The question of the identity of the man behind this week’s most talked-about movie deepens. First there was this link from our reader Dom, then this, which came in the mail just now.
Dom commented earlier that “Yahoo news is now reporting that the movie was not made by an evangelical Christian, but by a Coptic Christian. Coming up next ”¦ an Egyptian Imam made it, to stir up trouble.”
A clever move: false-flag blasphemy to rile the base. Look at the results!
That raises an interesting theological question: could a devout Muslim do that, for the sake of jihad? Might taqiyya, for example, be stretched to permit such a thing?
9 Comments
“[C]ould a devout Muslim do that, for the sake of jihad?”
Certainly. In the Muhammad cartoons controversy, the European imams toured the Muslim world not only with the original cartoons but also with a few fake ones.
Jeffery Hodges
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Weren’t they on shaky ground? To deny the Prophet under duress is one thing; actually to blaspheme him yourself, even if you were going to pin it on someone else, would be rather beyond the pale, I should have thought.
I’ll say at least that I’ve never seen any scholarly exposition of taqiyya that goes that far.
They seem to have encountered no criticism from Muslims.
Jeffery Hodges
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I wonder: how many of them knew?
Malcolm, is that a question?
Jeffery Hodges
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In Pakistan, a young (Christian) girl is being threatened because she had the charred pages of a Koran in her backpack. The imam who accused her burnt the pages and planted them.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/christian-girl-accused-of-burning-pages-of-the-koran-in-pakistan-says-she-is-still-scared-for-her-life-8125976.html
Jeffery,
Busted! It’s a question now.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-17340-Rimsha-Masih-released-on-bail
I knew about the imam in Pakistan adding those pages from the Quran to the burnt papers that the Christian girl was carrying, but since he’s been arrested for this, I’m waiting this out to see what becomes of him. Obviously, he believed it was justified. We simply need to see what judgment is delivered in his case. Presumably, given the reactions to cases in which non-Muslims even accidentally burn the Quran, he should be put to death according to Shariah, so if he doesn’t receive the death penalty, we can check the legal reasoning.
Jeffery Hodges
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