Salman Rushdie and the Islamic Punishment for Blasphemy
by Gordon Nickel, Quillette:
For centuries, the orthodox Muslim view has been that those who insult Muhammad must be summarily killed.
The stabbing of Salman Rushdie in Chautauqua, New York on August 12th, 2022 drew a flurry of media coverage. But few journalistic reports explained the Islamic injunction against blasphemy in a way that would allow non-Muslims to understand the beliefs that typically motivate such attacks.
The first time that many Western observers learned of the Muslim injunction against blasphemy was following the release of Rushdie’s Satanic Verses in 1988 and the Iranian fatwa against him that ensued. The issue again became front-page news in 2004, following the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh in the streets of Amsterdam; in 2005, following the deadly response to the publication of cartoon depictions of Muhammad in Denmark; and in 2015, following the mass murder that took place in the Paris editorial offices of Charlie Hebdo.
Journalistic explanations of these incidents rarely have gone beyond the repeated commonplace that visual depictions of Muhammad are not permitted in Islam. But most accusations of blasphemy in Islam—including the fatwa against Rushdie—have nothing to do with visual images. Complicating matters is the fact that the word “blasphemy” is typically used in the West to refer to “speech that is derogatory to God,” whereas Muhammad was a human religious figure.
This article attempts to summarize the development of the Islamic punishment for blasphemy in Muslim thought and life. Several essential primary sources of Islam are examined in this regard, including the Qur’an; the sunna (practice) of Muhammad, the messenger of Islam, as presented in early Muslim narratives and the traditions attributed to him; and Islamic Law. I also describe writings by later Muslim authorities that both explained the theological reasons for the prohibition against blasphemy, and sharpened the application of the punishment meted out to offenders. When these sources are taken together, it may be said that all of them reflect the extreme veneration that Muslims exhibit toward Muhammad.
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