What is it that constitutes blasphemy? Heresy is a challenge to a more orthodox point of religious view and seems directed to the doctrinal opinions of man. Defining heresy can be problematic because man is so diverse in his understanding of spirituality and biblical principles. Heresy is an affront, then, to something established by man. Blasphemy, on the other hand, is an affront to something divinely established. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, for instance, is the "unforgivable" sin (Mark 3:29). Blasphemy is essentially the charge that thrust Jesus to His Crucifixion and ultimate death, but was Jesus actually guilty of blasphemy? According to Christianity, the answer would be "no" because of what we now believe to be true. According to the prevailing beliefs of the time, however, would Jesus' presumed guilt come closer to what would constitute heresy rather than blasphemy?
Christianity by its very nature is considered blasphemous by Islam because of the nature of the Christ. It is difficult to explain to Muslims (and probably some Christians!) about how it can be that Jesus the Christ is not His own separate person - even though He is "fully God and fully man" (according to Christian traditions and teachings - but is, rather, God personified. It is to the Muslim a blasphemous thing to equate Jesus of Nazareth with God the Father because there can be only one true God. To be "seated at the Right Hand of the Father" (Hebrews 1:3) implies two separate, though not necessarily equal, beings.
In each of these instances, then, it can be said that blasphemy in and of itself must necessarily involve a level of disrespect toward the Divine. So why is naming a teddy bear "Muhammad" considered blasphemous? Islam itself gives high regard to the Prophet and honors him as having a special place within Islam as the one who brought the Word of the Lord to the people not in attempting to found a new religion but instead to confirm previous scriptures (N.J. Dawood, Revised Translation of Koran, pg 2). "Muhammad" is a pretty common name among Muslims who are not necessarily considered to be prophets themselves, I don't suppose, and yet a non-Muslim woman is going to be subjected to 40 lashes on the charge of blasphemy because a class teddy bear got stuck with the name "Muhammad"?
How is it not blasphemous itself to give such stature to Muhammad, a prophet according to Islamic tradition but most certainly as human as Jesus, and come near to equating him with divinity by suggesting that misuse of his name is akin to violation of the Mosaic commandment which prohibits the misuse of the Divine name of the Lord? How is it that the Prophet Muhammad has, by man-made traditions and Sharia decree, become nearly as Christ-like to Islam as Jesus is to Christianity and it not be considered blasphemous? If there is a legitimate answer, I would love to hear it.
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