New York Times Observes Sharia Blasphemy Laws
“Repeating blasphemy is also blasphemy.”
ROBERT SPENCER
FREEDOMOUTPOST.COM
NOVEMBER 6, 2018
Mohammed Hanif, the author of this disgraceful op-ed published Friday in the New York Times, is a Pakistani novelist, and so it is perhaps understandable that he may wish to observe Islamic blasphemy laws, but why is the New York Times, which is supposedly a journalistic outlet in a nation that upholds the freedom of speech, validating his doing so?
In it, Hanif writes this about Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian woman charged with blasphemy and held in prison for years, and whose recent acquittal touched off nationwide riots in Pakistan: “There are many versions of what led to the charges against her, but all revolve around a verbal altercation with Muslim neighbors in Punjab, an eastern province, about drinking water from the same vessel. Some Muslims won’t share utensils with non-Muslims, a belief that has more to do with (Hindu) casteism than (Islamic) scripture.”
Nonsense. It comes from this Islamic scripture: “O you who have believed, indeed the polytheists are unclean…” (9:28)
And then there is this hadith: “It was narrated that Abu Tha’labah Al-Khushani said: ‘I came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said: “O Messenger of Allah, we live in a land of the People of the Book and we eat from their vessels. And we live in a land (where there is) game, so I hunt with my bow and with my trained dog and with my untrained dog.” The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “As for what you say about living in a land of the People of the Book, do not eat from their vessels unless you can find no alternative. If you can find no alternative then wash them and eat from them….”‘” (Sunan Ibn Majah 3328)
This hadith is graded by Islamic scholars as sahih, or reliable. Was it, too, a product of “Hindu casteism”? When the Muslims invaded and conquered India, they pursued a policy of unremitting hostility toward the Hindus, as I show in detail in my book The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS. They were unlikely to pick up theological notions from the Hindus they despised and derided as idolaters.
Hanif also says: “We can never know what she may or may not have said because repeating blasphemy is also blasphemy, and writing it down may be even greater blasphemy. So let’s not go there.”
The Rest…HERE
