A prominent Islamic scholar who opposed the misuse of Pakistan’s blasphemous law against Christians and other minorities was arrested on Monday night (August 25) and later charged with part of a statute seeking death penalty.
With 3.1 million YouTube followers of his outspoken video on religion and society, engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza said in a video posted on Sunday (August 24) that Christians may use the dim-rogic terms of Muhammad, a prophet of Islam, and the complainant said, according to the report of the first information, he specified the first information by citing the terms used by others.
He was arrested the following night under the Pakistan Preventive Detention Act, and later charged asphemy with complaints from Muslim groups against the country’s harsh blasphemy law and his criticism of the violent misuse of Islamic extremist groups. His supporters argue that Mirza’s words are misrepresented, not merely quoted in connection with Christian use.
The Muslim clergy, a scholar and resident of Yerm city, was detained for 30 days under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance and was then transferred to Ehram District Jail in Punjab. On Tuesday (August 26), the case was registered against him under Section 295-C of the Bloody Act, which seeks forced death to disregard Muhammad, and Section 11 of the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA).
Mirza’s honest view has repeatedly upset the controversy in increasingly conservative Muslim Pakistan, and survived at least four assassination attempts. Lahore-based lawyer J. Sajjal Shaheedi said the arrest was about silencing adverse views rather than maintaining public order.
“The arrest of engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza is not about public order,” Shaheedi writes in X. It was quietly rewarded.
Section 3 of the MPO “permits suspected persons to be arrested and detained in order to prevent any action against public safety in any way, or to maintain public order. Originally enacted in 1960, the MPO allows preventive detention and restrictions on statements and publications to maintain the public order that critics, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, claim to be ambiguous and abusive.
Mirza was previously arrested in May 2020 and charged with allegations of making disrespectful comments about other religious scholars. He was later released on bail. In 2023, Mirza found himself caught up in yet another controversy over the profanity charges brought against him in April of that year.
Popular self-style clergy have repeatedly condemned mob violence against Christians and other religious minorities accused of blasphemous ASP. He also criticizes the accused’s actions against Muslims. He calls for amendments to the controversial profanity law, highlighting several times whether it is misused for financial reasons or how they are misused to resolve personal scores and revenge.
Mirza said in several video lectures that the law of blasphemy asp must be amended as Pakistan is targeting innocent people who have been abused by extremist groups.
“We need to add clauses related to forgiveness, so if someone says they are considered carelessly blasphemous and are ready to obtain an apology in front of the court, the matter should be closed immediately to protect the accused’s life,” he says in one video.
The clergy also accused state officials of sponsoring Muslim militant groups, such as the TLP, a leading supporter of blasphemous laws involved in violence against Christians and minority Ahmadi sects.
Members of the group were also involved in the lynching of Salgoda’s older Christian, Nazar Masi Gill, in May 2024, in the false apology and looting of his home and shoe factory.
Pakistan ranked 8th on the 2025 World Watchlist, where it’s the hardest place to become a Christian.
