Younus Shaikh (author)

This article is about Younus Shaikh, author of Shaitan Maulvi (Satanic Cleric). For Younus Shaikh, physician, rationalist, see Younus Shaikh.

Mohammad Younus Shaikh (or Younis Sheik or Younis Sheikh) (born 1965) is a hotel manager and writer in Kharadar, Pakistan. In 2005, he wrote a book: "Shaitan Maulvi" (Satanic Cleric). On account of that book, the police charged Shaikh with offences under Pakistan's Penal Code and under the Anti-terrorism Act. An anti-terrorism court found Shaikh guilty of those offences, and sentenced him to a fine and to life in prison.[1] Amnesty International designated him a prisoner of conscience and called for his immediate release.[2]

Personal details

Shaikh is a matriculate but he has not had any religious education.[1]

The offence

On 3 February 2005, Shaikh was distributing copies of his book when he came to the attention of Sub-inspector Gulzar Ahmed Khokhar. The Sub-inspector arrested Shaikh for violating Sections 153A, 295A, and 295B of the Pakistan Penal Code, and Sections 8 and 9 of the Anti-terrorism Act.[1] The police placed Shaikh in solitary confinement in Karachi Central Prison to prevent other inmates from attacking him.[2]

At trial, the special public prosecutor proved that Shaikh had committed blasphemy by writing that stoning to death (Rajm) as a punishment for adultery was not mentioned in the Quran, and by insulting four historical Imams (religious leaders) by describing them as "Jews".[2]

On 11 August 2005, Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the Anti-Terrorist Court found Shaikh guilty of "defiling a copy of the Quran, outraging religious feelings and propagating religious hatred among society".[3] The judge imposed upon Shaikh a fine of 100,000 rupees, and sentenced him to spend his life in jail.[1]

In 2007, a blogger reported that Shaikh appealed his conviction to the High Court, and won the right to a new trial.[4]

At least one observer, legal historian Sadakat Kadri, has noted the case as an example of the "mean spirit" of some anti-blaspheme campaigners, as, in fact Shaikh is correct that nowhere in the Quran is stoning to death (rajm) called for to punish the sin of adultery or fornication (zina).[5] (The Quran mentions only lashing as a punishment for zina. It is a hadith (the collections of the reports said to quote what Muhammad said) that call for rajm.[5])

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "KARACHI: Writer of sacrilegious book gets life term". Dawn the Internet Edition. 12 August 2005. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  2. ^ a b c "Document - Pakistan: Fear for safety/ Prisoner of Conscience (POC), Mohammed Younus Shaikh". Amnesty International. 19 August 2005. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  3. ^ "Writer in Pakistan given life for "blasphemy"". National Secular Society. 27 July 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  4. ^ "Writer gets life for defiling the Koran". 29 July 2007. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
  5. ^ a b Kadri, Sadakat (2012). Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia to the Streets of the Modern Muslim World. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 257. ISBN 978-1-4668-0218-6.