Post date: 20-Nov-2010 13:29:13
The death sentence delivered to Asia Bibi has led to this simple woman being proclaimed a heroine by radical Christians and raised many issues for Muslims. Quite apart from the question of whether blasphemy in general merits so severe a potential punishment it must be asked, based upon reports of the case, if this woman has had a fair trial and the Islamic precepts of justice have been applied? However, there are many unanswered questions in this case.
“In June 2009, Asia was asked to fetch water while out working in the fields. But Muslim women labourers objected, saying that as a non-Muslim, she should not touch the water bowl.
A few days later the women went to a local cleric and alleged that Asia made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammed.” AFP
“The court heard she had been working as a farmhand in fields with other women, when she was asked to fetch drinking water.
Some of the other women – all Muslims – refused to drink the water as it had been brought by a Christian and was therefore "unclean", according to Mrs Bibi's evidence, sparking a row.
The incident was forgotten until a few days later when Mrs Bibi said she was set upon by a mob” Telegraph
From these reports it seems that the accusations arise from a group of women who had initiated an argument with her previously. Their accusations stem from this argument and any doubt on their testimony or indication of collusion between them reduces the value or negates their evidence. These same women are reported to have been part of the mob which attacked her and precipitated the arrest.
The women’s pre-existing prejudice towards her is assertable since Mrs Bibi in attempting to obey an instruction to “fetch drinking water” was acting as a servant under the instructions of a Muslim in authority making her technically pak (spiritually pure). What was said to her in the heat of the Sun that inflamed everyone there? Is there evidence of previous abuse and provocation?
Did someone amongst those women insult Jesus (as) or Christianity while insulting Mrs Bibi in the argument over a cup of water? If so, then they have brought Islam into disrepute by breaking a command of Allah (swt) given clearly in the Qur’an and have committed, caused and are complicit to subsequent blasphemy.
006.108
Revile not ye those whom they call upon besides Allah, lest they out of spite revile Allah in their ignorance. Thus have We made alluring to each people its own doings. In the end will they return to their Lord, and We shall then tell them the truth of all that they did.
What was Mrs Bibi’s state of mind when those words, which she denies, were uttered? Was she aware of anything she said in temper? Whatever she did or did not say, was she mentally competent to be held responsible? Verse 6:108 is absolutely clear in making the provocation the crime and ensuring that an ignorant response must dealt with by Allah (swt) alone. Even if those women did not revile a prophet (as) or the belief that Mrs Bibi has in him (as) they had perhaps, what was said certainly caused an argument, openly abused her human dignity which is in itself an act of oppression (zulm) forbidden to Muslims.
049.011
O ye who believe! Let not some men among you laugh at others: It may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): Nor let some women laugh at others: It may be that the (latter are better than the (former): Nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other, nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames: Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, (to be used of one) after he has believed: And those who do not desist are (indeed) doing wrong.
The blasphemy law in Pakistan is a relic of an authoritarian and oppressive Government that should be replaced with something better but while it is part of that nation’s statutes it is essential for judges and Islamic scholars to ensure that beyond doubt that a crime has been committed against Islam according to the ordinance, tenets and precepts of Islamic jurisprudence. They have a duty to firmly guide people to the pathway prescribed by Allah (swt) in the Qur’an and by the sunnah of His (swt) Prophet Muhammad Mustafa (saw) and resist being swayed or swept along by streams of hysteria and ignorance. It is our duty to protect Islam and its reputation even, or particularly, when the majority support an un-Islamic path. Judges and scholars must remember and remind others that-
004.112
But if any one earns a fault or a sin and throws it on to one that is innocent, He carries (on himself) (Both) a falsehood and a flagrant sin