Editing Blasphemy (section)

===Islam===

[[File:Brooklyn Museum - The Execution of Mansur Hallaj From the Warren Hastings Album.jpg|thumb|Sufi teacher [[Mansur Al-Hallaj]] was executed in Baghdad amid political intrigue and charges of blasphemy in 922.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Avery|first1=Kenneth|title=Psychology of Early Sufi Sama: Listening and Altered States|date=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-31106-9|page=3}}</ref>]]
{{Main|Islam and blasphemy}}

====Punishment and definition====
{{anchor | Punishment in Islam }}

Blasphemy in [[Islam]] is impious utterance or action concerning [[God in Islam|God]], [[Muhammad in Islam|Muhammad]] or anything considered sacred in Islam.<ref>"[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/blasphemy Blasphemy]" at dictionary.com</ref><ref name="Wiederhold, Lutz 1997">Wiederhold, Lutz. "Blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad and his companions (sabb al-rasul, sabb al-sahabah): The introduction of the topic into shafi'i legal literature and its relevance for legal practice under Mamluk rule". ''Journal of semitic studies'' '''42'''.1 (1997): 39–70.</ref> The [[Quran]] admonishes blasphemy, but does not specify any worldly punishment for blasphemy.<ref name="SaeedSaeed2004">{{Cite book |last1 = Saeed |first1 = Abdullah |last2 = Saeed |first2= Hassan |title = Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam |publisher = Ashgate Publishing Company |year = 2004 |location = Burlington VT |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sjQKAQAAMAAJ&q=Freedom+of+Religion,+Apostasy+and+Islam |isbn = 978-0-7546-3083-8|pages=38–39}}</ref> The [[hadith]]s, which are another source of [[Sharia]], suggest various punishments for blasphemy, which may include [[Capital and corporal punishment in Islam|death]].<ref name="SaeedSaeed2004"/><ref>Siraj Khan. ''Blasphemy against the Prophet, in Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture'' (ed: Coeli Fitzpatrick PhD, Adam Hani Walker). {{ISBN|978-1-61069-177-2}}, pp. 59–67.</ref> However, it has been argued that the death penalty applies only to cases where there is [[Treason#Muslim countries|treason]] involved that may seriously harm the [[Muslim]] community, especially during times of war.<ref>{{cite book|author=Taha Jabir Alalwani|url=http://iiit.org/iiitftp/publications/Bibs/Books-in-Brief%20Apostasy%20in%20Islam%20A%20Historical%20and%20Scriptural%20Analysis.pdf|title=Apostasy in Islam: a Historical and Scriptural Analysis|location=Herndon, VA|publisher=International Institute of Islamic Thought|year=2012|isbn=978-1-56564-585-1|type=Archived copy |access-date=2015-09-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219032457/http://iiit.org/iiitftp/publications/Bibs/Books-in-Brief%20Apostasy%20in%20Islam%20A%20Historical%20and%20Scriptural%20Analysis.pdf |archive-date=19 February 2015}}</ref> Different traditional [[Madhhab|schools of jurisprudence]] prescribe different punishment for blasphemy, depending on whether the blasphemer is Muslim or non-Muslim, a man or a woman.<ref name="SaeedSaeed2004"/> In the modern [[Muslim world]], the laws pertaining to blasphemy [[Blasphemy law|vary by country]], and some countries prescribe punishments consisting of fines, imprisonment, [[Zanjeer zani|flogging]], [[hanging]], or [[Beheading in Islam|beheading]].<ref name=psns>P Smith (2003). "Speak No Evil: Apostasy, Blasphemy and Heresy in Malaysian Syariah Law". ''UC Davis Journal Int'l Law & Policy''. 10, pp. 357–373.
* N Swazo (2014). "The Case of Hamza Kashgari: Examining Apostasy, Heresy, and Blasphemy Under Sharia". ''The Review of Faith & International Affairs'' '''12'''(4). pp.&nbsp;16–26.</ref> Blasphemy laws were rarely enforced in pre-modern Islamic societies, but in the modern era some states and radical groups have used charges of blasphemy in an effort to burnish their religious credentials and gain popular support at the expense of liberal Muslim intellectuals and religious minorities.<ref name=failed3>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Islam|title=Blasphemy|editor= Juan Eduardo Campo|publisher=Infobase Publishing|year=2009}}</ref> In recent years, accusations of blasphemy against Islam have sparked international controversies and played part in incidents of mob violence and assassinations of prominent figures.

====Failed OIC anti-blasphemy campaign at UN====
{{anchor |  UN  | IOC campaign | IOC UN campaign | Islamic Cooperation's UN campaign }}
{{Main|Blasphemy and the United Nations}}

The campaign for worldwide criminal penalties for the "defamation of religions" had been spearheaded by [[Organisation of Islamic Cooperation]] (OIC) on behalf of the United Nations' large Muslim bloc. The campaign ended in 2011 when the proposal was withdrawn in Geneva, in the Human Rights Council because of lack of support, marking an end to the effort to establish worldwide blasphemy strictures along the lines of those in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. This resolution had passed every year since 1999, in the United Nations, with declining number of "yes" votes with each successive year.<ref name=failed1>[http://www.nationalreview.com/article/263450/anti-blasphemy-measure-laid-rest-nina-shea An Anti-Blasphemy Measure Laid to Rest] Nina Shea, National Review (31 March 2011)</ref> In the early 21st century, blasphemy became an issue in the [[United Nations]] (UN). The United Nations passed several resolutions which called upon the world to take action against the "defamation of religions".<ref>U.N. Resolutions:
* [http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=A/RES/60/150&Lang=E A/RES/60/150]
* [http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=A/60/PV.64&Lang=E Vote on 16 December 2005 (A/60/PV.64)]
</ref> However, in July 2011, the [[UN Human Rights Committee]] (UNHRC) released a 52-paragraph statement which affirmed the freedom of speech and rejected the laws banning "display of lack of respect for a religion or other belief system'.<ref name=failed2>[http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/GC34.pdf General Comment 34]</ref>

====Depictions of Muhammad====
{{see|Depictions of Muhammad}}

When the Danish newspaper [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy|''Jyllands-Posten'' decided to publish cartoons of Muhammad]], its editor-in-chief wrote an editorial that the newspaper was publishing the cartoons because Muslims had to get over their "sickly oversensitivity". Another editor looked upon it as a cultural initiation: "By making fun of people we're also including them in our society. It's not always easy for those concerned, but that the price they're got to pay".<ref>
Laborde C. The Danish Cartoon Controversy and the Challenges of Multicultural Politics: A Discussion of The Cartoons That Shook the World. Perspectives on Politics. 2011;9(3):603-605. doi:10.1017/S1537592711002817</ref> Editors expressed concern that Danish comedians, artists and so on were self-censoring because they were afraid of a violent response from Muslims. 

The global protests that erupted in February 2006 shocked the artists who submitted cartoons. After receiving a bomb threat one cartoonist was angry that Muslims fleeing persecution in their own countries would "want the laws they have fled" to be enforced in Denmark. The editors stood their ground: "Everyone had to accept being subject to satire."<ref name=Klausen>{{cite book |last=Klausen |first=Jytte |title=The Cartoons That Shook the World |publisher=Yale University Press |date=2009}}</ref>

[[Al Qaeda]] claimed responsibility for a car bombing at the Danish embassy in [[Islamabad, Pakistan]] in June 2008 which they said was revenge for the "insulting drawings".<ref name=Klausen/>

After the [[Charlie Hebdo attack]] in 2015 ''[[Je Suis Charlie]]'' became a rallying cry for secular, free speech advocates. The attacks took place in France where the culture of militant secularism celebrates blasphemy but permits viewpoint based restrictions and prior restraint of speech. [[Emmanuel Todd]] was very skeptical and critical of the "right to blasphemy" narrative. Skeptics thought it amounted to little more than ridicule of a marginalized group. Scholars rebutting Todd's study have found that many of the protestors were liberal, tolerant people who did not have Islamophobic or xenophobic views. For many of the ''Je Suis Charlie'' protestors the sentiment of the protest was simply: it is not ok to kill someone because they have offended you.<ref>{{cite book |title=After Charlie Hebdo: Terror, Racism and Free Speech |publisher=Zed Books |date=2017 |page=53-9}}</ref>