ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Adam and Eve sans fig leaves, Lot getting drunk, Jesus stopping a stoning — this is all too much for Muslims represented in Pakistan’s parliament by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party.
In their view, Bible stories such as these amount to “pornographic” slurs against the biblical figures whom they claim as their holy prophets. They are now demanding that the country ban the Bible because of such “blasphemy” and exact a “punishment.”
A Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party leader, Maulana Abdul Rauf Farooqi, informally petitioned the Supreme Court at a press conference May 30 in Lahore, complaining that the Bible includes stories about some of the biblical prophets that include “a variety of moral crimes, which undermine the sanctity of the holy figures.”
A newspaper reported: “Farooqi cited a number of [supposedly pornographic] scriptures from the Bible, saying such ‘insertions’ strongly offend the Muslims, who hold all prophets and holy books in high esteem, as part of religious belief and never even think of committing any blasphemy against them.”
The verses in question are: Genesis 19:33–36; 29: 23, 32–35; 38:18; Exodus 32:2–6; 1 Kings 13:2–29; 2 Samuel 11:2–27, 13:1–22; Matthew 1:13, 16:23, 26:14–47.
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