In last week’s Letters to the Editor section, Mr. Usama Ahmed referred to the attack by two Muslims on the Texas “free speech event” and stated, “Islam has never permitted violence in response to blasphemy.”

However, we read about both Muslims and non-Muslims being punished weekly for the crime of blasphemy. Blasphemy in Islam is any disrespectful act or statement about Allah, Muhammad or anything considered sacred in Islam. Islamic scholars hold that punishment for blasphemers is supported in the Qur’an by verses 5:33 and 33:57-61.

According to the principles of Islam, Muslims are to follow the example of Muhammad. One of the most respected authors of true stories about Muhammad is Sahil al-Bukhari, and he reports that a man (Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf) insulted Muhammad, so Muhammad called for his murder. Furthermore, Muhammad said that no punishment will befall the person who murders anyone who disparages, abuses or insults Muhammad.

In fact, ever since approximately 1,100 A.D., a consensus developed among Islamic scholars that anyone who insults the prophet must be put to death. Today, Muslim nations that abide by Islamic law (Shariah) continue to penalize blasphemy by imposing punishments that run from beatings to the death penalty, and we read about these almost every day. For examples, consider Salman Rushdie, the British novelist, who is under the threat of death from a fatwa calling for his assassination by Ayatollah Khomeini, or consider Seattle’s Molly Norris, who is in hiding after she was the subject of a fatwa for depicting the likeness of Muhammad in a cartoon.

Therefore, I conclude that not only does Islam allow violence for the act of blasphemy, but it is demanded by the writings of the Hadith and Shariah law of many Islamic countries.

Stephen Decatur,

Redmond