Pakistani Islamic Cleric, Notorious For Fatwas, Booked On Blasphemy Charge

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An Islamic cleric in Pakistan is facing blasphemy charges after two men filed a first information report (FIA) to authorities against him.

 

 

Police in the northern city of Rawalpindi charged Islamic cleric Mufti Hanif Qureshi for blasphemy under Section 298-A of the Pakistan Penal Code after two residents, Hafiz Shahid Mehmood and Imran Asghar, filed a complaint to the authorities. Section 298-A punishes anyone who insults the Prophet Muhammad as well as his family members, wives, and companions.

According to the FIA filed by Mehmood and Asghar, they claimed that Mufti Hanif Qureshi expressed derogatory remarks against the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, adding that his sentiments hurt the feelings of many Muslims. The blasphemy charges against Qureshi come at a time when Pakistan recently pushed to increase the punishment against those found guilty of insulting the Prophet’s wives, family members, and companions.

It also came when Christians in Pakistan suffered attacks in eastern Pakistan following accusations of blasphemy after a Christian family allegedly burned a copy of the Quran. Blasphemy remains a touchy subject in Pakistan, where even unfounded accusations can lead to riots and lynchings.

 

 

Although the majority of those accused of blasphemy are Muslims, religious minorities face an acute threat, and blasphemy is often used to intimidate them and also to settle personal scores.

A prominent religious scholar in Pakistan, Mufti Hanif Qureshi, issued a fatwa (Islamic death opinion) for Salman Taseer, the former governor of the Punjab province from 2008 until his death in 2011, for alleged blasphemy. Taseer, a member of the left-wing Pakistan Peoples Party, was an influential figure in Pakistan and called for repealing the country’s harsh blasphemy laws.

A liberal reformer and a vocal opponent of Islamic extremism, Taseer came in support of Asiya Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who was accused of blasphemy in 2009 for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad after a group of Muslim women refused to drink from the water she offered because she is a non-Muslim.

 

 

Following Qureshi’s fatwa against Taseer, a member of his own security squad, elite commando Mumtaz Qadri, assassinated the governor in Islamabad in 2011. Many Islamists hailed Qadri as a hero, and Qadri said it was his religious duty to have Taseer killed. Qadri was executed by the Pakistani government in 2016.

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