Local police officer Iqbal Khan said Maulana Nigar Alam, 40, was killed Saturday night by demonstrators in Sawaldher village of Mardan district northeast of Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The rallygoers, gathered to express support for the country’s judiciary, accused Alam of blasphemy when he made a concluding prayer at the end of the event.

“Some words of his prayer were deemed blasphemous by a number of protestors, leading to torture and death at the hands of the angry mob,” said Khan.

Witnesses said the police deputy on duty at the rally attempted to save the man by locking him up in a nearby shop, but the mob broke through the door and attacked him.

Videos circulating on social media showed people pushing the accused man to the ground, kicking him and beating him with batons. The man died at the scene.

Police took the body into custody and said an investigation was underway.

Accusing people of blasphemy in Pakistan is common.

Last month, the Pakistani police arrested and later released a Chinese national named Tian, who was working in Pakistan on a dam project and was accused by the locals of blasphemy.

In February, an angry mob entered a police station in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, snatched a person accused of blasphemy from his cell and killed him.

In 2021, a Sri Lankan national, Priyantha Diyawadanage, who was working as a factory manager in Pakistan, was killed by an angry mob over allegations of blasphemy.

In 2017, Pakistani student Mashal Khan was killed by a mob on the premises of his university over allegations of posting blasphemous content online.

In an article posted on Bakkah.net, the Salafi scholar Richardson said, “In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo incident in Paris, France, a number of self-appointed spokesmen for Islam have appeared in Western media. From the most deviant and ignorant of them is a UK-based supporter of the beliefs and practices of the Khawaarij Cult, Anjem Choudary. In his interviews and writings, he has attributed the following fabrication to the Messenger of Allaah (may Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace): ‘Whoever insults a Prophet, kill him'”.

The scholar technically explained why the narration is fabricated.

He said, “With the wording, ‘Whoever insults the prophets…’ it was collected by at-Tabaraanee in his al-Mu’jam al-Awsat and al-Mu’jam as-Sagheer, with Ubaydullaah ibn Muhammad al-Umaree in the chain, a man whom the scholars of hadeeth identify as a liar”.

“Ibn Hajr referred to this narration specifically as one of his contradictions to what is authentic. Al-Albaanee in research Silsilat al-Ahaadeeth ad-Dha’eefah graded it ‘Mawdoo’ which means fabricated”, he added. “With the wording, ‘Whoever insults a prophet…’ it was also collected by Tammaam ar-Raazee in his Fawaa’id (no.740), with Husayn ibn Humayd in the chain, another known liar”.

Richardson said that it’s punishable offense in the Muslim countries to disrespect the Prophet which can even lead to capital punishment in some cases, however this does not mean that Muslims have the right to defend those who violate the law by acting as judges, juries, and executioners without following the proper procedures.

It is also significant to note that it is impossible to uphold the Prophet’s honor by attributing lies to him. And how absolutely ironic it is that those who support and defend the deviant Khawaarij Cult’s doctrine would fabricate hadith about the Prophet, he wrote.

Richardson is a graduate from Saudi Arabia’s Umm al-Qura University in Makkah. He received his degree from the Da’wah Faculty. His teachers (outside of his academic education at university) are, Shaykh Rabee Ibn Hadee al-Madkhalee, Shaykh Muhammad Bazmool, and others. Currently, Richardson lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he works as an Imam at al-Masjid al-Awwal (The First Muslim Mosque).

Shahid Manj and his friend Rashid Dogar died during an incident that took place in Jaranwala Tehsil of Faisalabad district of the Punjab province, where a religious dispute between Barelvi and Salafi groups started four years ago over the construction of Abu Ayyub Ansari Mosque which belongs to the Salafi group.

According to Markaz Tawheed Bungla-Manthar, on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha, during the sermon, the Salafi Imam was talking about the conditions of the acceptance of sacrifice. He said, “God won’t accept sacrifice from those who attribute partners to Him”.

The Barelvi Imam took it offensive, though the sermon was in general terms as per the Quranic injunctions and the monotheistic Islamic faith.

The counter-Imam switched on the loud-speakers, and announced that Salafis are ‘Gustakh-e-Rasool’ which means ‘blasphemers of the Prophet’, and it’s permissible in Islam to kill them.

The Barelvi extremists barged into the Abu Ayyub mosque and dragged the Imam by collar out of the mosque. They started abusing and slapping him publicly.

Upon seeing this, Manj and Dogar intervened to stop the attackers. Meanwhile one of the killers took out his firearm, and fired the first shot in Manj’s eye, then on the face, and then on the rest of the body. Next, he fired at Dogar. Both of them died on the spot.

Markaz Tawheed rules out the case of personal obstinacy in the incident. While it says, it’s the case of sectarian prejudice, which is now being investigated by the authorities.

Adam Ismail (27) a resident of Dabeerpura-Hyderabad along with his friends approached the area Police station on Tuesday evening to lodge a complain against Waseem Rizvi – Chairman of the Shia Waqf board for using blasphemous remarks against the first caliph of Islam Abubakar al-Siddiq and his successor Omar al-Khattab.

While addressing the media recently on Ram Janm Bhoomi and Babri Masjid tirade, Rizvi said, “Atanki Abubakar aur Umar ki vichaardharaon ko choro” – ‘leave the ideology of terrorists Abubakar and Umar’.

N. Satya Narayana – SHO Dabeerpura Police station registered a case against Rizvi.

Adnan Qamar – a social activist, said, “we love the Ahle-Bait (house of the Prophet) as well as all the companions. We consider them equal. They are the greatest personalities after the Prophet”.

“We cannot tolerate any kind of blasphemy against them”, he added.

The main complainant Adam said, “we request all the Indian Muslims to democratically protest against these derogatory remarks”.

Mohammed Zeeshan – a local political leader, said, “we strongly condemn the blasphemous remarks by Wasim Rizvi and we demand strict action to be taken against him.”

Owing to the unabated anger of Muslims, Rizvi recanted from his insinuating statements, he actually intended Abubakar al-Baghdadi – ISIS Chief, and Mullah Umar – Taliban Chief.

Although he shrewdly retracted, Muslim bloggers and activists accuse him of not mentioning the most dreaded terrorist Osama bin Laden, if he really intended to mention the terrorist-clan.

They also accused him of deliberately mentioning about the names of first two caliphs without clearly mentioning the names of Abubakar al-Baghdadi and Mullah Umar.

However, Rizvi in another interview accused the first two caliphs of usurping the rights of Fatema – daughter of the Prophet.

These derogatory statements justify his critics to file case against him.

Rizvi recently alleged based on dubious excavation reports that Babri Masjid was built upon the debris of Ram temple, and the Indian Muslims should give up the legal case of Babri dispute and let the Sangh Parivar carry on with the construction of the temple.