Naushad Valiyani, a Muslim doctor in the southern city of Hyderabad, was arrested Friday after a complaint was lodged with police alleging his actions had insulted the Prophet Muhammad, said regional police chief Mushtaq Shah.
The case began Friday when Muhammad Faizan, a pharmaceutical company representative, visited Valiyani's clinic and handed out his business card. He said when the doctor threw the card away, Faizan went to police and filed a complaint that noted his name was the same as the prophet's.
Shah said police were investigating whether Valiyani should be charged with blasphemy.
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That is the stupidest thing ever. Because your name happens to be Muhammad, you have a lifelong guarantee that no one can ever insult you or offend you in any way, or else you can have them thrown in prison for blasphemy?
An extremely common deficiency in the mental processes of those susceptible to magical thought, who make up a very large fraction of fundies, seems to be that they find it extremely difficult, or even impossible, to absolutely distinguish between the abstract concept of something, the written or spoken word that denotes it, and a physical instance of the thing itself.
When you think that the thoughts in your head, or the words that you utter, can somehow directly alter the reality they describe, you're probably susceptible to all kinds of crap like, for example, taking disrespect for a piece of paper with a name that happens to be that of the prophet written on it to actually be the same thing as disrespecting the prophet himself, in person. It's the mindset behind voodoo dolls and similar sympathetic magic, which is amusing, because any self-respecting believer of an Abrahamic religion would probably react with incandescent outrage at any comparison between them and what they'd hold to be such a vastly more primitive, stupid belief system as voodoo.
wtf.
The only way that should possibly be able to count as blasphemy is if the business card was for the actual prophet. That might be blasphemous, though I'm pretty sure a long-dead prophet is past the need of such mundane things as business cards.
Just because your parents decided to name you after said prophet doesn't mean jack.
"Shah said police were investigating whether Valiyani should be charged with blasphemy."
You people are fucking screwy. You realize this, no?
I know the concept of blasphemy is hardly consistent, but you'd think taking advantage of Muhammad's name by trying to get back at someone who threw your business card away would be the worse crime. Well, 'crime'.
I just figured out how to win the war on terror without using a single bullet. I'll go to the middle east and rename myself Muhammad then I'll convert to Islam and then immediately deconvert. Since I'm now an apostate, they are supposed to kill me, but, since my name is Muhammad they can't as that would be blasphemy. The paradox will eventually cause their heads to explode and we'll have gotten rid of the fundies without taking a single shot.
#1235918
I just figured out how to win the war on terror without using a single bullet. I'll go to the middle east and rename myself Muhammad then I'll convert to Islam and then immediately deconvert. Since I'm now an apostate, they are supposed to kill me, but, since my name is Muhammad they can't as that would be blasphemy. The paradox will eventually cause their heads to explode and we'll have gotten rid of the fundies without taking a single shot.
Cool! I'd like to see Muslim ladies pull that off, somehow. Name yourself Mohammed, whip off that big ugly burka, don a T-Shirt & Daisy Dukes, get a job, pick your own mate....If some loser "Honor Kills" you, HE'LL be arrested for defaming the Prophet.
...It probably wouldn't work that way but it's a nice thought.
Because there was no way that he could have just not been interested in Mr. Faizan's job. (/sarcasm)
Valiyani was being rude by throwing it away, yes, but don't most male Muslims have the name "Muhammad" somewhere in their name? Did the business card say, "Prophet" on it? I think not. These people are so idiotic that they don't realize that more than one person has the same name. Un-frickin-believable.
@ shadkat
So, shouldn't his mother be charged with blasphemy as well? His father, teachers,doctors,etc.? I mean, maybe even he should be charged with blasphemy if he's ever be down on himself or beat himself up over something.
If throwing the business card away was blasphemy, then so was being named after the guy in the first place.
You can't have it both ways.
Hang on a minute, the 'city of' Hyderabad is in India and predominantly Hindu. Whilst there is a large number of muslims in the city, it is not a muslim city and in practice - as with much of India - muslims are looked down on by the hindus. A muslim crying for justice over claims of blasphemy is going to be fobbed off.
There is a district of Hyderabad in Pakistan, where these events are more probable. These events would still, however, be unusual considering that half of the bloody country is called Muhammed in one way or the other.
@-H-: There’s also a Hyderabad city in Pakistan .
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I do not expect much to come of this. While the judicial system in Pakistan is not the fairest ever, and they take the cases of blasphemy VERY seriously, they do have the concept of 'precedent'. The officials in Pakistan know full well that allowing this to go through would give carte blanche to everyone named Mohammad (the most common name in their nation) to file a blasphemy charge against just about anyone they damn well please.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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