Table of Contents

• Preface. The Ethnography of a Military State
• Chapter 1. Pakistan’s Military State and Civil Society
• Chapter 2. Muhammad, the Messenger
• Chapter 3. Blasphemy Laws’ Evolution
• Chapter 4. Colonial Origins, Ambiguities, and Execution of the Blasphemy Laws
• Chapter 5. Risky Knowledge, Perilous Times: History’s Martyr Mansur Hallaj
• Chapter 6. Blasphemy Cultures and Islamic Empires
• Conclusion. The Affiliates: Where To?
• Appendices
  • 1. Fieldwork
  • 2. Text of Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws
  • 3. A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
  • 4. The Hudood Ordinance Qanun-e Shahadat, the Law of Evidence
  • 5. Fate of a Teacher Accused of Blasphemy to Be Decided Today
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index

Promotional Information

"Shemeem Abbas has written a courageous and important book, the first of its kind on blasphemy laws of Pakistan. It is an important contribution to the history of Pakistan and of Islam, and urgent reading in today's troubled times. While a scholarly monograph, the book is written in an engaging, easy-to-read style, and especially because of its use of visual materials such as posters, charts, and maps, is an excellent introductory book for lay readers as well as students of Islam and Pakistan, and for scholars of the field of Islamic Studies as well." -- Fawzia Afzal-Khan, University Distinguished Scholar and Professor of English and Director of Women and Gender Studies, Montclair State University; author of the memoir, Lahore With Love: Growing Up With Girlfriends Pakistani Style "Focusing largely upon Pakistan, this book vividly illustrates the growing frenzy within some contemporary Muslim societies to exterminate those perceived as religious deviants. The author's personal experiences, as well as the open support recently extended by Pakistan's legal community to those who kill alleged blasphemers, are part of a disturbing global trend. That this slide into medieval barbarism can happen in the twenty-first century makes one fear for the future of the human species." -- Pervez Hoodbhoy, Professor, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad "Professor Abbas's own fatwah provoked her to inquire into the origin of Pakistan's 'blasphemy laws.' General Haq and his mullahs updated models invented by the Abbasids, the Omayyads and the rest of the Islamic theocracies. Her surprising conclusion: 'blasphemy laws' were derived not from the Qur'an but from Islamic polities. Literate illiterates still twist Surah 53:11 to enforce their zeal for civic unity." -- Ernest Kaulbach, Professor of English, University of Texas at Austin

About the Author

Shemeem Burney Abbas is the Doris and Carl Kempner Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Gender Studies, and Literature at the State University of New York at Purchase. She was formerly a professor and chair of the Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics at Allama Iqbal Open University in Islamabad, Pakistan.