Islam and blasphemy

Blasphemy in Islam constitutes speaking ill of God, of Muhammad, of any other prophet mentioned in the Qur'an, and of any the Biblical prophets (Jesus, Moses, Abraham, etc). The Qu'ran also states that it is blasphemy to claim that Jesus Christ (the son of Mary) is the son of God (5.017). British author Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses was seen by many Muslims to contain blasphemies against Islam, and Iranian clerical leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in 1989 calling for Rushdie's death. More recently, the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons were criticised in part on the basis that they were blasphemous against Muhammad. The Egyptian government under pressure by the parliament banned the film The Da Vinci Code and is to confiscate the novel for containing blasphemy.

The law describing blasphemy states that "It is sin to badmouth the Creator, Lord, Book and Messenger of Islam." (Not Qur'An). Those doing so will face punishment in the afterlife however repenting is said to be easy and it is not counted as one of the major sins in Islam. Islam recognizes the right of a human to speak at will and any movement to stop that is considered a violation of human rights.

External links

• http://muslim-canada.org/apostasy.htm
• http://www.islamdigital.com/search/islamicsites/islam-blasphemy.html
• http://www.islamicvoice.com/April2006/QuestionHour-DrZakirNaik/
• http://shs.northernontario.org/Sharia/Sharia_2.htm

• See S. Brent Plate's Blasphemy: Art that Offends for more on Islam and blasphemy, especially in relation to imagery.