Disagreements on the Legal Cause of Death Punishment of Blasphemer and its Impacts over other Issues: An Analytical Study

أثر الاختلاف في علّة قتل السابّ على المسائل المتفرّعة -دراسة استقرائية تحليلية

Abstract

The jurists have consensus that a Muslim blasphemer must be given death punishment. However, they differed on the punishment of non-Muslim blasphemer. Majority of the jurists, such as Malikīs, Shafi’is and Ḥanbalis, opine that a nonMuslim blasphemer should be given death punishment, because committing blasphemy terminates his agreement with the Islamic state. The Hanafis claim that the blasphemer’s agreement remains intact and is not terminated, therefore he will be dealt with under the notion of Siyasah. Furthermore, the jurists disagreed on the repentance of the blasphemer as well. In plethora of views and arguments, the thing which seems of much importance is to explore the legal effective cause (ʽIllah) behind these verdicts, and to see whether it is the apostasy-cum-blasphemy, or one of them, or blasphemy per se. The determination of a precise cause will enable us to comprehend the legal rules revolving around it. The purpose of this study is not to analyze the arguments of each opinion; rather, it aims to disclose the effective cause as determined by different schools of law, to streamline all the legal rules.