the present direction and ground realities in the Muslim world. These are set out in summary form here, but will be developed further elsewhere. A.
More on the topic Despite the fact that there is irrefutable evidence to conclude that blasphemous speech and apostasy are sins, the undisputed primary and only infallible source (according to a majority of scholars) of Islamic theology, philosophy and laws, the Qur’an, mandates no worldly punishment for blasphemy or apostasy, and certainly not death.:
- This chapter examines the diverse communities of Britain from the ninth century bce to the early fifth century ce, and uses a Web of Violence model to examine the archaeological and primary source evidence for violence in both periods.
- Blasphemy and apostasy laws in the Muslim world: a critical analysis Faisal Kutty
- QUR’ANIC VERSE IN ISLAMIC ART
- Modernity at the Crossroads of Empires Primary Source
- Institutionalised Violence: Qur'an 4:34 and the Islamic Exegetical Tradition
- My source for “Humean Humility” is section 1.4.4 of Hume's Treatise of Human Nature, the section in which he gives his critique of“the modern philosophy.”
- The Qur’an and the Hadith as sources of Islamic law
- Ordinary Justice: A Theology of Islamic Law as a Social Contract
- Laurence Tribe labeled the judicial treatment of laws that restrict liberty in order to affect messages - the content-based regulations that were the subject of the previous chapter - Track One free speech jurisprudence.1
- Islamic Laws and the Muslim Personal Law in India
- The primary legal sources in the classical Sunni view of Islamic law are the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad’s Sunnah/Hadith.
- THE USE AND ABUSE OF EVIDENCE: THE QUESTION OF PROVINCIAL AND ROMAN INFLUENCES ON EARLY ISLAMIC LAW*
- Source material and source criticism
- Despite militants' frequent attempts to claim that mainstream institutions and scholars are irrelevant, mainstream narratives undoubtedly offer an influential role in Muslim and non-Muslim understandings of the Islamic regulation of armed conflict.
- Track Three: Government Speech and Subsidies of Speech
- In addition, in response to domestic political pressure, several Muslim countries in the 1970s and 1980s attempted to Islamize their legal systems by amending commercial or criminal laws in order to make them more consistent with purported Islamic legal doctrine.
- To Conclude