Asia Bibi Case: Examining the Supreme Court Verdict through the Sharīʻah and Ethical Principles

Manj, Muhammad Shahbaz

doi:10.52541/isiri.v64i1.5593

Research Article (Vol. 64(1)) 2025

Asia Bibi Case

Examining the Supreme Court Verdict through the Sharīʻah and Ethical Principles

Islamic Studies

1 Cited by 50 References Full access

Abstract

The Asia Bibi blasphemy case has been one of the most critical and contentious issues in Pakistan over the past decade. The case deeply polarized the nation and created a tense and emotionally charged atmosphere. On October 31, 2018, the Supreme Court of Pakistan acquitted Asia Bibi, who had previously been sentenced to death by the trial court and the Lahore High Court, by extending her the benefit of the doubt. This verdict by Pakistan’s apex court provoked strong opposition from religious clerics, who declared the decision to be against the sharī‘ah and morality and issued fatwās calling for the assassination of the presiding judges. This scenario raised significant questions regarding the role and interpretation of religion in Pakistan. The present paper examines the Supreme Court’s verdict in light of the sharī‘ah principles and ethical considerations. It argues that the judgment in question is consistent with the foundational principles of the sharī‘ah and morality. The paper reaches this conclusion by identifying various sharī‘ah principles applicable to such cases and analysing the verdict to assess whether these principles were adhered to. The study finds that the judges strictly adhered to the injunctions of the sharī‘ah in exercising caution when punishing the accused, evaluating witness testimonies, and placing the burden of proof on the accuser.

Keywords: Asia Bibi; Supreme Court; Pakistan; acquittal; blasphemy; sharīʻah; ‘ulamā’

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Asia Bibi Case

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Examining the Supreme Court Verdict through the Sharīʻah and Ethical Principles

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31 Mar 2025

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10 Nov 2026

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10 Nov 2026

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Islamic Studies

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Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad

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0578-8072

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64 (1)

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57-84

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References 50

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Ahmad, Muhammad Mushtaq. “Tauhīn-i Risālat kī Sazā Ḥanafī Fiqh kī Rōshnī main.” Al-Sharī‘ah 23, no 3. (2011): 29-40.
Al-‘Asqalānī, Aḥmad b. Alī b. Ḥajar. Bulūgh al-Marām min Adillat al-Ahkām. Riyadh: Dār al-Qabas li ’l-Nashr wa ’l-Tawzī‘, 2014.
Al-‘Asqalānī, Aḥmad b. Alī b. Ḥajar. Fatḥ al-Bārī bi Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Imām Abī ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad b. Ismā‘īl al-Bukhārī. n.p.: al-Maktabah al-Salafiyyah, n.d..
Al-‘Aynī, Maḥmūd b. Aḥmad. ‘Umdat al-Qārī Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Edited by ‘Abd Allāh Maḥmūd Muḥammad ‘Umar. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 2001.
Al-Bayhaqī, Aḥmad b. Ḥusayn. Al-Sunan al-Kubrā. Edited by Muḥammad ‘Abd al-Qādir ‘Aṭā’. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 2003.
Al-Bukhārī, Muḥammad b. Ismā‘īl. Ṣaḥīḥ. Beirut: Dār Ibn Kathīr, 2002.
Al-Hilālī, Muḥammad Taqī-ud Dīn, and Muḥammad Muḥsin Khān, trans. Translation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur’ān into the English Language. Medina: King Fahd Glorious Qur’ān Printing Complex, n.d.
Al-Jaṣṣāṣ, Aḥmad b. ‘Alī al-Rāzī. Aḥkām al-Qur’ān. Edited by Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq al-Qamhāwī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyā’ al-Turāth al-‘Arabī, 1992.
Al-Nawawī, Yaḥyā b. Sharaf. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim bi Sharḥ al-Nawawī. Cairo: al-Maṭba‘ah al-Miṣriyyah, 1930.
Al-San‘ānī, ‘Abd al-Razzāq b. Hammām. Muṣannaf. Edited by Ḥabīb al-Raḥmān al-A‘ẓamī. Karachi: al-Majlis al-‘Ilmī, 1972.
Al-Tirmidhī, Muḥammad b. ‘Īsā. Jāmi‘. Riyadh: Bayt al-Afkār al-Duwaliyyah li ’l-Nashr wa ’l-Tawzī‘, n.d.
Atlawī, Sājid Khān. Tauhīn-i Risālat kā Shar‘ī Ḥukm. Lahore: Maktabah-i Abū Bakr ‘Abd Allāh, 2012.
Awan, Sajid. Taḥaffuẓ-i Nāmūs-i Risālat aur Gustākh-i Rasūl kī Sazā. Multan: ‘Ālamī Majlis-i Taḥaffuẓ-i Khatm-i Nubuwwat, 1996.
Azeem Khan and another v. Mujahid Khan and others 2016 SCMR 274.
Bibi, Asia, and Anne Isabelle Tollet. Blasphemy: A Memoir; Sentenced to Death over a Cup of Water. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2013.
Cliteur, P. B., and Tom Herrenburg. The Fall and Rise of Blasphemy Law. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2016.
Criminal Appeal No. 39-L of 2015 SC 2018.
Fenwick, Stewart. Blasphemy, Islam and the State: Pluralism and Liberalism in Indonesia. London: Rutledge, 2017.
Forte, David. “Apostasy and Blasphemy in Pakistan.” Connecticut Journal of International Law 10, no. 27 (1994): 27-68.
Hamid Nadeem v. the State 2011 SCMR 1233.
Hassan, Riaz. “Expressions of Religiosity and Blasphemy in Modern Societies.” Asian Journal of Social Sciences 35 (2007): 111-25.
Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, Yūsuf b. ‘Abd Allāh b. Muḥammad. Al-Istidhkār. Edited by ‘Abd al-Mu‘ṭī Amīn Qala‘jī. Beirut: Dār Qutaybah li ’l-Ṭibā‘ah wa ’l-Nashr, 1993.
Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, Yūsuf b. ‘Abd Allāh b. Muḥammad. Al-Tamhīd limā fī ’l-Muwaṭṭa’ min al-Ma‘ānī wa ’l-Asānīd. Edited by Sa‘īd Aḥmad al-‘Arāb. Maghrib: Wizārat al-Shu‘ūn al-Islāmiyyah, 1990.
Ibn Daqīq al-‘Īd, Muḥammad b. ‘Alī. Al-Ilmām bi Aḥādīth al-Aḥkām. Damascus: Dār al-Nawādir, n.d.
Ibn Mājah, Muḥammad b. Yazīd. Sunan. Riyadh: Dār al-Salām li ‘l-Nashr wa ’l-Tawzī‘, 1999.
Imran alias Dali v. the State 2015 SCMR 155.
Jalali, Ashraf Asif. “Ashraf Asif Jalali sahib replies Chief Justice on word Masoom and bardasht,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrzbfYE8IpE.
Jinnah Institute. Jinnah Institute Briefing Pack: Amendments to the Blasphemy Laws Act 2010. Islamabad: Jinnah Institute, 2010.
Kennedy, Charles. Islamization of Laws and Economy in Pakistan. Islamabad: Institute of Policy Studies, 1991.
Khan, Wahiduddin. Tauhīn-i Risālat kā Mas’alah. Lahore: Dār al-Tadhkīr, 1996.
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, “The Release of Asia Bibi is a Small Step towards a more Open Pakistan.” The Guardian. November 1, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/01/release-asia-bibi-pakistan-blasphemy-laws.
Malik Muhammad Mumtaz Qadri v. the State PLD 2016 SC 17.
Manj, Muhammad Shahbaz. “Mumtāz Qādrī kī Sazā: Taḥaffuẓ-i Sharī‘at Kānfarans kē Faiṣalē par aik Naẓar.” Al-Sharī‘ah 26, no. 12 (2015): 31-37.
Muhammad Aslam v. Sabir Hussain 2009 SCMR 985.
Muhammad Ismail Qureshi v. Pakistan PLD 1991 FSC 10.
Muslim b. al-Ḥajjāj. Ṣaḥīḥ. Riyadh: Dār al-Salām li ’l-Nashr wa ’l-Tawzī‘, 2000.
Na‘īmī, Aḥmad Yār Khān. Mir’āt al-Manājīḥ Urdū Tarjumah-o Sharḥ-i Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ. Gujrat: Na‘īmī Kutub Khānah, n.d.
Nasir Javaid v. the State 2016 SCMR 1144.
Nasir, Ammar Khan. “Tauhīn-i Risālat kā Mas’alah.” Ishrāq (March 2011): 25-99.
Qureshi, Muhammad Ismail. Namūs-i Risālat aur Qānūn-i Tauhīn-i Risālat. Lahore: Al-Faiṣal Nāshirān-i Kutub, 2006.
Rōznāmah Jang, November 2, 2018.
Sajid Mumtaz and others v. Basharat and others 2006 SCMR 231.
Sarfraz Khan v. the State and two others 1996 SCMR 188.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of King Lear. Edited by Jay L. Halio. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Shakir, Naeem. “Islamic Shariah and Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan.” The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs 104, no. 3 (2015): 307-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2015.1053235.
Siddique, Osama, and Zahra Hayat. “Unholy Speech and Holy Laws: Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan—Controversial Origins, Design, Defects, and Free Speech Implications.” Minnesota Journal of International Law 17, no. 2 (2008): 303-85.
Siddique, Zain. “These 7 Points Explain the Supreme Court’s Decision to Free Asia Bibi.” Dawn. November 26, 2018.
Zia-ul-Rehman v. the State 2000 SCMR 528.

[1] Abbas, Shemeem Burney. Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws: From Islamic Empires to the Taliban. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013.

[2] Ahmad, Muhammad Mushtaq. “Pakistani Blasphemy Law between Ḥadd and Siyāsah: A Plea for Reappraisal of the Ismail Qureshi Case.” Islamic Studies 56, nos. 1-2 (2017): 9-43.

[3] Ahmad, Muhammad Mushtaq. “Tauhīn-i Risālat kī Sazā Ḥanafī Fiqh kī Rōshnī main.” Al-Sharī‘ah 23, no 3. (2011): 29-40.

[4] Al-‘Asqalānī, Aḥmad b. Alī b. Ḥajar. Bulūgh al-Marām min Adillat al-Ahkām. Riyadh: Dār al-Qabas li ’l-Nashr wa ’l-Tawzī‘, 2014.

[5] Al-‘Asqalānī, Aḥmad b. Alī b. Ḥajar. Fatḥ al-Bārī bi Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Imām Abī ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad b. Ismā‘īl al-Bukhārī. n.p.: al-Maktabah al-Salafiyyah, n.d..

[6] Al-‘Aynī, Maḥmūd b. Aḥmad. ‘Umdat al-Qārī Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Edited by ‘Abd Allāh Maḥmūd Muḥammad ‘Umar. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 2001.

[7] Al-Bayhaqī, Aḥmad b. Ḥusayn. Al-Sunan al-Kubrā. Edited by Muḥammad ‘Abd al-Qādir ‘Aṭā’. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 2003.

[8] Al-Bukhārī, Muḥammad b. Ismā‘īl. Ṣaḥīḥ. Beirut: Dār Ibn Kathīr, 2002.

[9] Al-Hilālī, Muḥammad Taqī-ud Dīn, and Muḥammad Muḥsin Khān, trans. Translation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur’ān into the English Language. Medina: King Fahd Glorious Qur’ān Printing Complex, n.d.

[10] Al-Jaṣṣāṣ, Aḥmad b. ‘Alī al-Rāzī. Aḥkām al-Qur’ān. Edited by Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq al-Qamhāwī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyā’ al-Turāth al-‘Arabī, 1992.

[11] Al-Nawawī, Yaḥyā b. Sharaf. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim bi Sharḥ al-Nawawī. Cairo: al-Maṭba‘ah al-Miṣriyyah, 1930.

[12] Al-San‘ānī, ‘Abd al-Razzāq b. Hammām. Muṣannaf. Edited by Ḥabīb al-Raḥmān al-A‘ẓamī. Karachi: al-Majlis al-‘Ilmī, 1972.

[13] Al-Tirmidhī, Muḥammad b. ‘Īsā. Jāmi‘. Riyadh: Bayt al-Afkār al-Duwaliyyah li ’l-Nashr wa ’l-Tawzī‘, n.d.

[14] Atlawī, Sājid Khān. Tauhīn-i Risālat kā Shar‘ī Ḥukm. Lahore: Maktabah-i Abū Bakr ‘Abd Allāh, 2012.

[15] Awan, Sajid. Taḥaffuẓ-i Nāmūs-i Risālat aur Gustākh-i Rasūl kī Sazā. Multan: ‘Ālamī Majlis-i Taḥaffuẓ-i Khatm-i Nubuwwat, 1996.

[16] Azeem Khan and another v. Mujahid Khan and others 2016 SCMR 274.

[17] Bibi, Asia, and Anne Isabelle Tollet. Blasphemy: A Memoir; Sentenced to Death over a Cup of Water. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2013.

[18] Cliteur, P. B., and Tom Herrenburg. The Fall and Rise of Blasphemy Law. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2016.

[19] Criminal Appeal No. 39-L of 2015 SC 2018.

[20] Fenwick, Stewart. Blasphemy, Islam and the State: Pluralism and Liberalism in Indonesia. London: Rutledge, 2017.

[21] Forte, David. “Apostasy and Blasphemy in Pakistan.” Connecticut Journal of International Law 10, no. 27 (1994): 27-68.

[22] Hamid Nadeem v. the State 2011 SCMR 1233.

[23] Hassan, Riaz. “Expressions of Religiosity and Blasphemy in Modern Societies.” Asian Journal of Social Sciences 35 (2007): 111-25.

[24] Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, Yūsuf b. ‘Abd Allāh b. Muḥammad. Al-Istidhkār. Edited by ‘Abd al-Mu‘ṭī Amīn Qala‘jī. Beirut: Dār Qutaybah li ’l-Ṭibā‘ah wa ’l-Nashr, 1993.

[25] Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, Yūsuf b. ‘Abd Allāh b. Muḥammad. Al-Tamhīd limā fī ’l-Muwaṭṭa’ min al-Ma‘ānī wa ’l-Asānīd. Edited by Sa‘īd Aḥmad al-‘Arāb. Maghrib: Wizārat al-Shu‘ūn al-Islāmiyyah, 1990.

[26] Ibn Daqīq al-‘Īd, Muḥammad b. ‘Alī. Al-Ilmām bi Aḥādīth al-Aḥkām. Damascus: Dār al-Nawādir, n.d.

[27] Ibn Mājah, Muḥammad b. Yazīd. Sunan. Riyadh: Dār al-Salām li ‘l-Nashr wa ’l-Tawzī‘, 1999.

[28] Imran alias Dali v. the State 2015 SCMR 155.

[29] Jalali, Ashraf Asif. “Ashraf Asif Jalali sahib replies Chief Justice on word Masoom and bardasht,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrzbfYE8IpE.

[30] Jinnah Institute. Jinnah Institute Briefing Pack: Amendments to the Blasphemy Laws Act 2010. Islamabad: Jinnah Institute, 2010.

[31] Kennedy, Charles. Islamization of Laws and Economy in Pakistan. Islamabad: Institute of Policy Studies, 1991.

[32] Khan, Wahiduddin. Tauhīn-i Risālat kā Mas’alah. Lahore: Dār al-Tadhkīr, 1996.

[33] Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, “The Release of Asia Bibi is a Small Step towards a more Open Pakistan.” The Guardian. November 1, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/01/release-asia-bibi-pakistan-blasphemy-laws.

[34] Malik Muhammad Mumtaz Qadri v. the State PLD 2016 SC 17.

[35] Manj, Muhammad Shahbaz. “Mumtāz Qādrī kī Sazā: Taḥaffuẓ-i Sharī‘at Kānfarans kē Faiṣalē par aik Naẓar.” Al-Sharī‘ah 26, no. 12 (2015): 31-37.

[36] Muhammad Aslam v. Sabir Hussain 2009 SCMR 985.

[37] Muhammad Ismail Qureshi v. Pakistan PLD 1991 FSC 10.

[38] Muslim b. al-Ḥajjāj. Ṣaḥīḥ. Riyadh: Dār al-Salām li ’l-Nashr wa ’l-Tawzī‘, 2000.

[39] Na‘īmī, Aḥmad Yār Khān. Mir’āt al-Manājīḥ Urdū Tarjumah-o Sharḥ-i Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ. Gujrat: Na‘īmī Kutub Khānah, n.d.

[40] Nasir Javaid v. the State 2016 SCMR 1144.

[41] Nasir, Ammar Khan. “Tauhīn-i Risālat kā Mas’alah.” Ishrāq (March 2011): 25-99.

[42] Qureshi, Muhammad Ismail. Namūs-i Risālat aur Qānūn-i Tauhīn-i Risālat. Lahore: Al-Faiṣal Nāshirān-i Kutub, 2006.

[43] Rōznāmah Jang, November 2, 2018.

[44] Sajid Mumtaz and others v. Basharat and others 2006 SCMR 231.

[45] Sarfraz Khan v. the State and two others 1996 SCMR 188.

[46] Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of King Lear. Edited by Jay L. Halio. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

[47] Shakir, Naeem. “Islamic Shariah and Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan.” The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs 104, no. 3 (2015): 307-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2015.1053235.

[48] Siddique, Osama, and Zahra Hayat. “Unholy Speech and Holy Laws: Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan—Controversial Origins, Design, Defects, and Free Speech Implications.” Minnesota Journal of International Law 17, no. 2 (2008): 303-85.

[49] Siddique, Zain. “These 7 Points Explain the Supreme Court’s Decision to Free Asia Bibi.” Dawn. November 26, 2018.

[50] Zia-ul-Rehman v. the State 2000 SCMR 528.

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