This is why this forum is so great. Thank you for your level-headed and intellectually-backed response, even though this is a very emotional topic for all Muslims --- and even though I still disagree with most of your points.
1.) The Definition of Blasphemy
So, questioning the modern interpretation and implementation of a 'blasphemy law' is
not in itself blasphemy?
Do you feel Salman Taseer committed blasphemy? I do not, but many do. This is part of the problem. Who decides? Before the case can even reach the Supreme Court, a bloodthirsty mob (or a pathetic criminal like Mumtaz Qadri who murdered, in cold blood, the very man he was tasked to protect) does.
2.) The Punishment for Blasphemy
The punishment --- and more importantly, the pardoning of even a
proven blasphemer --- is well-established in at least the Hanafi school of thought, which supposedly dominates the relio-legal thought in Pakistan. This means that if someone openly commits blasphemy, admits he/she committed blasphemy and then repents, he/she is pardoned.
We don't even get to the point of "proven blasphemer" and murder the accused (usually innocent).
Do you agree that people who kill those accused of blasphemy are animals who deserve a swift end so the intolerant cancer they are a part of is removed from society?
3.) Supreme Court Suo Moto
I believe that the lynching of petty thieves is not a matter of national security, while the uninterrupted march of self-styled "Muslim" judge/jury/executioners (self-proclaimed legal experts in the highly complex field of Islamic jurisprudence) and the religiously-fueled violence that they are bringing upon society (whether LeJ, TTP, ISIS or a locally-charged mob out to kill anyone who is, to use their favorite phrase, "wajab-e-qatal") is.
The mob that killed the thief was also in the wrong and did something illegal, obviously.
The cancer of rising radicalism and intolerance of varying religious / religio-legal opinions is the foundation on which all of our terrorist movements are based. It is the hate for a perceived sinner/heretic/blasphemer that drives these men and women to commit unspeakable acts of terror against innocent civilians.
4.) Wildly Varying Opinions
In many facets of Islam, the conclusions of scholars
on the same topics (such as blasphemy and pardons, women's rights, etc.) across centuries/cultures/sects/sub-sects/schools of thought have varied greatly.
A Senior Member on this forum once posted a Wahabbi opinion as the absolute truth --- only to be reminded that another school of thought held a directly opposite view of the same issue. Islam is the universal truth, but our understanding, as flawed humans, is constantly evolving and often quite different. Therefore, it is a crime against our beautiful religion to claim that one school of thought's conclusions are the absolute truth. This is a blatant lie. Please do not indulge in it.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1149558
5.) On Being A Good Muslim
Our focus has become disproportionately on the very narrow and public sphere of Islam. This belittles Islam to a set of stringent rules that must be followed (usually by Wahabbi/Deobandi followers) "or else..."
When I asked: is lying, cheating, etc., not blasphemy --- I obviously did not mean it literally, just as the Qur'an is written in prose, and has layers and translations across scholars that can be quite different. What I meant was that we are focusing so much on this stuff (the "how long your beard is and how high your shalwar is" syndrome) that we are missing the essence of our religion --- and that is, in my understanding, being an honorable person. Of course the regimented worship and other pillars are important too --- but our religion doesn't start and end there.
The violent mobs that commit acts of religious terrorism or "justice" (such as the lynching of an innocent student entrapped in a false blasphemy accusation) are themselves questionable followers of the faith. So many people with loud "naat" ringtones pick up the phone and ask for a bribe. So many who pray five times a day and have great big beards and high shalwars send brainwashed kids to blow themselves up in markets, taking innocent men, women and children. To them, we are all "wajab-e-qatal" because we have not joined their (TTP's, ISIS's, etc.) struggle to overthrow these "Western democracies" in places like Pakistan. To them, we are heretics, much like many --- apparently like you --- would want accused blasphemers to be considered, and can/should be killed (in their flawed understanding of the religion.)
Drinking alcohol is a sin according to most interpretations. It doesn't make you a non-Muslim. I don't drink, but if someone drinks and eats pork, we are disproportionately judgmental against them (vs. the daily acts of dishonesty that go on around us.) I had to remind myself to not be so judgmental.
Lying, cheating, taking and giving bribes, not doing honest work --- these are problems with society at large and our public representatives, elected by us, naturally reflect our own sick state.
