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May 30th, 2010
07:16 AM ET

Pakistan attack fits Muslim world's pattern of religious persecution

Friday's attacks on a religious minority in Pakistan, which have left 98 dead, recall Usma Uddin's recent Belief Blog post noting that most victims of religious persecution in Muslim nations are Muslim themselves.

Here's what Uddin wrote about the Ahmadiyya - or Ahmadi - sect, the victims of the Pakistan attack, in her piece earlier this month:

Blasphemy laws are also a huge problem in Pakistan, where they're used to exact revenge on business or personal rivals. Because these laws do not penalize false allegations nor require proof of intent or evidence beyond allegations, extremists use blasphemy allegations to intimidate minority groups, including Shi'as and members of the Ahmadiyya sect, who consider themselves Muslim.

That's not to suggest that the Pakistani government is behind Fridays's attacks, but that the state fosters an atmosphere in which such persecution can thrive.

Read Uddin's full piece here.

- CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor

Filed under: Islam • Muslim • Persecution • Religious liberty • Violence

soundoff (24 Responses)
  1. The Hawk

    Oooop's, Good to see the Peace loving Muslims hard at work killing one another.

    October 15, 2010 at 8:29 am |
  2. The Hawk

    Good to see the Pease loving Muslims hard at work killing one another.

    October 15, 2010 at 7:58 am |
    • Raison

      @The Hawk

      Pease? Is that a reference to hummus or mashed chickpeas?

      October 15, 2010 at 8:07 am |
  3. THIRDEYE

    The WORLD would be a better place if we eradicate Muslims..."NO MUSLIM NO PROBLEMS"

    June 8, 2010 at 9:25 am |
    • ImNoExpert

      Hitler said the same thing about Jews, look how that worked out.

      June 8, 2010 at 9:46 am |
  4. Ben Cooper

    Jesus said there would be many false prophets after Him. How true, how true.

    Mohammed is the biggest fake of them all. Can anyone in any civilized country imagine having their lives dictated by a bunch of deranged black-robed bearded primitive MFs like these imams who should be in an asylum rather than indoctrinating far too impressionable Arab youths? An utterly horrible cult masquerading as a religion of death. Switzerland got it right when it banned those ugly minarets from its country, nothing but symbols of Islamic terrorism. Believe me, if Europe could find a way to toss out its Muslim population, it would do it in a heartbeat. A Spanish newspaper columnist once said that, as a result of World War II, Europe traded six million peace-loving Jews for twenty million stupid Muslims.

    June 6, 2010 at 2:35 pm |
  5. Reflecto

    The muslim problems have become the world's problems. What is going on in their world. What is going to happen to our civilization?

    June 1, 2010 at 7:35 pm |
  6. Richard

    The Qu'ran justifies Muslim murder. When will the West realize this truth? Suppositions and claims to its peaceful intent do not reflect the writings and commandments of Islam's holy book nor the historic nature of Muhammad's warfare.

    June 1, 2010 at 2:51 pm |
  7. Logan9773

    Lol, the muslims killing each other, who would've thought it.

    June 1, 2010 at 2:44 pm |
  8. Thayyib Ahmed, Dubai

    I must say, Islam became infamous only due to the activities of certain individuals. About 50 years back the entire world was in relative peace and harmony to one another.

    It happened only when someone's rights been deprived by state sponsored terrorism. The innocent victims found a way to terrorize the attackers and the state in mass numbers. This is the simple equation one would understand from these events.

    Do not blame the Prophet Muhammad for our own makings.

    June 1, 2010 at 4:01 am |
  9. Zolicon

    And just think.These People Claim to believe in God and His ways.

    Zolicon

    May 30, 2010 at 4:52 pm |
    • jeff

      Of course they believe in "god" that's the propblem, believing totally ridiculous nonsense can make people do terrible things to one another.

      May 30, 2010 at 6:21 pm |
  10. Abd al-Latif

    I feel sorry for the Ahmadis, they are unfairly persecuted, it's true. But it is not true at all that they are "a sect within Islam," and that this is Muslim-on-Muslim violence, etc. The Ahmadi religion is an invention of colonialist-sympathizers from 19th-century India and that's all it is. It is not Islam.

    May 30, 2010 at 4:16 pm |
  11. nOT Trash

    Really, really, embarrasing stuff from CNN/

    May 30, 2010 at 3:35 pm |
  12. kamal

    Religion of peace stop it, stop all this maddness. islam is now angry on its own followers, shame.

    May 30, 2010 at 2:19 pm |
    • Abd al-Latif

      For the LAST time, Islam is not the "religion of peace" and it NEVER CLAIMED TO BE THAT...although it is certainly more peaceful, in historical perspective, than either Christianity or Judaism. (Have you ever read the Old Testament? Ever heard of the Spanish Inquisition?) Islam means "submission (to God)"; it also has connotations of peacefulness, i.e., the peacefulness brought about by said submission to God. It does NOT mean "peace" in general, nor does it indicate submission to a human ruler or polity. Please inform yourself.

      May 30, 2010 at 4:15 pm |
  13. Reality

    Islam 101 and Islam's continued strive:

    Mohammed was an illiterate, womanizing, lust and greed-driven, warmongering, hallucinating Arab, who also had embellishing/hallucinating/plagiarizing scribal biographers who not only added "angels" and flying chariots to the koran but also a militaristic agenda to support the plundering and looting of the lands of non-believers.

    This agenda continues as shown by the massacre in Mumbai, the assassinations of Bhutto and Theo Van Gogh, the conduct of the seven Muslim doctors in the UK, the 9/11 terrorists, the 24/7 Sunni suicide/roadside/market/mosque bombers, the 24/7 Shiite suicide/roadside/market/mosque bombers, the Islamic bombers of the trains in the UK and Spain, the Bali crazies, the Kenya crazies, the Pakistani “koranics”, the Palestine suicide bombers/rocketeers, the Lebanese nutcases, the Taliban nut jobs, the Filipino “koranics” and the recent mosque assassinations.

    And who funds this muck and stench of terror? The warmongering, Islamic, Shiite terror and torture theocracy of Iran aka the Third Axis of Evil and also the Sunni "Wannabees" of Saudi Arabia.

    Current crises:

    The Sunni-Shiite blood feud and the warmongering, womanizing (11 wives), hallucinating founder.

    May 30, 2010 at 12:16 pm |
    • Xugos

      I think you'll find crazy people everywhere, not just in Islam. And btw Mohammed was Illiterate but nothing else that you stated.

      But who cares what I say, Mr. Potato head there seems to be teaching you about Islam much better than I could.

      May 30, 2010 at 3:43 pm |
    • Abd al-Latif

      So much ignorance...so many lies.

      May 30, 2010 at 4:19 pm |
    • may

      It is a shame to see the lies you have been fed.
      If only you knew the real truth behind the beautiful religion of Islam.

      May 31, 2010 at 12:30 pm |
    • Joe

      "Mohammed was an illiterate, womanizing, lust and greed-driven, warmongering, hallucinating Arab"

      You forgot pedophile.

      June 1, 2010 at 2:11 pm |
    • bob

      Nicely explained.

      June 4, 2010 at 8:14 am |
    • ImNoExpert

      >Mohammed was an illiterate, womanizing, lust and greed-driven, warmongering, hallucinating Arab, who also had embellishing/hallucinating/plagiarizing scribal biographers who not only added "angels" and flying chariots to the koran but also a militaristic agenda to support the plundering and looting of the lands of non-believers

      Yeah, but so was practically every other statesman in those days. You act as if religious militantism and/or crazy people were unprecedented before Islam. The Greeks, Romans, Persians and Byzantines all had this guy's number to one extent or another looooong before he got into the game.

      June 8, 2010 at 9:38 am |
    • Steve Rachi

      And what do u christians believe? Some Angle flew down from heaven, knocked up some lady who somehow stayed a virgin, without gods seed the baby was somehow born his son, he disapears for a while then can "walk on watter", after that he wanted to party so turned water into wine, gets crucified, yet 3 days later he moves a rock weighing thousands of pounds and floats off to sit as Gods right hand man....Sounds just as crazy don't u think.

      October 13, 2010 at 5:27 pm |
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.