Censorship in Islamic societies

Part of a series on
Islam
Beliefs Oneness of God Angels Holy books Prophets Judgement Day Predestination
Practices Profession of faith Prayer Almsgiving Fasting Pilgrimage
Texts Foundations Quran Sunnah (Hadith, Sirah) Tafsir (exegesis) Ijtihad Aqidah (creed) Qisas al-Anbiya (Stories of the Prophets) Mathnawi (poems) Fiqh (jurisprudence) Sharia (law)
History Timeline Jahiliyyah Muhammad Ahl al-Bayt Sahabah Rashidun Caliphate Imamate Spread of Islam Succession to Muhammad Abbasid Caliphate Al-Andalus Golden Age Seljuk Empire Ilkhanate Timurid Renaissance Gunpowder empires Ottoman Empire Saudi Arabia
Culture and society Academics Animals Art Association football Calendar Children Circumcision Democracy Demographics Diaspora Denominations Sunni Shia Ibadi Economics Education Ethics Exorcism Feminism Festivals Finance Liberalism Madrasa Moral teachings Mosque Music Mysticism Philosophy Poetry Politics Proselytizing Science Sexuality LGBTQ Slavery Concubinage Social welfare Women
Related topics Arabic language Apostasy Criticism Muhammad Quran Hadith Freedom of speech Other religions Islamism Violence terrorism war Islamophobia Jihad Jihadism Salafi jihadism Deobandi jihadism Military laws Peace Pacifism Glossary
Islam portal
v t e

Censorship
Media regulation Books books banned Films banned films Internet circumvention Music Postal Press Radio Speech and expression Student media Televisions banned televisions Thought Video games banned video games
Methods Bleeping Book burning Broadcast delay Cancel culture Censor bars Chilling effect Collateral censorship Concision Conspiracy of silence Content-control software Damnatio memoriae De-banking Deplatforming Euphemism Minced oath Expurgation Fogging Gag order Gatekeeping Hallin's spheres Heckling Heckler's veto Hush money Internet police Malinformation Memory hole National intranet Newspaper theft Opinion corridor Overton window Pixelization Political correctness Prior restraint Propaganda Purge Redaction Revisionism Sanitization Self-censorship Shadow banning Social rejection Speech code Spiral of silence Strategic lawsuit Surveillance computer and network mass Taboo Whitewashing Word filtering
Contexts AI Algorithmic Chinese censorship abroad Criminal Corporate Apple Facebook Google Hate speech Online Ideological Academic LGBT issues Media bias Moral police Moralistic fallacy Naturalistic fallacy Politics Banned parties Political prisoner Propaganda model Religious Blasphemy law Islamic Police Suppression of dissent Systemic bias Wikipedia
By country Censorship by country Blasphemy law Freedom of speech Internet censorship In the Middle East In South Asia
v t e

Islamic teachings and argument have sometimes been used for religious censorship throughout history, and there are many cases of censorship in Islamic societies. One example is the fatwa (religious judgment) against The Satanic Verses (a novel), ordering that the author be executed for blasphemy. Depictions of Muhammad have inspired considerable controversy and censorship. Leaders of the member states of the world's largest Islamic organization, known as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), called for a categorical ban on stuff that could be deemed as denigration of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 2012.^[1]

Quran 2:256 prohibits "compulsion in religion".^[2] Some Islamic societies have religious police, who enforce the application of Islamic Sharia law.^[3][4]

In non-Islamic countries, Islam has often been cited as a reason for self-censorship. Sometimes this self-censorship is because of threats of violence.^[5]