Silenced

How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide

Paul Marshall and Nina Shea

The first world survey of the range and effects of blasphemy and apostasy charges
Foreword by the late Abdurrahman Wahid, former President of Indonesia and head of Nahdlatul Ulama, the world's largest Muslim organization, as well as short chapters on religious freedom within Islam by noted scholars Nasr Hamid Abu-Zayd and Abdullah Saeed
Multiple detailed case studies of Muslims and others who have faced blasphemy charges

Silenced

How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide

Paul Marshall and Nina Shea

Description

The fatwa against Salman Rushdie awakened many westerners to the danger of being accused of blasphemy in the Muslim world. As this eye-opening volume reveals, accusations of "blasphemy," "apostasy," or "insulting Islam" are increasingly used by authoritarian governments and extremist forces in the Muslim world to acquire and consolidate power. These charges, which traditionally carry a punishment of death, have proved effective in intimidating not only converts and heterodox groups, but also political and religious reformers. In his foreword, the late Indonesian President Wahid observes that coercively applied blasphemy laws "narrow the bounds of acceptable discourse...not only about religion, but about vast spheres of life, literature, science and culture in general."

Silenced provides the first survey of such accusations in the contemporary Muslim world, in international organizations, and in the West. The authors describe hundreds of victims, including political dissidents, religious reformers, journalists, writers, artists, movie makers, and religious minorities throughout the Muslim world. They also document the political effects in Muslim societies of blasphemy and apostasy laws, as well as non-governmental fatwas and vigilante violence. Finally, they address the move toward new blasphemy laws in the West and the increasing threat of violence to stifle commentary on Islam in the West even in the absence of law.

Silenced

How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide

Paul Marshall and Nina Shea

PART I
Chapter 1: Introduction

PART II: MUSLIM MAJORITY COUNTRIES
Introduction to Muslim Majority Countries
Chapter 2: Saudi Arabia
Chapter 3: Iran
Chapter 4: Egypt
Chapter 5: Pakistan
Chapter 6: Afghanistan
Chapter 7: The Greater Middle East
Chapter 8: Africa
Chapter 9: South and South East Asia

PART III: THE GLOBALIZATION OF BLASPHEMY
Introduction to Western Countries and International Blasphemy
Chapter 10: Islam and Blasphemy on the International Stage 1989-2009
Chapter 11: Legitimizing Repression: Blasphemy Restrictions in the United Nations
Chapter 12: Religiously Incorrect: Islam, Blasphemy, and Hate Speech In Western Domestic Law
Chapter 13: Enforcement by Violence and Intimidation

PART IV: MUSLIM CRITICISM OF APOSTASY AND BLASPHEMY LAWS
Introduction to Muslim Voices
Chapter 14: Renewing Qur'anic Studies in the Contemporary World, by Nasr Hamid Abu-Zayd
Chapter 15: Rethinking Classical Muslim Law of Apostasy and the Death Penalty, by Abdullah Saeed

PART V: CONCLUSIONS
Chapter 16: Conclusions

Silenced

How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide

Paul Marshall and Nina Shea

Author Information

Paul Marshall is Senior Fellow at the Center for Religious Freedom, Hudson Institute.

Nina Shea is Director of the Center for Religious Freedom, Hudson Institute.

Contributors:

ABDURRAHMAN WAHID
The late Abdurrahman Wahid was President of Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, and head of Nahdlatul Ulama, the world's largest Muslim organization. An outspoken critic of radical Islam, he has been recognized by members of all religions throughout the world for his defense of religious and ethnic minorities and promotion of religious liberty for all. Among many positions, he was cofounder and senior advisor of LibForAll, which generously provided his Foreword to this book.

NASR HAMID ABU-ZAYD
The late Nasr Hamid Abu-Zayd was the Academic Director of the International Institute of Qur'anic Studies (IIQS), a branch of LibForAll Foundation. He is the author of numerous scholarly works on Islam in both Arabic and English, and is known for developing a humanistic interpretation of the Qur'an. Formerly Professor of Arabic Literature at Cairo University, he left when Egypt's highest court ruled that, because of his views, he was an apostate and must be forcibly divorced from his Muslim wife. He has also received death threats from Ayman Al Zawahiri of Al-Qaeda. Abu-Zayd held the Ibn Rushd Chair of Humanism and Islam at the University for Humanistics in the Netherlands and was awarded the Ibn Rushd Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2005. He died in Cairo on July 5, 2010.

ABDULLAH SAEED
Abdullah Saeed, originally from the Maldives, is Sultan of Oman Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne. He obtained his B.A. in Arab/Islamic Studies in Saudi Arabia in 1986 and his doctorate at the University of Melbourne in 1992. He has written on the interpretation of Islamic texts, Islam and human rights, and religious freedom, among other areas. Together with his brother Hassan Saeed, former Attorney General of the Maldives, he authored the book Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam (Ashgate, 2004), which is currently banned in the Maldives.

Silenced

How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide

Paul Marshall and Nina Shea

Reviews and Awards

"Islamists, claiming they want only respect for their religion, are imposing brutal punishments for apostasy and blasphemy in the non-Muslim as well as the Muslim world. In this eloquent and definitive work Marshall and Shea make a powerful case that for us to accommodate this, anywhere, would be disastrous--weakening truly moderate Muslims and those of us who support them, and seriously crippling our own freedoms of speech and religion."-- R. James Woolsey, Chairman, Foundation for Defense of Democracies; Former Director of Central Intelligence

"The book offers an extensive survey of blasphemy and its effects on Muslim societies and individuals, with a consideration of analogous developments in the contemporary West. The ad hoc way of enforcing blasphemy laws is placed in the framework of classical Islamic discussion where blasphemy is a function of state jurisdiction rather than simply of vigilante activism. As the book makes clear, evidence of arbitrary use of blasphemy is evidence also of contested state jurisdiction. This is a most valuable study." -- Lamin Sanneh, D. Willis James Professor of Missions & World Christianity, Yale University

"Paul Marshall and Nina Shea have performed an important service with this account of laws and customs against "apostasy" and "blasphemy" in Muslim countries."--The Weekly Standard

"Exhaustive, courageous research is on brilliant display in Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide. Marshall and Shea compile a thorough dossier of existing Islamic blasphemy restrictions, show how they operate to bludgeon dissent, and chronicle a concerted campaign to export them around the globe. That alone would be a worthy achievement. But in addition, Silenced provides a ringing defense of free expression, upbraiding those who would acquiesce--out of craven fear, or flaccid political correctness--to a climate of self-censorship."--Books and Culture