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Saturday, January 10, 2015

Fareed Zakaria: Blasphemy, Bible and the law of fanatics

Fareed Zakaria writes a foreign affairs column for The Washington Post. He is also the host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS and a contributing editor for The Atlantic.  




'Western politicians, Muslim leaders and intellectuals everywhere should point out that blasphemy is something that does not exist in the Koran and should not exist in the modern world' - Fareed Zakaria.


Fareed Zakaria is a very infuential Muslim who resides in the United States. In Pakistan he may have been blown up by a suicide bomber. In Malaysia he may have been arrested by the religious authorities.

Here is his article, truncated. You can click on the link for the full article. My comments in blue at the end.


By Fareed Zakaria Opinion writer January 8 at 7:47 PM
  • men who killed 12 people in Paris yelled they had “avenged the prophet.” 
  • to mete out what they believe is Koranic punishment for blasphemy. 
  • the Koran prescribes no punishment for blasphemy
  • idea that insults against prophet be met with violence is a creation of politicians and clerics to serve political agenda.
One holy book is deeply concerned with blasphemy: the Bible. 

In the Old Testament, blasphemy and blasphemers are condemned and prescribed harsh punishment. The best-known passage on this is Leviticus 24:16 : “Anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.”

the word blasphemy appears nowhere in the Koran. 
  • nowhere does the Koran prescribe punishment of lashes, death, or any other physical punishment (for blasphemy)
  • “In Islam, ... blasphemy is a subject of intellectual discussion rather than a subject of physical punishment.”
  • Somebody forgot to tell the terrorists. 
  • gruesome and bloody belief the jihadis have adopted is all too common in the Muslim world, even among so-called moderate Muslims — that blasphemy and apostasy are grievous crimes against Islam and should be punished fiercely. 
  • Many Muslim-majority countries have laws against blasphemy and apostasy — and in some places, they are enforced
  • Pakistan is now the poster child for the anti-blasphemy campaign gone wild. 
  • In March, at least 14 people were on death row in that country, and 19 were serving life sentences
  • Pakistan is not alone. 
  • Bangladesh, Malaysia, Egypt, Turkey, Sudan use blasphemy to jail & harass. 
  • In moderate Indonesia, 120 people detained for this since 2003. 
  • Saudi Arabia forbids any religion other than its own Wahhabi version
  • Zia ul-Haq, wanted to marginalize democratic and liberal opposition
  • He passed laws Islamizing Pakistan
  • including death penalty or life imprisonment for insulting Muhammad 
  • When govts curry favor with fanatics, fanatics take law into own hands. 
  • In Pakistan, jihadis killed dozens they accuse of blasphemy
  • We should fight the Paris terrorists. 
  • we should also fight the source of the problem. 
  • It’s not enough for Muslim leaders to condemn people who kill those they consider as blasphemers if their own governments endorse the idea of punishing blasphemy at the very same time. 
  • U.S. religious freedom commission and U.N. Human Rights Committee both declared blasphemy laws violate universal human rights
  • In Muslim-majority countries, no one dares to dial back these laws. 
  • In Western countries, no one confronts allies on these issues. 
  • But blasphemy is not a purely domestic matter, of concern only to those who worry about countries’ internal affairs. 
  • It now sits on the bloody crossroad between radical Islamists and Western societies. 
  • It cannot be avoided anymore. 
  • Western politicians, Muslim leaders and intellectuals everywhere should point out that blasphemy is something that does not exist in the Koran and should not exist in the modern world.
My comments :  So let me ask those Muslim readers who think that you are modern and progressive. Do you think that blasphemy and apostasy should be punished? There is no punishment for both blasphemy and apostasy mentioned anywhere in the Quran. 

According to Fareed Zakaria, even the "moderate" Muslims have to think twice about this. 

No one is forcing you to choose one or the other. It is just that if you think there is punishment for blasphemy and apostasy then please do not consider yourself a moderate or modern Muslim.  It does not tally. That is all.  

It is interesting that Fareed Zakaria mentions that the punishment for blasphemy is found in the Bible.  

Now all ye good Christians please dont take offense ok.   No one is accusing the Bible as the cause of the fanatic behaviour among the jihadis. The jihadis do not know anything about the Bible - even though they may be upholding many biblical teachings.

I cannot mention to you here what went on in history. But there is a mysteriously very long list of things that the jihadis believe in that is taken almost word for word from the Bible. And it is NOT found in the Quran.

Many of the things that the world finds distasteful in the jihadis are not only NOT found in the Quran, but they are found witten  almost word for word in the Bible. Particularly the Old Testament and also in the New Testament.  

So how do you explain that?

For those who are interested to explore more about this list you can check out this link to this e book 'Biblical Mullahs - Discovering True Islam Behind The Myths'. Available through Google Books from the USA.

You have to purchase it before you can read it though. I must warn you it is quite an eye popper of a book. It is up to you what you want to make of the book. It is just a book.  It is definitely not available in Malaysia. 

Here is my wish. I wish the Muslims will become modern like the West. Where we (the Muslims) can sit peacefully and speak openly, freely and intelligently about "religion" and say anything we feel like saying without being arrested or molested.  

And to make that come true I wish that all our apostasy laws are abolished plus all the other restrictive religious laws that we have. We have to abolish all of them.

Will that day come? 

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