ISLAMABAD - Supreme Court said on Friday that no one could be allowed to use filthy and abusive language to advance a political agenda in the guise of an Islamic cause as it amounts to denigrating the glory of Islam.

On Thursday, a two-judge bench comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Qazi Faez Isa had heard the suo motu notice case of the Faizabad protest sit-in and it issued a written order on Friday.

The apex court directed the government to take appropriate measures to stop the spreading of filthy messages of the protesters on the social media. The court noted that whatever may be the protesters’ agenda, which the Inter-Services Intelligence states to be a political, they could not be permitted to disrupt the lives of the citizens and to expose them to harm and even death, as is in the case of the fatality of a child.

The order said: “Force and violence (jabr) has no place in Islam. The word Islam itself means peace, but unfortunately, the protesters are disregarding the commands contained in the Holy Quran and are preventing Muslims to live their lives in accordance with the injunctions of Islam.”

It said: “In the expectation that better sense may still prevail, the protesters are directed to abide by the stipulations of the Holy Quran and to emulate the exemplary conduct of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and to also abide by the Constitution and the law.”

The government is directed to make sufficient copies of the orders of the court, and to also translate them into Urdu, and distribute them amongst the said protesters, the order said.

The court noted that freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental right enshrined in Article 19 of the Constitution, however, the same provision stipulates that such speech and expression cannot be used to undermine the ‘glory of Islam’ or to incite an offence or to commit contempt of the court.

“We, however, exercise restraint with regard to the abuse hurled at us and respond to the same with salutations of peace and the prayer that Almighty Allah guide them and that they follow the noble example of the Rehmatul lil Aalameen (Mercy of the Worlds) Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Surah Al-Furqan (25) ayat 63 states that, “And the servant of (Allah) Most Gracious, are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, they say, ‘Peace!’” “And Allah loves not the proud and boastful (surah An-Nisa, ayat 36).

“Whilst, we send salutations of peace we cannot be unmindful when the protesters by their acts attempt to denigrate the glory of Islam by their willful disregard of the injunctions stipulated in the Holy Quran, in addition to violating the Constitution and the law,” the order said.

The court said that sadly, even the avoidable death of a child has failed to soften the hearts of the protesters, let alone to atone for it. “Almighty Allah in surah Al-Ma’idah (5) ayat 32 equates the killing of a single person as equivalent to the killing of everyone and the saving of a single person as equivalent to saving everyone,” the order said.