Source: The Huffington Post
By Mehdi Hasan:Political director of The Huffington Post UK and presenter of Al Jazeera’s The Cafe
You could not make it up. An 11-year old Christian girl in Pakistan with Down’s Syndrome is in police custody, and could face the death penalty, forallegedly burning pages from the Quran.
The girl, who has been identified as Rifta Masih, was arrested on blasphemy charges and is being held in Islamabad pending a court appearance later this month. She was detained by police after an angry mob turned up at her family’s single-roomed home in a poor district on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital.
“About 500-600 people had gathered outside her house in Islamabad, and they were very emotional, angry, and they might have harmed her if we had not quickly reacted,” Pakistani police officer Zabi Ullah told reporters.
“Harmed her”? Really? I mean, really? What on Allah’s earth is wrong with so many self-professed Muslims in the self-styled Islamic Republic of Pakistan? Have they taken leave of their morals as well as their senses? It beggars belief that they should want to hurt or attack a child in the name of a religion based on mercy, compassion and justice.
Some defenders of Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws – under which anyone found guilty of insulting the Quran or Prophet Muhammad can be sentenced to death – have been keen to highlight the growing number of press reports that suggest Masih may be 16, rather than 11, and may not have Down’s Syndrome.
To which the only appropriate response is: so what?
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Of course, some of my co-religionists will soon claim that this latest story is all a Western media conspiracy – against Islam, against Muslims, against poor Pakistan. If only. Listen to Jahangir, who says those accused of blasphemy are “almost always helpless in the face of intimidation and a frightened or biased judiciary… Pakistan’s future remains uncertain and its will to fight against rising religious intolerance is waning.”
Chief Editor’s comments: Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has been speaking for religious freedom and against the Blasphemy Laws for a long time:
Murder in the Name of Allah | PDF
Islam’s Response to Contemporary Issues
Shariah Relationship Between Religion and Politics in Islam
Categories: Asia, Extremism, Law and Religion, Pakistan
The Holy Prophet (pbuh), would certainly not recognize these Pakistani mobs as ‘Muslims’ were he to suddenly appear in their midst.
In fact, I think, they would start baying for his blood if he told them who he was and disowned them for their so-called beliefs.
How can any human being with ANY SENSE of right and wrong really want to hurt a child and especially one who is not ‘normal’? As someone has mentioned – the Pakistanis are the ones suffering from various deficiencies mostly of the intellectual variety.
Blinded by ignorance. The more they talk about Islam the more they are becoming Un-Islamic.
What a pity.
In the Name of Allah the Most Gracious Ever Merciful
Alas! In the Name of Gracious Islam, and under the influence of extremist Mullahs our dear Pakistan has been dragged into sheer darkness. It is not at all Islam witch was imposed under the cursed Marshal law regime of General Zia. Its a blot on the beautiful face of Islam. Holy Prophet Mohammad (saw) was and is Mercy for all the worlds, but this cruel law depict him as the most merciless person.
In Islam a senseless mad person has no punishment even if this law is deemed to be right law. The Media of Pakistan should ply its part to deliver Pakistan from the shadows of darkness.
Zarif Ahmad