Britain’s blasphemy problem
Burning Salman Rushdies book, Derby, 1989. (Photo by Staff/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
Blasphemy laws infringe upon the right to freedom of expression, freedom of religion and the necessary need to freely critique ideologies. A 2016 study by Freedom of Thought found that 43 countries allow a prison term for blasphemy, while it is punishable by death in six countries: Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia.
The UK is free from such laws. And yet blasphemy laws are being tacitly enforced in Britain on a community level.
In 2016, extreme anti-blasphemy attitudes in the UK resulted in the murder of Asad Shah, a shopkeeper from Glasgow, murdered for “disrespecting the Prophet”. He was stabbed multiple times, dragged into the street and stamped on with such force that every bone in his face was broken.
Afterwards, the murderer claimed that, “If I had not done this, others would have and there would be more killings and violence in the world.” He receives fan mail and visits from people who regard him as a hero.
This extreme anti-blasphemy attitude in the UK is not a fringe issue. Shah was an Ahmadiyya Muslim, a Messianic movement founded in the 19th century. There have been leaflets distributed in Britain calling for the death of Ahmadis and attempts to boycott their businesses. An Islamic satellite channel repeatedly called the sect “Wajib-ul Qatal”, an Arabic phrase that translates as “liable for death”. Organisations exist in the UK with the sole purpose of opposing the Ahmadi belief — a local election was disrupted by anti-Ahmadi extremists.
The extent to which this unofficial policing has gripped our nation was made clear last year, when the Telegraph reported that Britain had not offered asylum to a Pakistani Christian woman, Asia Bibi. Bibi was freed after eight years on death row in Pakistan for blasphemy and was refused asylum by the UK for fears it would prompt “unrest” and attacks on embassies.
In a similarly shocking turn of events, Asad Shah’s family are now looking to leave the UK. They say they no longer feel safe.
Britain has an unhappy recent history when it comes to blasphemy. In 1988, a 7,000-strong protest and book burning was organised in Bolton to protest against the publication of the Satanic Verses. Those involved in organising the protests established a body that went on to become the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), which claims to be the largest representative organisation of mosques in the UK. Two weeks after the murder of Asad Shah the MCB released this statement:
“Muslims should not be forced to class Ahmadis as Muslims if they do not wish to do so . . . Given this fundamental theological difference with the Ahmadi community, the MCB is not in a position to represent or be represented by the Ahmadi community.”
Siobhain McDonagh, Labour MP for Mitcham and Morden, criticised the MCB in Parliament for its failure to counter anti-Ahmadi hatred. Tahir Nasser, journalist and editor of The Review of Religions went further claiming: “The MCB has taken a position that is fundamentally at odds with the British values the MCB claims to hold . . . The right to self-identify, and to be acknowledged by others in accordance with that identity, is the cornerstone of religious tolerance.”
While the UK seems to be struggling to uphold its values in the face of religious sensitivities, Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan has pledged to revive a campaign to impose global blasphemy laws at the UN. A series of resolutions against “defamation of religions” were submitted to the UN on behalf of an inter-governmental organisation of 56 countries with significant Muslim populations. The resolutions were passed as non-binding resolutions, but the group representing the 56 countries says that its goal is to create an international law against “defamation of religions”.
The risks of these attitudes and practices continuing to go unchallenged are clear: continued discrimination and a continued threat of violence against those who may be branded blasphemous. The barrister Neil Addison has said that the UK has the laws in place to combat sectarianism but lacks the will.
Britain needs to confront the question of blasphemy, and fast. If we do not, then we run the risk of seeing more religiously motivated murders, like that of Asad Shah.
