Blasphemy in Islam

In keeping with my habit of exposing & skewering liars, I quote the first paragraph of  Blasphemy and the Islamic way…..  from Islamic Blog.

"Due to some recent events in Pakistan, the issue of blasphemy is again in the news. It is generally held that Islam prescribes capital punishment for those who commit blasphemy; that is, using abusive language against the Prophet of Islam. But this is quite untrue. According to Islam, blasphemy is simply a misuse of freedom and not a cognisable offence; the blasphemer is not liable to incur legal punishment. This kind of law has no basis in Islamic scriptures. If someone uses abusive language against the Prophet, Muslims must take it as a case of misunderstanding, and then try to remove this misunderstanding. They are required to do so by engaging in discussion or by providing the blasphemer with Islamic literature that gives the true image of the Prophet of Islam."

 

cognisable offence

    This strange expression is used in the law of India & Pakistan, I presume that it originated in the colonial period.  It refers to a violation of law which the police can recognize, take notice of;  arrest & charge the perpetrator for.

blasphemy: capital offense?

    The author says that it is not; what does Shari'ah say?  Let us turn first to Reliance of the Traveller, Book o.

penalty:

o8.1 When a person who has reached puberty and is sane voluntarily apostatizes from Islam, he deserves to be killed.

o8.2 In such a case, it is obligatory for the caliph (A: or his representive) to ask him to repent and return to Islam. If he does, it is accepted from him, but if he refuses, he is immediately killed.

What treatment does an apostate deserve? What treatment does he receive if he does not recant?

apostacy

o8.7: Acts that Entail Leaving Islam
...

-4- to revile Allah or His messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace); 

...

-16- to revile the religion of Islam;

    If a Muslim reviles Allah, Moe or Islam, he is an apostate and must be ______. Can you fill in the blank?  Does Islam prescribe capital punishment for blasphemers?

scriptural basis  

4:89. They wish that you reject Faith, as they have rejected (Faith), and thus that you all become equal (like one another). So take not Auliyâ' (protectors or friends) from them, till they emigrate in the Way of Allâh (to Muhammad ). But if they turn back (from Islâm), take (hold) of them and kill them wherever you find them, and take neither Auliyâ' (protectors or friends) nor helpers from them.   

 

exemplary basis

Sahih Bukhari  Volume 5, Book 59, Number 369:

Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah:

Allah's Apostle said, "Who is willing to kill Ka'b bin Al-Ashraf who has hurt Allah and His Apostle?" Thereupon Muhammad bin Maslama got up saying, "O Allah's Apostle! Would you like that I kill him?" The Prophet said, "Yes," Muhammad bin Maslama said, "Then allow me to say a (false) thing (i.e. to deceive Kab). "The Prophet said, "You may say it."[...]

Sahih Bukhari  Volume 3, Book 48, Number 829:

[...] Allah's Apostle said, 'Who will support me to punish that person ('Abdullah bin Ubai bin Salul) who has hurt me by slandering the reputation of my family? By Allah, I know nothing about my family but good, and they have accused a person about whom I know nothing except good, and he never entered my house except in my company.' 

Sad bin Mu'adh got up and said, 'O Allah's Apostle! by Allah, I will relieve you from him. If that man is from the tribe of the Aus, then we will chop his head off, and if he is from our brothers, the Khazraj, then order us, and we will fulfill your order.'[...]

Malik's Muwatta Book 36, Number 36.18.15: 

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "If someone changes his deen - strike his neck!"

The meaning of the statement of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in our opinion and Allah knows best, is that "if someone changes his deen, strike his neck!" refers to those who leave Islam for other than it - like the heretics and their like, about whom it is known. They are killed without being called to tawba because their tawba is not recognised. They were hiding their kufr and publishing their Islam, so I do not think that one calls such people to tawba, and one does not accept their word. As for the one who goes out of Islam to something else and divulges it, one calls him to tawba. If he does not turn in tawba, he is killed. [...]

    At the end of the article, I found attribution  to the Times of India. The source us under the byline of Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. From Wikipedia, I learn that the author is "a noted Islamic scholar^[1]" .   An 86 year old scholar who has written ten books should know his subject, but what he wrote in the article quoted above is not congruent with authentic source texts.

    Fake it 'till you make it does not work when authentic source texts can be referenced. Islam can not be reformed without eliminating the Qur'an & hadith, without which it would cease to be Islam.