Mindy Beltz tells the interconnected story of Asia Bibi and Salman Taseer in the January 29 issue of World magazine that reveals the face of Islam and it is not pretty.
On Nov. 8, 2010, Asia Bibi was sentenced to death by hanging for blasphemy. This mother of five had been asked by Muslim co-workers to fetch water and then was told that it was unclean because she was a Christian. Her crime? Remarking that, "Aren't we all humans?" For this she was tried and found guilty for insulting the prophet Muhammad. Taseer who was governor of the' Province, defended Bibi, calling the blasphemy law "a black law". Muslim religious leaders rose up in venomous opposition, declaring that Taseer had forfeited his status as a Muslim and calling for his removal as governor.
Taseer did not back down, defying the Mullahs, and was shot dead by one of his bodyguards. 50,000 protesters demonstrated on behalf of the killer and close to 300 lawyers want to defend him. Taseer, who was educated in the West, suffered the consequences of expressing his opinion in a Muslim world that brooks no dissent.
Pakistan's blasphemy laws have only been on the books since 1980's. The laws, rooted in the Quran, are backed by clergy and scholars who spread violence toward anyone who dares question the tenants of Islam.
The West has to wake up to the fact that the threat to its existence is not radical Islam, it is not Islamic jihadists, it is not Mulims per se, the threat is Islam itself. This is a political-religious system in which government cannot be separated from the religion. A system that requires absolute adherence, does not tolerate individual thought or expression and will resort to violence to make authoritarian government the rule.
We cannot afford to continue condemning acts of terror while not honestly confronting the ideology behind them. We do so at our peril. So far, in the United States, we are fortunate that Muslims compose a minute part of the population, but we only have to look to Europe to see what our future looks like if we don't acknowledge the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room.
