Pakistan: Female Madrasa Teacher Killed for Blasphemy

By Arshad Alam, New Age Islam 31 March 2022 Till The Time Blasphemy Is On the Statute, Such Killings Will Continue Main Points: 1. A female madrasa teacher in Pakistan was killed by her colleagues over accusations of blasphemy. 2. The accused were told in someone else’s dream that the victim had to be ritually slaughtered. 3. There were doctrinal differences between the victim and the accused, although the precise nature of this difference is not known yet. 4. Not just Pakistan but the whole Muslim world should resolve to abrogate the theology of blasphemy. ----- (Representational Photo) ---- A 17-year-old female madrasa teacher in Pakistan was killed for blasphemy by three of her colleagues. The incident occurred in Dera Ismail Khan District, known for its regressive religious mores and values. The three accused have told the police that one of her relatives, a minor, saw in her dream that the victim committed blasphemy and that in the same dream, Prophet Muhammad ordered to kill her. The very next day, these three teachers slit the throat of the victim and left her to die. The accused and the victim all teach at the local madrasa called Jamia Islamia Falahul Banat. This is not the first case of blasphemy killing in the Islamic emirate of Pakistan, nor will it be the last. But what is certainly novel is the use of dream to justify an act of religious murder. Dreams have been used for other purposes like seeking political legitimacy or even climbing up the caste ladder, but using it to commit murder may possibly be the first. It is troubling that the girl who was killed was a minor and hence should have been handled differently even if there was a proven case of blasphemy against her. What is also troubling is that the accused, one of whom is a minor, are all of young age which tells us the extent to which religious extremism had satiated Muslim minds. Every time such a horrendous incident happens, Islamist apologists line up to defend blasphemy laws by arguing that the motive behind such murders are mostly personal and hence have nothing to do with Islam. By all standards, this is a religious killing. The accused were told in someone else’s dream that the victim had to be ritually slaughtered. And they certainly did so, obeying what they thought was the command of the Prophet. Slaughtering is perhaps the most favored method of Islamic terrorists the world over. Whether it is ISIS in West Asia or in Europe, they have all ended up slaughtering their victims and have publicized it as an Islamic punishment. In this case also, it was the accused who told the police about their gruesome act. In other words, they were publicly proclaiming that they had killed the blasphemer as an act of religious obligation. In their minds, this was an act of supreme piety, fulfilling a command from the Prophet himself. Those in denial that Islam has a problem at its hands must now wake up as even women are now becoming active agents in this maddening rush to slaughter deviants. The reports suggest that the victim was a follower of Maulana Tariq Jameel, a well-known Islamic preacher in Pakistan. Differences of opinion on religious issues led to the accusations of blasphemy which ultimately led to this murder. It might be possible that these were doctrinal differences but that such differences should lead to murder is hardly surprising. After all, haven’t our Ulama have been at each other’s throat over allegations of blasphemy and kufr since the establishment of Islam? More recently, in the South Asian context, differences between Shias and Sunnis have led to bombs being exploded at mosques. The Ahmadis have been forced not to call themselves as Muslims by the dominant majority. Within Sunnis, the rivalry between the Barelvis, Deobandis and Ahle Hadees have not just led to fatwas of Kufr against each other but also violent dismembering of each other’s bodies and sacred spaces. Why does it shock us when these girls exhibit the same violent behaviour over theological differences? After all, the first apostasy wars were led by the first caliph Abu Bakr which is hailed as an exercise which saved Islam from its doom. If the foundation of Islam is based doctrinal violence, why blame contemporary Muslims, who are just emulating their religious heroes? Certainly, condemnations of the killing have come from all quarters including the Wafaq e Madaris, the apex body of madrasa education in Pakistan. But clearly there is much more that needs to be done. The Pakistan religious establishment has to sit up and take notice at what is being done to Islam in the name of blasphemy. And it is not just the religious clerics who are responsible for this; the Pakistani establishment is perhaps more to blame for this mess. Despite so many killings over blasphemy, including some from the political fraternity, neither the military nor the political establishment has had the courage to speak up against it. If they think that it will not reach them, they are sadly mistaken. The killings have touched the poor as well as rich and politically connected. Till the time blasphemy remains on the statute books, there will be no viable solution to this religious problem. The Pakistan establishment has earned some praise in their effort to launch an effective counter-terrorism operation. But the gains seem to be washed away by the growing internal extremism which has singed all sections of the Pakistani population. At the larger level, this is not just an issue for Pakistan but for the whole of the Muslim world. At a time when other religions have internalized modern notions of democracy, pluralism and dissent, Islam continues to be defined for its penchant for killing blasphemers and apostates. If today, people have begun arguing that Islam cannot be reformed, it is thanks to Islamic percepts that sanctions killing in the name of ‘protecting’ religion. Muslims are prone to accuse others of Islamophobia, but they do very little to dispel such thought through their actions. Ultimately, it is upon the Muslims themselves to come out in large numbers and say loud and clear that blasphemy and all its related theology need to be abrogated wholesale. ---- A regular contributor to NewAgeIslam.com, Arshad Alam is a writer and researcher on Islam and Muslims in South Asia. 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