How to be a blasphemer in Pakistan - a muslim country?
This article was condensed from an article in the Guardian titled: 'How to commit blasphemy in Pakistan'
Author: Mohammed Hanif
Web link: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/05/pakistans-blasphemy-laws-colossal-absurdity
I would advice you to read the article in its entirety from the link above. If it is not available, please contact me and I can email it to you. Thanks.
Author: Mohammed Hanif
Web link: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/05/pakistans-blasphemy-laws-colossal-absurdity
I would advice you to read the article in its entirety from the link above. If it is not available, please contact me and I can email it to you. Thanks.
A young girl carrying trash in a plastic bag in a slum in the capital of Pakistan is not likely to arouse much curiosity. Unless the girl is a Christian. ... a young man, Hammad, takes the trash bag to the local mosque to show it to the imam, Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti, who decides that the contents of the bag are, blasphemous but wonders if they are blasphemous enough. So he inserts some pages of the Qur'an in the trash bag. What the girl was carrying was a book of alphabets, taught to children, may or may not have had a verse from the Qur'an in it. Reproducing an image of the contents of this trash bag would be blasphemous, so we are never likely to know. We discover the imam's role two weeks later when one of the imam's deputies cracks up. We are still not sure if she is 11 or 14. Her family has gone into hiding; another 300 Christian families have been forced to leave their homes and are struggling to find shelter in one of the Islamabad forests.
So what can constitute blasphemy under the blasphemy law, which has killed dozens in the past decade, made thousands homeless and millions live in permanent fear about what might be found in their trashcan. It's up to the lawyers to argue over how to avoid: "Whoever by words, either spoken or written or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles …" but here are some of the everyday situations that can turn you into a blasphemer:
1. Transporting ashes in a plastic bag to a rubbish dump, as has happened in Masih's case.
2. Discussing conjugal rights according to Islam with fellow Muslims if you disagree with them.
3. Not minding your spellings. Last year a teacher checking exam papers called in the police after he found blasphemous material in an answer sheet. The police wouldn't reveal the exact material because that, you know, would be blasphemous.
4. Writing a novel called Blasphemy.
5. Writing a children's poem with a lion as its central character. Pakistan's most famous social activist, Akhtar Hameed Khan, tried his hand at a poem like that and spent his last years in courts facing blasphemy charges.
6. Refusing someone a drink of water. Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, who among other blasphemous things (which can't be repeated for reasons by now obvious to the readers of this article) refused her co-workers a drink of water. The local imam accused her of blasphemy. The then governor, Salman Taseer, came out in her support, talked about changing the law, and was killed by his own police bodyguard. The policeman's picture adorns many shops and businesses in Pakistan. Taseer's name has become synonymous with "going too far". And nobody, wants to mention Bibi's name in a discussion about blasphemy law.
7. Throwing away a visiting card. The salesman had Muhammad as part of his name.
So what can constitute blasphemy under the blasphemy law, which has killed dozens in the past decade, made thousands homeless and millions live in permanent fear about what might be found in their trashcan. It's up to the lawyers to argue over how to avoid: "Whoever by words, either spoken or written or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles …" but here are some of the everyday situations that can turn you into a blasphemer:
1. Transporting ashes in a plastic bag to a rubbish dump, as has happened in Masih's case.
2. Discussing conjugal rights according to Islam with fellow Muslims if you disagree with them.
3. Not minding your spellings. Last year a teacher checking exam papers called in the police after he found blasphemous material in an answer sheet. The police wouldn't reveal the exact material because that, you know, would be blasphemous.
4. Writing a novel called Blasphemy.
5. Writing a children's poem with a lion as its central character. Pakistan's most famous social activist, Akhtar Hameed Khan, tried his hand at a poem like that and spent his last years in courts facing blasphemy charges.
6. Refusing someone a drink of water. Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, who among other blasphemous things (which can't be repeated for reasons by now obvious to the readers of this article) refused her co-workers a drink of water. The local imam accused her of blasphemy. The then governor, Salman Taseer, came out in her support, talked about changing the law, and was killed by his own police bodyguard. The policeman's picture adorns many shops and businesses in Pakistan. Taseer's name has become synonymous with "going too far". And nobody, wants to mention Bibi's name in a discussion about blasphemy law.
7. Throwing away a visiting card. The salesman had Muhammad as part of his name.
Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd
This is only a part of the article and I had to delete many words within this excerpt so as to fit in in the 500 word limit.
This is only a part of the article and I had to delete many words within this excerpt so as to fit in in the 500 word limit.