Pakistan: New party gaining popularity by insisting that “blasphemers” must be put to death

JUL 12, 2018  BY ROBERT SPENCER

“Ahead of Pakistan’s general elections later this month, the newly established Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party is gaining traction with its anti-blasphemy agenda.”

This is because its Islamic message resonates with the serious Muslims in Pakiustan. Islam mandates death for non-Muslim subjects of the Islamic state who mention “something impermissible about Allah, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), or Islam” (‘Umdat al-Salik, o11.10), and such laws are based upon passages in the Hadith and Sira in which Muhammad orders the murders of people who have insulted him.

These include Abu Afak, who was over one hundred years old, and the poetess Asma bint Marwan. Abu Afak was killed in his sleep, in response to Muhammad’s question, “Who will avenge me on this scoundrel?” Similarly, Muhammad on another occasion cried out, “Will no one rid me of this daughter of Marwan?” One of his followers, Umayr ibn Adi, went to her house that night, where he found her sleeping next to her children. The youngest, a nursing babe, was in her arms. But that didn’t stop Umayr from murdering her and the baby as well. Muhammad commended him: “You have done a great service to Allah and His Messenger, Umayr!” (Ibn Ishaq, 674-676)

Then there was Ka’b bin Al-Ashraf. Muhammad asked: “Who is willing to kill Ka’b bin Al-Ashraf who has hurt Allah and His Apostle?” One of the Muslims, Muhammad bin Maslama answered, “O Allah’s Apostle! Would you like that I kill him?” When Muhammad said that he would, Muhammad bin Maslama said, “Then allow me to say a (false) thing (i.e. to deceive Kab).” Muhammad responded: “You may say it.” Muhammad bin Maslama duly lied to Ka’b, luring him into his trap, and murdered him. (Sahih Bukhari, volume 5, book 59, number 369)

“Blasphemers should be put to death, says one Pakistan party as elections near,” World Watch Monitor, July 11, 2018:

Ahead of Pakistan’s general elections later this month, the newly established Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party is gaining traction with its anti-blasphemy agenda, Al-Jazeera reports.

The party calls for blasphemers against Islam to be put to death and for those who kill alleged blasphemers to be celebrated. Its election posters often feature images of those who have killed for blasphemy – among them Mumtaz Qadri, who was put to death for murdering the Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer for the latter’s criticism of Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws and support for a Christian woman on death row, Asia Bibi.

According to Al-Jazeera, at least 74 people have been killed since 1990 following accusations of committing blasphemy. Many more have been arrested and tried.

Pakistan has the most stringent blasphemy laws in the world, and they have been used disproportionately against religious minorities – Pakistani Christians make up only 1.5 per cent of the total population, but over a quarter (187) of the 702 blasphemy cases registered between 1990 and 2014 were against Christians.

The head of the TLP, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, is a scholar who blocked a major highway into the capital, Islamabad, with thousands of his supporters in November, protesting against a change to an electoral oath that Rizvi claimed amounted to blasphemy. The federal minister resigned over the protests….

 https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/07/pakistan-new-party-gaining-popularity-by-insisting-that-blasphemers-must-be-put-to-death