Hamza Kashgari, a 23-year-old columnist, stands accused of blasphemy in his homeland of Saudi Arabia for tweets he posted on Islam’s prophet Mohammed that many of his countrymen find insulting to Islam. In his postings on the occasion of Mohammed’s birthday last week, Kashgari imagined a skeptical discussion with the founder of Islam. Many Saudis are enraged, demanding that he be arrested and put to death, in accordance with Saudi sharia. As the New York Times reported, “more than 13,000 people [the number now tops 14,000] have joined a Facebook page titled ‘The Saudi People Demand the Execution of Hamza Kashgari.’”
His apologies and deletions of the postings were rejected as insufficient by the offended Muslims and, more significantly, by Saudi Arabia’s council of senior Islamic scholars, who issued a fatwa condemning him and demanding that he be put on trial. Kashgari fled for his life. He went to Malaysia, a purportedly moderate Muslim country, for refuge. King Abdullah issued an arrest warrant and called for Kashgari’s extradition. He was taken into detention at Kuala Lumpur international airport on February 9, as he tried to catch a flight to New Zealand.
The British Guardian is now reporting that Kashgari was caught after Interpol, the 190-country-member international police agency based in Lyon, France, issued an alert for him at the request of Saudi Arabia. If true, this violates the Article 3 neutrality clause of Interpol’s constitution, which states that it is “strictly forbidden” for the organization to undertake any intervention of a religious character. If this is allowed to become a precedent, the longtime goal of Saudi Arabia — and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation — of a universal law punishing “defamation of Islam” will essentially be realized.
Meanwhile, back in the Kingdom, Hadi Al-Mutif, one of the longest-held religious prisoners in the world, was released from prison on a blasphemy charge on Friday, February 10. He was imprisoned as a teenager in 1994 for an offhand remark he made about Islam’s prophet and was sentenced to death. While on death row for 18 years, he was the subject of worldwide appeals, which undoubtedly played a role in sparing his life. He was freed after being granted a pardon by the king. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom found that Al-Mutif, a member of the kingdom’s large Shiite minority, had “suffered tremendously” during his imprisonment, both physically and emotionally.
― Nina Shea is the director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom and co-author, with Paul Marshall, of Silenced: How Apostasy & Blasphemy Codes Are Choking Freedom Worldwide (Oxford University Press, 2011).
For souls not blinded by their own peculiar brand of religious dogma, the interposition of this Corner item among its neighbors is priceless irony.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMikeB: I guess I am missing your point. I haven't seen any cornerites in the discussion of Obama's attack on religion call for the execution of those who support Obama's mandate. Nor have I ever seen those expressing a position based upon their religious convictions on the corner demanding sharia like punishments for those with whom they disagree. If in fact you are comparing those who post here with the Saudi Wahhabi's--you are way off base.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm an atheist but strongly disagree.
I'm sure you wouldn't like it if every time you criticized religion someone brought up Stalin.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm delighted you made that point.
As anyone who is familiar with my posts knows, I acknowledge that God exists and that our purpose on earth is to discern His will and to do it. ("Believe" is too weak a word -- you don't "believe" in gravity, do you?)
So the question is: How the heck do I discern His will and do it?
My best guess is that I'm supposed to keep my eyes and ears open, and that what I am called upon to do has a lot to do with the world I happened to be parachuted into. For example, I was not born in Somalia. For another example, I come across a lot of Jesus Christ on a daily basis, and very little Angel Moroni or Mohammed. A few people who grow up in my milieu feel compelled to follow those bald-headed guys in the orange togas who jingle the little bells; I don't. Others hand out leaflets on the street about Judgment Day a-comin' -- that's not me either. Nope, I just keep on the lookout for clues.
So here on The Corner we read an item about people who hear the compelling voice of Mohammed to build bombs and kill as many infidels as possible. We say to ourselves, that is not us, that could never be us. The message we get loud and clear from God is that that kind of thing is not only not anything we should do, but it is right up there at the top of things we should not do.
This Corner item is right between other items exhorting us to feel indignant that anyone should be compelled to facilitate the use of something that just about everyone reading these words has used, and uses without a great deal of regret. Who among us has heard the still, small voice of God telling us to turn from our evil ways and stop using contraceptives? Who among us does not hope, if not actually think, that God ranks contraceptive use right down there with parking violations?
Let's say that's not you -- that you're one of the very, very few who find the use of contraceptives by anyone to be a grave sin. Put aside for the moment the ultimate question about what you're willing to do or not do to see that the world sins no more, and ask yourself this preliminary question -- how do you differentiate the way you came to your conclusion from the way someone who happened to read a different book and happened to listen to different preachers came to his?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI thought Islam was the religion of peace.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf Interpol now functions as the enforcement arm of sharia law that is indeed very scary.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMalaysia has no extradition treaty with Saudi Arabia, so it will be interesting to see what happens next. However, Malaysia has its own sharia court system, so they will likely will find an excuse for sending him back to his doom. Reprehensible.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseObama once famously said that if things turn ugly, he would stand with the Muslims. OK Mr President, how about offering this young man asylum? Where is CAIR? Where are those peaceful Muslims?
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Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis blog post qualifies as: News Item No. 1,124,456 Demonstrating Just How Peaceful "The Religion of Peace" Really Is.
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