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Sābb al-Nabī (Arabic: سابّ النبي) refers to a person who insults or blasphemes against the Prophet of Islam (s). In Islamic jurisprudence, this act is a crime for which the death penalty is prescribed. This ruling is accepted by both Shi'a and Sunni jurists, supported by mustafīd traditions and consensus. Imam Khomeini's fatwa regarding the killing of Salman Rushdie is one of the applications of this ruling.

According to a group of Shi'a jurists, an individual who hears an insult or blasphemy against the Prophet of Islam can execute the insulter without the need for permission from a religious authority. However, Shi'a jurists do not apply the ruling of Sābb al-Nabī in cases such as lack of intent, practicing taqiyya, or lack of free will on the part of the insulter. In Shi'a jurisprudence, insulting other sanctities such as God, the Imams (a), and Lady Fatima al-Zahra (a) carries the same ruling as Sabb al-Nabi.

Terminology and Status

Sābb al-Nabī is an individual who reviles Prophet Muhammad (s).[1] Based on some research, the term Sabb al-Nabi is not restricted to verbal abuse but encompasses any form of insult, disparagement, or mockery of the Prophet (s).[2] For instance, al-Muqaddas al-Ardabili, a 10th/16th-century jurist, considered the terms sabb (insult), shatm (abuse), and nayl (disparagement) in traditions as synonymous, all including any kind of insult to the Prophet.[3] Conversely, Husayn 'Ali Montazeri, a 14th/20th-century jurist, defined Sabb al-Nabi strictly as verbal abuse and foul language, excluding other forms of insult.[4]

In most Shi'a hadith and jurisprudential sources, Sabb al-Nabi is discussed in the section on prescribed punishments (hudūd), following the issues related to the punishment for false accusation (qadhf).[5] Sunni jurists generally discuss it under the subject of apostasy (irtidād), considering such an individual an apostate.[6] Furthermore, the ruling of Sābb al-Nabī is stated in Article 262 of the Islamic Penal Code of Iran and its notes.[7]

The death sentence for Salman Rushdie issued by Imam Khomeini due to the writing of the book The Satanic Verses brought the Islamic punishment for Sābb al-Nabī to global attention.[8] Challenges cited regarding the ruling of Sābb al-Nabī include its opposition to Freedom of speech,[9] the potential weakening of the image of religion, and the alienation of people from faith.[10]

Jurisprudential Ruling

Insulting the Prophet of Islam is introduced as a sin carrying a prescribed punishment.[11] In addition to being prohibited, the insulter is condemned to death.[12] This ruling is accepted by both Shi'as and Sunnis.[13] Upon the Prophet being insulted, the execution of the insulter becomes obligatory for those who heard the insult.[14] According to al-Shahid al-Thani, a 10th/16th-century jurist, this ruling is not dropped even if the insulter repents.[15]

Evidence for the Jurisprudential Ruling

The religious basis for the ruling of Sabb al-Nabi is cited as mustafīd traditions[16] and consensus.[17] A group of Shi'a jurists considers the title Sābb al-Nabī sufficient for the execution of the insulter without making it dependent on another title.[18] However, some jurists consider Sabb al-Nabi a case of apostasy and view the execution ruling as a subset of the punishment for apostasy.[19] For instance, al-Muqaddas al-Ardabili believed that the obligation to respect the Prophet is among the essentials of the religion, and the insulter denies this essential and is therefore an apostate.[20]

Some scholars have regarded Sabb al-Nabi as an attack on Islam and the faith, necessitating the execution of the insulter as a means of defending the religion.[21]

Implementation and Exceptions

According to the author of Jawāhir al-kalām, the famous view in Shi'a jurisprudence is that implementing the ruling of Sabb al-Nabi does not require the permission of an Imam or a religious judge; any individual who hears the insult can execute the speaker.[22] However, Shaykh al-Mufid considered the implementation of this ruling to be among the authorities of the Islamic ruler.[23]

It is also stated that the execution of the insulter is obligatory only for someone who is safe from danger to their own life, property, and honor.[24] Nevertheless, al-Muqaddas al-Ardabili believed that even if the person does not have such security, they can still proceed to kill the insulter.[25]

In the following cases, some jurists have not accepted the implementation of the execution ruling:

  • Lack of intent by the insulter.[26]
  • Insulting while in a state of intense rage.[27]
  • Lack of free will.[28]
  • State of Taqiyya or coercion.[29]
  • Ignorance.[30]

Instances of Sabb al-Nabi and Reactions

According to a narration from Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a), the Prophet (s) ordered the killing of a man from the Hudhayl tribe who used to insult him, and some companions carried out the order.[31] Additionally, during the Conquest of Mecca, all polytheists were granted amnesty except for a few, including two singing women who used to satirize and mock the Prophet, for whom he issued an execution order.[32]

In September 1988 (1367 Sh), The Satanic Verses, an insulting novel about the Prophet of Islam, was published. Imam Khomeini, the Shi'a Marja' and the then-Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, issued the fatwa for the killing of Salman Rushdie, the author, leading to protests by Muslims worldwide against the author and the publisher.[33]

Salman Rushdie was attacked with a knife in 1401 Sh and wounded in the neck.[34] On September 30, 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published offensive cartoons of the Prophet (s), leading to a boycott of Danish goods by Muslims.[35] In 2011, the publication of insulting cartoons of the Prophet in the French magazine Charlie Hebdo caused protests among Muslims in various countries.[36]

Blasphemy against Other Sanctities

Main article: Insulting the sanctities

In jurisprudential books, the ruling of Sābb al-Nabī has also been applied or discussed in the following cases:

  • God and angels.[37]
  • The Imams (a) and Lady Fatima al-Zahra (a): The author of Jawāhir al-kalām considered the application of the ruling to them as a matter of consensus among Shi'a jurists.[38]
  • Other Prophets: The author of Riyāḍ al-masāʾil considered the insult to all prophets to be under the ruling of Sabb al-Nabi.[39] Although the author of Jawāhir considered insulting other prophets as a cause for apostasy, he questioned its exact categorization as Sabb al-Nabi.[40]
  • Amina, the mother of the Prophet: Some jurists placed the insult to Amina under the ruling of insulting the Prophet (s) himself.[41] ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī considered this equality in ruling to cases where a false accusation of adultery is made against her.[42] The author of Jawāhir also applied this ruling only when the insult to Amina leads to the insult of the Prophet.[43]
  • Other relatives of the Prophet and the Imams (Imamzadas): According to the author of Jawāhir, insulting other relatives of the Prophet is appended to Sabb al-Nabi only when it results in insulting the Prophet.[44]

Bibliography

  • Taḥlīl-i jurm-i sabb al-Nabī dar fiqh-i islāmī wa qawānīn-i kiyfarī, by Abdullah Bahman-puri and Hasan Haqqani-khwah. Tehran: Majd, 1397 Sh.[45]
  • Sharḥ-i mabsūṭ-i qānūn-i mujāzāt-i islāmī: ḥudūd, shāmil-i sabb al-Nabī, maṣraf-i muskir, sirqat, muḥāraba, baghy wa ifsād fī l-arḍ, by Abbas Zira'at. Tehran: Jāwdāna, 1393 Sh.[46]
  • Risāla fī masāʾil al-ṣawm wa-l-sabb, by Haydar 'Ali b. al-Mirza Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Shirwani.[47]

See Also

Notes

  1. ↑ Zirāʿat, “Barrasī-yi fiqhī wa ḥuqūqī-yi jurm-i sabb al-Nabī,” p. 83.
  2. ↑ Zirāʿat, “Barrasī-yi fiqhī wa ḥuqūqī-yi jurm-i sabb al-Nabī,” p. 86; Murawwijī Ṭabasī, “Ḥukm-i fiqhī-yi dushnām-dahanda bi Payāmbar,” p. 43.
  3. ↑ Ardabīlī, Majmaʿ al-fāʾida wa-l-burhān, vol. 13, p. 171.
  4. ↑ Muntaẓirī, Pāsukh bi pursish-hā-yi dīnī, 1389 Sh, p. 492.
  5. ↑ For example, see: Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī, Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, 1408 AH, vol. 4, p. 154; Ḥurr ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, 1409 AH, vol. 28, p. 211; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Riyāḍ al-masāʾil, 1418 AH, vol. 16, p. 54; Burūjirdī, Jāmiʿ aḥādīth al-Shīʿa, 1386 Sh, vol. 30, p. 784.
  6. ↑ Āqā-bābāʾī, “Qatl-i nafs bi iʿtiqād-i mahdūr al-dam būdan-i maqtūl,” p. 174.
  7. ↑ “Qānūn-i mujāzāt-i islāmī,” National Database of Laws and Regulations.
  8. ↑ Jawāhirī, “Istinbāṭ-i ḥukm-i sābb al-Nabī (s) az abʿād-i si-gāna-yi sunnat-i islāmī,” p. 26.
  9. ↑ Ḥusaynī Pāsandī et al., “Vākāwī-yi ijrā-yi mujāzāt-i sābb al-Nabī bā nigāhī bar chālish-hā,” p. 35.
  10. ↑ Ḥājī-dih-ābādī and Nūrī, “Bāz-pazhūhī-yi mujāzāt-i sābb al-Imām,” 1393 Sh, p. 44.
  11. ↑ Jazīrī, al-Fiqh ʿalā l-madhāhib al-arbaʿa, 1419 AH, vol. 4, p. 301.
  12. ↑ ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī, Irshād al-adhhān, 1410 AH, vol. 2, p. 179; Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 21, p. 268.
  13. ↑ Jawāhirī, “Istinbāṭ-i ḥukm-i sābb al-Nabī (s) az abʿād-i si-gāna-yi sunnat-i islāmī,” p. 29; Khwānsārī, Jāmiʿ al-madārik, 1405 AH, vol. 7, p. 109.
  14. ↑ Khwānsārī, Jāmiʿ al-madārik, 1405 AH, vol. 7, p. 109.
  15. ↑ Shahīd al-Thānī, al-Rawḍat al-bahiyya, 1410 AH, vol. 9, p. 196.
  16. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Riyāḍ al-masāʾil, 1418 AH, vol. 16, p. 55.
  17. ↑ al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā, al-Intiṣār, 1415 AH, p. 482; Ibn Zuhra, Ghunyat al-nuzūʿ, 1417 AH, p. 428.
  18. ↑ Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī, Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, 1408 AH, vol. 4, p. 154.
  19. ↑ al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā, al-Intiṣār, 1415 AH, p. 482; Shahīd al-Thānī, Masālik al-afhām, 1413 AH, vol. 4, p. 454.
  20. ↑ Ardabīlī, Majmaʿ al-fāʾida wa-l-burhān, vol. 13, p. 170.
  21. ↑ Ḥājī-dih-ābādī and Nūrī, “Bāz-pazhūhī-yi mujāzāt-i sābb al-Imām,” 1393 Sh, pp. 65-66.
  22. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 41, p. 438.
  23. ↑ Shaykh al-Mufīd, al-Muqniʿa, 1410 AH, p. 743.
  24. ↑ Khwānsārī, Jāmiʿ al-madārik, 1405 AH, vol. 7, p. 112.
  25. ↑ Ardabīlī, Majmaʿ al-fāʾida wa-l-burhān, vol. 13, p. 171.
  26. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 41, p. 439; Gulpāyagānī, al-Durr al-manḍūd, 1414 AH, vol. 2, p. 266.
  27. ↑ Gulpāyagānī, al-Durr al-manḍūd, 1414 AH, vol. 2, pp. 267-268; Fāḍil Lankarānī, Jāmiʿ al-masāʾil, 1425 Sh, vol. 1, p. 501.
  28. ↑ Gulpāyagānī, al-Durr al-manḍūd, 1414 AH, vol. 2, p. 267.
  29. ↑ Gulpāyagānī, al-Durr al-manḍūd, 1414 AH, vol. 2, pp. 253-254.
  30. ↑ Gulpāyagānī, al-Durr al-manḍūd, 1414 AH, vol. 2, p. 256.
  31. ↑ al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1367 Sh, vol. 7, p. 267.
  32. ↑ al-Yaʿqūbī, Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī, 1413 AH, vol. 1, p. 378.
  33. ↑ Riḍwānī, Barrasī-yi ḥukm-i Imām Khumaynī dar bāra-yi Salmān Rushdī, 1388 Sh, pp. 124-127; Mūsawī Khumaynī, Ṣaḥīfa-yi Nūr, 1389 Sh, vol. 21, p. 263.
  34. ↑ “Ḥamla bā čāqū bi Salmān Rushdī,” Euronews.
  35. ↑ Fāḍilī, “Marg-i kārīkātūrīst-i janjālī-yi Dānmārk,” Etemad; “Dānmārk az kārīkātūr-hā-yi mūhin milyūn-hā yūrū ziyān dīd,” Hamshahri Online.
  36. ↑ “Satire-Zeitung darf nicht mehr online gehen,” Spiegel Online.
  37. ↑ ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī, Tadhkirat al-fuqahāʾ, 1414 AH, vol. 9, p. 433; Jazīrī, al-Fiqh ʿalā l-madhāhib al-arbaʿa, 1419 AH, vol. 4, p. 301.
  38. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 41, p. 435.
  39. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Riyāḍ al-masāʾil, 1418 AH, vol. 16, p. 56.
  40. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 41, pp. 436-437.
  41. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Riyāḍ al-masāʾil, 1418 AH, vol. 16, p. 56; Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 41, p. 437.
  42. ↑ ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī, Taḥrīr al-aḥkām, 1420 AH, vol. 5, p. 410.
  43. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 41, p. 438.
  44. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 41, p. 438.
  45. ↑ “Taḥlīl-i jurm-i sabb al-Nabī dar fiqh-i islāmī wa qawānīn-i kiyfarī,” Iran Book and Literature House.
  46. ↑ “Sharḥ-i mabsūṭ-i qānūn-i mujāzāt-i islāmī: ḥudūd,” Iran Book and Literature House.
  47. ↑ Āqā Buzurg al-Ṭihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 1403 AH, vol. 20, p. 355.

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