Salmaan Taseer was a Pakistani businessman and politician who served as the governer of the province of Punjab from 2008 until his assassination in early 2011.
In an interview with Meher Bukhair on TV, Taseer commented on his view about the country's blasphemy law and on filing a mercy petition for Asia Bibi who has been sentenced to death by a court under the Blasphemy Law.
On January 4, 2011, one of Taseer's bodyguards, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, shot him 26 times with a gun at Kohsar Market. Eight hours before his assassination, he tweeted an Urdu couplet: "My resolve is so strong that I do not fear the flames from without, I fear only the radiance of the flowers, that it might burn my garden down."In typical pakistani fashion. After his assassination, protests erupted in different parts of Punjab. Protestors also burned tyres and blocked traffic in Lahore.
The next day, thousands turned up for his funeral in Lahore inspite of denunciations by some clerics and religious scholars from mourning Taseer, while the Jamaat Ahle Sunnat threatened mourners with the same fate as that of Taseer.
Now, I'm impartial about my personal feelings for this man. I didn't even hear of him until he died. But what I am protesting is his death or should I say execution.
What is sad that within Islam, mainstream islam there does exist a law that any insult of the beloved Prophet(peace be upon him) should be put on the death penalty. How paradoxically contradictory is that if we go by priniciple of the Prophet?
As someone called me an heretic for having this opinion because according to my opinion I automatically know more than the imams and other learned men. I did not say that nor do I think that, it is merely an opinion.
The Prophet taught us islam is balance.Balance of the inner and outer world.Patience being the inn...er,Akhlaq being the outer.Therefore,we're supposed to be on a higher moral ground.Satan tempts us to get angry and react. We shouldn't react. But we do. If someone insults your mother the easy option is to get angry. It's harder to keep quiet and rise above it.Similarly,there is nothing noble in calling for the death of someone who has insulted the beloved Prophet.It is more noble to ignore that person.Satan wants you to draw attention around that scenario.Don't give him a pulpit.Unfortunately that's exactly what we've done.We've fallen into the hands of hate. There's nothing noble about calling for the death of someone.If Allah is great. Then let him be great and deal with the wrongdoers. Don't undermine his greatness by thinking you're doing a good deed." In short I'm saying that if you respect the Prophet then don't undermine his legacy by acting unlike him.
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