Pakistani Judge's Comment

Submitted by John C. Zimmerman (United States), Oct 3, 2004 at 17:32

Dr. Pipes cites the comments from a Pakastani judge, S.A. Rahman, about there being no compulsion in religion. However, Pakistan invokes the death penalty for anyone insulting the Prophet Muhammed. One wonders how Justice Rahman can reconcile Pakistan's death penalty statute for blasephamy with his no compulsion comments. I also wonder if this is the same S.A. Rahman who wrote "Punishment of Apostasy in Islam". ( See http://answering-islam.org.uk/Hahn/Mawdudi) This cite also contains quotations from the "moderate" Yusuf Qaradawi's "The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam" advocating death for apostates.

It might also be noted that Sura 18:29 specifically allows disbelief. Nevertheless, as Dr. Pipes quite correctly notes, Islamists can always make alternative arguments. It might be worth taking a look at ABUL ALA MAWDUDI's "THE PUNISHMENT OF THE APOSTATE ACCORDING TO ISLAMIC LAW" at http://answering-islam.org.uk/Hahn/Mawdudi. Mawdudi, a Pakastani, was the principal intellectual voice of the twentieth century's Islamic revival and his views have played a major part in influencing Pakistan's current Islamist government.

Mawdudi argued quite forcefully that apsoatates must be killed in order to protect the Islamic community. He died in 1979, and in that same year a volume appeared which contained essays by many prominent specialists on Islam. The essays were published in Mawdudi's honor. The title of this volume is: "Islamic Perspectives, Studies in Honour of Mawlana Sayyid Abu'l A'la Mawdudi." Yet, even though one of the contributors to this volume was a professor at a university well known for dissent, there does not appear to have been any adverse impact on the contributors to this volume. What would the reaction be if a group of prominent academics published essays in honor of a Christian theologian who advocated killing dissidents?

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