A refection on the punishment of insulting the Prophet of Islam and his Family
Subject Areas :
1 - The department of Islamic jurisprudence andlaws shabestarBranch
Keywords: Prophet of Islam, punishment, Sedition, insult,
Abstract :
The Islamic system is bound to the personality of the prophet of Islam; therefore, the punishment of a person who insults him is due to the reason that he insults Islam and Muslims and acts against the essentials of religion. However, from the view point of law, there should be a specific intention to insult to sanctities.The punishment of insulting other prophets is the same as insulting the prophet of Islam, according to some jurists who believe that the insulter should be whipped while others believe that this kind of insult leads to apostasy. Furthermore, the reference of the word “prophet” is ambiguous both in legal and jurisprudence texts and it is not clear whether this word refers to arch prophets and the 26 prophets who have been mentioned in holy book of Quran or it refers to those prophets whose names have been mentioned in historical books.Insulting immaculate Imams and her majesty (Hazrat) Zahra, peace be upon her, also leads to punishing the insulter just the same as insulting the prophet.The question which arises here is that if this punishment is fixed under any circumstance even if it may lead to sedition.The present paper looks at insulting the prophet of Islam and his family with an analytic-descriptive approach and it has been concluded that if this kind of punishment leads to sedition and the fear of killing the person who performs the order, it is not voidable.
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