Pakistani Christian Inadvertently Steps On Qur’an Pages, Arrested For Blasphemy

One more grave injustice, possibly with fatal consequences, is now being endured by a simple, poor man, a Pakistani Christian who is a rickshaw driver. He has been charged with “blasphemy” — a charge that potentially could lead to a sentence of death or life in prison — because he happened to step on a few pages lying on the ground that turned out to have come from a Qur’an. More on his calvary can be found here: “Christian in Pakistan Jailed for Stepping on Papers in Street,” Morning Star News, June 18, 2024:

A Catholic has been jailed under blasphemy charges since April 27 in Lahore, Pakistan for inadvertently stepping out of his rickshaw onto some papers said to be pages of the Quran, sources said.

Dennis Albert, a 35-year-old rickshaw driver, was booked under one section of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison (Section 295-A, hurting religious sentiments), and another that mandates life in prison (Section 295-B, defiling the Quran).

Shadman Police in Lahore arrested him on the complaint of Mubeen Ilyas, a Muslim passerby who alleged he saw Albert standing on some pages barefoot near a rickshaw, and that after closely looking at them, he found that they were Islamic scriptures.

Albert’s brother, Imran Albert, said the accused had dropped a passenger on Jail Road and was waiting for a new customer.

“My brother says that his shoes were in the rickshaw, and when he stepped out of his three-wheeler to wait for a new customer, he inadvertently stepped on some pieces of paper on the roadside,” Imran Albert told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “Dennis didn’t know that the pages were Islamic scripture.”

Dennis Albert was just protecting his feet from the heat of the road, he [his brother Imran] said. Under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, intent must be proven for conviction.

How likely is it that a Pakistani Christian, who has been keenly aware all of his life of the need not to offend Muslims, and especially, above all, not to commit an act of “blasphemy,” would have deliberately stepped on pages of the Qur’an? It beggars belief. Of course Dennis Albert simply stepped out of his rickshaw, onto the loose pages on the ground that were less hot than the boiling macadam, without paying any attention to what was written on those pages. He would never have expected them to have been ripped from a Qur’an.

Imran Albert [Dennis’ brother] said that Ilyas and other Muslims assaulted him even as he pleaded his innocence.

“Dennis has studied till 10th grade, but he had no clue that the pages he was standing on had religious value,” Imran Albert said. “He’s a simple rickshaw driver earning an honorable livelihood for himself. He did not have any intention of hurting religious sentiments of any person or community.”…

He didn’t bend down to try to read the pages up close, as Mubeen Ilyas, the Muslim passerby, was compelled to, and there is no reason to think Dennis Albert could, from a standing position, have recognized the pages as being from the Qur’an. And if those pages, as is likely, were in the original Arabic, he would surely not have been able to identify their contents.

Asad Jamal, Dennis Albert’s attorney, said the police had not yet submitted the charge-sheet against the impoverished rickshaw driver.

“The charges are ridiculous to say the least,” said Jamal, appointed by Lahore-based Christian advocacy group the Cecil and Iris Foundation to defend Dennis Albert.

Jamal said it was common for rickshaw drivers in Lahore to take off their shoes while driving their vehicles due to the scorching heat. He added that it is quite possible that some pages of the Quran may have found their way to the roadside from baskets customarily placed on streets to protect scriptures.

“There’s nothing that proves that Dennis has committed the act intentionally,” Jamal told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “It seems that some individuals and groups have launched a campaign to target innocent people with blasphemy charges.”

Charging Infidels with blasphemy is one way for Muslims to demonstrate their religious zeal, or to encourage such zeal in others. That appears to be the case here, with a malignant Muslim passerby looking to make trouble for poor Dennis Albert. And he succeeded.