Insulting Sanctities from International Point of View

Assadi Movahed

Undoubtedly, the sanctities of any society are the most important factor employed to create the culture of that society, so that by destroying sanctities in various forms including cultural invasion, culture of that society will be easily subject to change. Accordingly, the enemies of Islam intend to alter Islam, as the last godsend religion with deep cultural roots and high capability to prove its knowledge-based excellence through causing disputes, fabricating fake sects and disrespecting sanctities. As the God Almighty says in Surat As-Saf/8, “They seek to extinguish the Light of Allah with their mouths; but Allah will complete His Light, much as the unbelievers dislike it.”

Sanctifying the sacred and sanctities is the common principle of all religions and is emphasized in the Holy Quran.

The God Almighty in Surat Al-i-Imran/54 says, “They devised, and Allah devised. And Allah is the Best Devisor.” (And the Jews and enemies of the Christ plotted to destroy Him and His religion and the God Almighty sought a way for preserving him and his religion and God is the best seeker.”)

And what is seen in the Western communities against the real face of religion, in general, and in all heavenly and Abrahamic religious, in particular, and especially the holy religion of Islam and the great Prophet of Islam Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) is the fight between good and evil.

And from time to time, they (Western societies) try to create discord and division among Muslims and to show a negative image of Islam to Christians and western people, so that Muslims forget that their religion is one, their God is one, their book is one and their prophet is one and jurisprudential and theological differences should not cause religious divisions and without a doubt, the results of these minor differences are against the interests of Islam and Muslims and of course, to the benefit of enemies.

The God Almighty says in Surat An’am/8 says, “Do not say crude words to those who call upon other than Allah, lest they use crude words about Allah in revenge without knowledge. As such we have made the actions of each nation seem pleasing. To their Lord they shall return, and He will inform them of that they were doing.”

In Article 29 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the followings have been taken into consideration:

-         Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

-         In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

-         These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

In Article 29 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in Realization of Freedom and Individual Rights, "Everyone should be subject only to the restrictions imposed by law for security purposes only in order to recognize and respect the rights and freedoms of others, in order to meet the preconditions of just morality, public order and public welfare in a democratic society." It has been emphasized on the restrictive role of "correct moral requirements" and "public order."

With these explanations, it can be grasped out that criminalization of blasphemy and insulting sanctities is fully compatible with international human rights law due to its treatment with the public order and morality in the countries that have recognized this crime (especially Islamic countries). Therefore, if blasphemy in some Christian societies hurts public feelings and harms people of their society, how blasphemy in Islamic societies cannot be justified and defended in terms of the philosophy of criminality? The philosophy of a just and healthy democracy is respect for human beings.

If any behavior that leads to disrespect, discrimination and hatred against human beings, whether under the pretext of freedom and democracy, or by coercive and dictatorial methods, it is an action against human freedom, and if they want to interpret it as Freedom of Expression, it can be said that the current world, by resorting to excuses such as freedom of speech and thought, expands circle of its Freedom of Speech and tramples on human morality and virtues in order to achieve its goal. As we know, freedom of expression is not unconditional.

If it is accompanied by insults and slander, it cannot be called freedom of expression at all.

“Freedom” and “expression” are two sacred words, in the light of which, every human being can present his or her thoughts and ideas at the community level. Freedom of expression and even freedom of information and science must have a framework. There is no doubt that Freedom of Expression is the basis of Western civilization but looking at the treatises of philosophers and thinkers who have stated Freedom of Expression, it shows that they meant freedom of opinion, not freedom of insult.

From the Islamic point of view, insulting sanctities of religions that are studied in the field of freedom of expression, whether heavenly religions or human religions, is a reprehensible and disgusting behavior and is not an example of freedom of expression. Religious sanctities, persons, concepts, institutions and religious symbols are revered and respected by the believers of that religion and any insult to them causes emotional arousal of members of that community and can lead to extremist behavior and serious security risks at the national and international levels. As security and insecurity are networked, these feedbacks can be disseminated in a series and create a wave of unrest and insecurity.

Now that, in addition to the inter-religious dimension, this issue has also been briefly studied from the human rights dimension, it is certain that blasphemy against sanctities of monotheistic religions is condemned.

Since at first glance, cause of some insults can be considered ignorance and lack of correct knowledge and formation of an inappropriate mental image that results from misleading propaganda and referring to incorrect sources in the introduction of the Holy Prophet (PBUH); culturalization to introduce true face of pure religion of Islam and the Holy Prophet of Islam Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) such as recognizing the current lessons of Prophet of Islam (PBUH) and introducing the unblemished face of Islam is a key and fundamental step in this regard.

It is hoped that, by enlightening and paying attention to the backstage of insults and intentions of its perpetrators, while not forgetting the hostility of Westerners towards Islam and Muslims and avoiding incorrect conflicts between Islam and Christianity, public opinion will become a strong barrier to the repetition of such heinous actions.

Courtesy: Echo of Islam