Classical Islamic jurisprudence punished blasphemy with flogging and imprisonment, not death

Evidence

On the first question: certainly, insulting the Prophet is an offense in Muslim law, and the jurists devote some attention to discussing its definition and ap­ propriate punishment. Almost all these discussions turn on the question of a non-Muslim subject of the Muslim state who insults the Prophet. The jurists devote considerable attention to the definition of the offense, the rules of evidence and the punishment. They are concerned that accusations of this offense should not be used to achieve some private vengeance, and insist on careful scrutiny of evidence before any sentence is pronounced. The majority opinion is that a flog­ ging and a term of imprisonment are sufficient punishment—the severity of the flogging and the length of the term to depend on the gravity of the offense. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1685

Categorization

• XREF: Contradicts the Western assumption (and Khomeini’s fatwa) that blasphemy is a capital crime in Islam — common ground for the Islam-West representation cluster.