Occasional Paper No. 4

Description

Pakistani Blasphemy Law between Head and Siyāsah (Occasional Paper No. 4)

INTRODUCTION

The Pakistani law on offences against religion (Pakistan Penal Code Sections 295-298C), often termed as blasphemy law, has been the subject of much controversy in the recent past.¹ The present paper traces the historical development of the Pakistani blasphemy law and then examines the various issues relating to this law from the perspective of the Hanafi jurisprudence. The Federal Shariat Court (FSC) in its landmark judgment on blasphemy, Ismail Qureshi & the Government of Pakistan,² primarily relied on the principles of Islamic law regarding apostasy, while a non-Muslim cannot be deemed to have committed apostasy. Significantly, the Hanafi jurists discuss the consequences of blasphemy committed by a non-Muslim under the concept of the termination of the contract of aman (peace). Unfortunately, these aspects of the issue have been overlooked by the Court. The paper, therefore, makes a case for reappraisal of the Pakistani law on blasphemy in the light of the principles of the Hanafi school.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Muhammad Mushtaq Ahmad is Associate Professor of Law and Director-General of the Shariah Academy, International Islamic University, Islamabad. His LLM dissertation titled legitimacy of armed liberation struggle in Islamic and contemporary international law. Dr. Mushtaq obtained his PhD in Islamic law Jurisprudence and his dissertation concerned the administration of criminal justice in Islam with focus on Islamization of criminal laws in Pakistan. He is the author of three books: Jihad, Muzahamat awr Baghawat (2008, 2012 and 2016), Hududu Qawanin (2006) and Royat-e-Hilal (2017). He also translated a book on International Humanitarian Law and Islam (ICRC:2012). He is also a contributing editor for the second volume of the Integrated Encyclopedia of the Qur’an. He is widely published on various aspects of Islamic law, criminal law and international law. He also assists the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Federal Shariat Cout as Jurisconsult and Advises the International Committee of then Red Cross on dissemination of International Humanitarian law to religious circles in Pakistan. He can be reached at [email protected]