Police have arrested a Muslim woman named Sana Ullah in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad on charges of blasphemy.
According to senior police official Nasir Ali Rizvi, the arrest came after angry crowds gathered outside her home demanding her execution for allegedly claiming to be an Islamic prophet.
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws consider insulting Islam or Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his Pure Family) a serious offense, punishable by death or life imprisonment.
International and domestic human rights groups are concerned that accusations of blasphemy are often used to frighten religious minorities and resolve personal grudges in the country.
It should be mentioned that in Islam, claiming to be a prophet is considered to be a violation of the principle of “Seal of Prophethood,” which holds that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his Pure Family) was the last prophet and that there will be no prophet after him. Such a claim amounts to apostasy, and, according to most Shia Jurists, is punishable by execution.
