Transmissions From Closed Society: Impiety, A Taboo In Pakistan by Rafiq

The following essay was written by a young man from Pakistan.  We'll call him Rafiq. He is 19 years old.

Impiety, A Taboo: by Rafiq in Pakistan

 Out of the early 7th century Hejaz region of the Arabian Peninsula comes the second largest religion in the world. Apparently just another monotheistic religion, Islam includes a large number of practices that affect lives of the people and leaves a remarkable impact on society.

The vast majority of followers of this religion today inhabit North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. While the majority of the population in these areas are Muslims, there are also some people living in “closets” among them. To their own people they don’t appear very alien, but in reality, they are segregated from almost everyone around them. For excellent reasons, these people have to live a secret life, because hardly any of them would want to come out and risk their life. Out of their own league, these people actually happen to be cultural critics, rationalists and free thinkers. They commit what, to the majority of the people around them, is a crime known as blasphemy. In such a rigid atmosphere it is easy to go with the flow, but they go against it. They are almost unknown to everyone around them, including their blood relatives.  They lead a life in secret, a prisoner in their own minds.

Skeptical thinking and questioning the religious traditions are not the norm in Islamic societies. Most of the Muslim majority countries apply Sharia, a religious law based on the Quran and other Islamic doctrines, to their legislature. This includes blasphemy laws, which contain penalties from life imprisonment up to death for anyone who is found guilty of blaspheming the religion of Islam or its prophet. There have been a number of cases where the blasphemy convicts are sentenced to horrendous punishments. Besides having such severe laws, the societies in these countries are not very tolerant either. Unlike in the western societies where people do not question an individual’s right to freedom of speech, in the Muslim societies it is quite the opposite. Religion is a very sensitive subject to the Muslim people. Anything negative said about their religious dogma or the prophet is not tolerated at all.  Apostasy, leaving Islam, is considered one of the biggest social crimes and in a great lot of societies it is punishable by death. This too mostly does not require a proper court ruling in accordance with the laws but a simple social and religious construct.


To someone who has lived in such a society for whole of their life, these are the facts of life. Being born and raised into such a totalitarian culture that considers itself the absolute, final and unchangeable word of god, a child undergoes an intense level of indoctrination. The indoctrination does not only include irrational superstition but also dissension, execration and fanaticism. This kind of brainwashing injures the minds and deprives people of the ability to create a pluralistic, tolerant and multicultural society. People holding different beliefs and opinions are viewed as heretics and it becomes very difficult for the minorities in these Muslim majority countries to survive such kind of social persecution.