# Does Islam justify killing someone for showing cartoons of the Prophet? *The killing of Samuel Paty: barbaric, but no automatic hero of the state* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/anlfdeeoh5y/s/2/ - Date: 2020-10-29 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Cartoons of The Prophet & Boycotting France | Mufti Abu Layth (1:55–5:12) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNLFdEEOH5Y&t=115s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/anlfdeeoh5y/ **Topics:** Blasphemy, insult and free speech; Extremism, crime and justice **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** No: the killing was barbaric and unacceptable in Islam, and the teacher was within his rights, though being killed does not automatically make him a state hero. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the killing of the teacher was utterly unacceptable from an Islamic perspective. **Evidence, his words at 3:12:** “i have expressed that this is utterly unacceptable from an islamic perspective you cannot commit these acts of barbarity” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNLFdEEOH5Y&t=192s) ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth says the teacher, Samuel Paty, was probably showing the cartoons because they were relevant to the ongoing Charlie Hebdo trials and a discussion of freedom of speech, though he says he could be wrong. An eighteen-year-old French Chechen found and killed him, which Mufti calls utterly unacceptable from an Islamic perspective and an act of barbarity. He says the state's processional funeral is fine, and that the teacher was within his rights to discuss the topic and to show the cartoons, even if doing so just to provoke would have been silly. He says he does not personally think being killed for it automatically makes someone a hero of the state, but that France is a sovereign state and may declare him one. ## Sources and names cited - Samuel Paty - the killing of the teacher Samuel Paty in France (2020) - Charlie Hebdo ## Transcript (machine tier, 1:55–5:12) [1:17] they want you to feel hurt you know your stuff is this is this is what they want this is exactly just put it out of your sight okay just ignore it it may hurt you as a person but it's the world you know we're not here to control the world we're not too i do think it's it's very silly of people to try to offend muslims by doing that but okay if they want to be silly they that's their choice [1:54] now this particular teacher samuel patty i believe his name is now he uh i'm not sure in what context he was showing the i think i could be wrong i think he was just discussing uh freedom of speech or he was trying to discuss the charlie hebdo case and showed them as a um is that i don't know if somebody had said that here but is that what um was he just trying to because the the trials are kind of ongoing and things like this so because it was relevant i assume [2:33] he was discussing the matter that's what i think or maybe he was just showing them because he was enjoying the satire but i i'm going with the former that he was showing it out of because it was relevant because the current charlie hebdo trials are taking place and this is what it's all about so he was kind of showing them nevertheless somebody apparently they get the message out some french chechen um who's an 18 year old finds out he somehow gets him i'm not even sure how he gets hold of this person [3:12] he gets him and he kills him the media was confused about whether he actually beheads him but he or he slits his throat or whatever but he tragically kills him i have expressed that this is utterly unacceptable from an islamic perspective you cannot commit these acts of barbarity okay this is unacceptable is as an honor as a statement he decides to one okay have a whole processionary kind of funeral for that person which is fine which is [3:52] you know that's absolutely you know if you want to do that that's fine um he wants to give him the utmost heist award for being a hero for the state personally i don't think really that's being a hero for the state um although i feel he was well within his rights to discuss the topic the charlie hebdo topic i also feel he is well within his rights to show the cartoons if i don't know the ins and outs if he was doing it just to provoke people not because it's relevant but just saying he is a big you know he has a big fu to all the muslims out there [4:32] if he was doing as that i don't i think it was just a very silly thing but he was within his rights to do it now being beheaded for or being killed for it i don't personally think that equates to automatically becoming a hero for the state but whatever france's you know their sovereign state they want to declare my hero fine you know it's it's it's absolutely fine uh it's their own executive decision then president macron what he decides to do is um he decides to ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment aNLFdEEOH5Y/s/2. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/anlfdeeoh5y/s/2/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.