No Penalty for Blasphemy in the Koran

So sayeth Dr. Fareed Zakaria commenting on “the twelve people murdered in Paris this week.” His conclusion is that that they were misguided souls and that Islamic regimes and organizations are going against their own religion in proscribing blasphemy and imposing harsh penalties.

          But in fact, the Quran prescribes no punishment for blasphemy.

He goes on to quote slamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

… nowhere does the Quran prescribe the punishment of lashes, or death, or any other physical punishment.
 

True.

There is no word for ‘blasphemy’ in Arabic:

Blasphemy is not an Arabic term. But decapitation and hellfire await those who insult (sabb) or abuse or vilify (shatm) or curse (la`n or la’ana) Allah or his Messenger: Blaspheme? Unthinkable. Mere annoyance will do the trick:

Those who annoy Allah and His Messenger – Allah has cursed them in this World and in the Hereafter, and has prepared for them a humiliating Punishment. [33:57]

Truly, if the Hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease, and those who stir up sedition in the City, desist not, We shall certainly stir thee up against them: Then will they not be able to stay in it as thy neighbours for any length of time. [33:60]

They shall have a curse on them: whenever they are found, they shall be seized and slain (without mercy). [33:61]