Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Arthur Jeffrey, A Reader on Islam (The 

Hague: Mouton & Company, 1962); Muslim, Sahih 

Muslim. Translated by Abdul Hamid Siddiqi. 4 vols. 

(Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, 1972), 1:641–643; 

Francis E. Peters, The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to 

Mecca and the Holy Places (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton 

University Press, 1994), 14–15.

blasphemy

Blasphemy is from a Greek word that means 

speaking evil. In the history of religions, it refers 

to disrespectful or irreverent statements about 

cherished or officially approved religious beliefs, 

doctrines, institutions, and practices. It is usu-

ally considered to be a product of biblical tradi-

tion and the history of organized Judaism and 

Christianity, in which speaking against God has 

been severely condemned and occasionally pun-

ished. Blasphemy laws still exist in many West-

ern countries, though they are gradually being 

repealed. Concern with blasphemy also occurs in 

Islamic societies, where it is closely linked with 

such serious transgressions as 

apostasy

 (irtidad), 

disbelief (

kafir

), and 

idolatry

. Muslim jurists 

have used statements in the q

Uran

 that condemn 

m

Uhammad

’s opponents for their outright denial 

(takdhib) of the truth of his religious message 

(e.g., Q 54, 5:10) or their fabrication (iftira) of 

false beliefs (Q 11:18; Q 39:32) to justify impos-

ing harsh penalties against anyone they thought 

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