blasphemy Law Amendment

For the past few days, sections of Pakistan’s religious establishment have been protesting loudly against any discussion of reforming the country’s blasphemy laws. But there is a question that deserves an equally loud answer: if someone knowingly makes a false blasphemy allegation against an innocent Muslim—or any innocent person—why shouldn’t the law also hold the false accuser accountable? Why is the same religious establishment not demanding such a reform with the same intensity? This discussion also raises a deeper historical and religious question. Javed Ahmad Ghamidi has repeatedly argued that the modern laws dealing with blasphemy against the Prophet, religion, the Qur’an, or even laws concerning denial of God do not have a direct source in the Qur’an, Hadith, or classical Islamic jurisprudence in the form in which they exist today. So where did these laws actually come from? Many ordinary Pakistanis are given the impression that the country’s blasphemy laws are ancient Islamic laws that have existed in essentially the same form for centuries. But the legal history is considerably more complicated. Sections 295 and 298 were incorporated into the Indian Penal Code under British rule in 1860. Following the “Rangila Rasul” controversy in the 1920s, Section 295-A was introduced in 1927 to criminalize deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings. Section 295-C, dealing specifically with derogatory remarks concerning the Prophet Muhammad PBUH, was introduced into Pakistan’s legal framework in 1986 through a later political and legislative process. #religion #islam #history #laws #muslim #religious #faith