A 21-year-old Pakistani man was sentenced to 1,000 lashes this week for anti-Islamic behavior, blasphemy and idolatry after allegedly masturbating to a drawing of the prophet Muhammad.
The former student in graphic design at Lahore University apparently indulged in drawing erotic pictures of the prophet Muhammad in various sexual positions.
The young man sometimes even drew the prophet in sexual acts with people, animals, and even home appliances such as a toaster and a vacuum cleaner.
One such drawing illustrated prophet Muhammad “being sodomized by a camel and performing oral sex onto himself while Allah is observing the scene from up high, smiling” one eyewitness told the judge.
According to Human Rights Watch spokeswoman Jennifer Tally, representing the prophet Muhammad in any form is considered idolatry by Sharia law and punishable by death.
“Any representation of prophet Muhammad in autoerotic, homosexual or bestial situations is clearly deemed as idolatry and considered blasphemous by the clergy,” Jennifer Tally explains.
Abdullah Al Samir initially entered an insanity plea, claiming he has a mental disorder and was drunk and high when he made the illustrations to no avail.
Although idolatry is prohibited by Sharia law and punishable by death, Judge El Hazim was lenient and only sentenced the young man to 1,000 lashes and chemical castration to “subdue his deviant sexual urges”.
The last similar condemnation occurred in 1983 after a man was beheaded for tattooing a portrait of the prophet Muhammad onto his own penis.