The High Court of Lahore wants to forbid printing or posting versions of the Quran not presenting its “authentic meaning,” another blow to Ahmadis and other minorities.
by Massimo Introvigne
In Pakistan, the High Court of Lahore has summoned on September 27 caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar and caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi to appear before the judges and explain why a decision they rendered in 2019 has not yet been implemented.
The High Court asked the national and provincial governments to crack down on the publication, posting on the web, and offering via apps of partial copies of the Quran, copies with “inauthentic” translations, and copies accompanied by notes or interpretations contrary to the holy book’s “authentic meaning.” The High Court said it is acting following a petition of a private citizen who laments that the non-implementation of the decision favors the Ahmadis “and others.”
The High Court understands that judges may not be qualified to decide what is the “authentic meaning” of the Quran, but believes that a solution exists. The government should only authorize the publication or distribution by any electronic media of copies of the Quran previously approved by Pakistan’s Quran Board.
Some “inauthentic copies of the Quran” may come electronically from abroad. The High Court wants the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ask companies managing international app stores to make apps offering “inauthentic copies of the Quran” unavailable in Pakistan.
There is a national Quran Board and a provincial Punjab Quran Board. Both are dominated by conservative Sunni Muslims, and the restrictions on printing and distributing copies of the Quran without preserving its “authentic meaning” are just another blow at the Ahmadis and other religious minorities. Their reading of Muslim holy scriptures is regarded by conservative Sunnis as “inauthentic” by definition.
Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955 in Rome) is an Italian sociologist of religions. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of some 70 books and more than 100 articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy). He is a member of the editorial board for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion and of the executive board of University of California Press’ Nova Religio. From January 5 to December 31, 2011, he has served as the “Representative on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, with a special focus on discrimination against Christians and members of other religions” of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). From 2012 to 2015 he served as chairperson of the Observatory of Religious Liberty, instituted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to monitor problems of religious liberty on a worldwide scale.
