An edition of Blasphemy: A Memoir (1960)

Blasphemy

the true, heartbreaking story of the woman sentenced to death over a cup of water

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Last edited by ImportBot
September 17, 2021 | History
An edition of Blasphemy: A Memoir (1960)

Blasphemy

the true, heartbreaking story of the woman sentenced to death over a cup of water

  • 5.00 ·
  • 1 Rating
  • 6 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 1 Have read

Punjab, Pakistan, June 2009. The temperature is 45 degrees and Asia has been out picking fruit for several hours. It's exhausting, sweaty work, but Asia and her husband have five children to feed. At midday she goes to the nearest well, picks up a cup and takes a long drink of cool water. She refills the cup, drinks some more and then offers it to another woman. Suddenly one of her fellow workers cries out that the water belongs to the Muslim women and that with her actions, Asia, who is Christian, has contaminated it. An argument ignites and in an instant, with one word, Asia's fate is sealed. 'Blasphemy!' someone shouts. In Pakistan this is a charge punishable by death. First attacked by a mob, Asia was soon after thrown into prison and then sentenced to be hanged. Since then she has been kept in a windowless cell. Her family have had to flee their village, under threat from vengeful extremists. In the wave of accusation that followed, only two public figures came to Asia's defence: the Muslim governor of the Punjab and Pakistan's Christian Minister for Minorities. Both have since been brutally murdered. Here, in equal measures shocking and inspiring, Asia Bibi, who has become a symbol for everyone concerned with ending the violence committed in the name of religion, bravely speaks to us from her prison cell.

Publish Date
Publisher
Virago
Language
English
Pages
137

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Blasphemy
Blasphemy: Sentenced to Death over a Cup of Water
2013, Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
in English
Cover of: Blasphemy: A Memoir
Blasphemy: A Memoir: Sentenced to Death Over a Cup of Water
August 26, 2013, Chicago Review Press
Paperback
Cover of: Blasphemy
Cover of: Blasphemy

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Book Details


Published in

London

Table of Contents

1. A black hole
2. Blasphemy
3.I can no longer see the stars
4. Death by hanging
5. The Christian minister
6. Happy Christmas
7. The Pope's message
8. They kill the governor
9. They kill the minister.

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
297.5695092
Library of Congress
BP167.3 .B53 2012, BP167.3

The Physical Object

Pagination
xvii, 137 pages
Number of pages
137

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL28423576M
Internet Archive
blasphemytruehea0000bibi
ISBN 10
184408888X, 0748132538
ISBN 13
9781844088881, 9780748132539
OCLC/WorldCat
794296702

Work Description

In June 2009 a Pakistani mother of five, Asia Bibi, was out picking fruit in the fields. At midday she went to the nearest well, picked up a cup, and took a drink of cool water, and then offered it to another woman. Suddenly, one of her fellow workers cried out that the water belonged to Muslim women and that Bibi—who is Christian—had contaminated it. “Blasphemy!” someone shouted, a crime punishable by death in Pakistan. In that instant, with one word, Bibi’s fate was sealed. First attacked by a mob, Bibi was then thrown into prison and sentenced to be hanged.

Since that day, Asia Bibi has been held in appalling conditions, her family members have had to flee their village under threat from vengeful extremists, and the two brave public figures who came to Bibi’s defense—the Muslim governor of the Punjab and Pakistan’s Christian Minister for Minorities—have been brutally murdered. In Blasphemy, Asia Bibi, who has become a symbol for everyone concerned with ending an unjust law that allows people to settle personal scores and that kills Christians and Muslims alike indiscriminately, bravely tells her shocking and inspiring story and makes a last cry for help from her prison cell.

Proceeds from the sale of this book support Asia Bibi’s family, which has been forced into hiding.

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History

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September 17, 2021 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
August 22, 2020 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
February 28, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot remove fake subjects
July 18, 2019 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
September 2, 2016 Created by Todays Martyrs Reviewer Added new book.