Ilm-ud-din

Ilm-ud-din (4 December 1908 – 31 October 1929) was a Muslim who murdered a book publisher named Mahashe Rajpal for publishing the book Rangila Rasul, which portrayed Prophet Muhammad based on the hadiths and sunnah.

Background

In 1923 Rajpal published an anonymous pamphlet titled Rangila Rasul, which contained a recension of hadiths from Bukhari, among other sources, along with an allegedly salacious commentary. Rangila Rasul had a surface appearance of a lyrical and laudatory work on Muhammad and his teachings, for example it began with a poem which went "The bird serves the flowers in the garden; I'll serve my Rangila Rasul," and called Muhammad "a widely experienced" person who was best symbolized by his many wives, in contrast with the Brahmacarya of Hindu saints.^[1]

Various sections of the Indian Muslim community started a movement demanding that the book be banned. In 1927, the administration of the British Raj enacted a law prohibiting insults aimed at founders and leaders of religious communities.^[2] Ilm-ud-din was convicted and given the death penalty according to the Indian Penal Code.^[3]

References