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| Primary Concepts : Apostasy (Blasphemy
and Heresy) |
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Muslims regard heresy and
blasphemy (ilhad in Arabic) as very serious transgressions,
tantamount to religious treason. Rejecting or defaming Islam,
the Prophet Muhammad, other prophets, and the Quran fall into
this category.
Some Muslim nations -- Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, for example
-- have criminal laws dictating the death penalty for apostates,
heretics and blasphemers, despite the Quran’s statements
“let there be no compulsion in religion” (Surah
2:256) and “let him who will, believe, and let him who
will, reject [God’s truth]” (Surah 18:29).
Citing shari’a, or Islamic law, Muslim religious courts
have sentenced those considered guilty of blasphemy or heresy
to death. Two well-publicized recent cases in which death penalties
were levied, but not carried out, involved the novelists Salman
Rushdie and Taslima Nasareen.
In Rushdie’s case, the former Iranian spiritual leader
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini condemned the author to death in
absentia on Feb. 14, 1989, for allegedly blaspheming the Prophet
Muhammad and the Quran in his novel, “The Satanic Verses.”
Though the ruling was never formally rescinded, Rushdie has
continued to publish books and novels, and make frequent public
appearances. |
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