Censorship in Islamic societies

Islamic teachings and argument have been used to censor opinions and writings throughout history, up to and including the modern era, and thus there are many cases of censorship in Islamic societies. One example is the fatwa (religious judgment) against The Satanic Verses (a novel), ordering that the author be executed for blasphemy. Depictions of Muhammad have inspired considerable controversy and censorship. Some Islamic societies have religious police, who enforce the application of Islamic Sharia law.

Quotes

• Should American companies be used to create greater censorship in Islamic countries? or, might this type of activity be bordering on a form of treason?
  • Battle of Symbols: Global Dynamics of Advertising, ... - 299 John Fraim · 2003

• As the internet became widely available to Saudi citizens, the ISU and the Saudi Telecommunications Commission (STC) began to draft rules and regulations related to governance and censorship of anti-Islamic, inappropriate, and illegal online materials.
  • Routledge Companion to Global Cyber-Security Strategy Scott N. Romaniuk, ‎Mary Manjikian · 2021

• Islam cannot leave certain spheres of life strictly to the individual, any action which is likely to prejudice the healthy growth of Muslim society will have to be severely prohibited. We do not believe in unrestricted freedom to bring about a lowering of human standards, of spiritual values of allegiance to our common idealism. Anything which brings in germs of decay and degeneration in our physical, moral or spiritual life will have to be ruthlessly curbed and steps will have to be taken that loose talk and loose thinking are not allowed to exist. This does not mean censorship but an enlightened and sympathetic censorship with an appeal to the highest tribunal in the land.
  • Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi quoted in Venkat Dhulipala - Creating a New Medina_ State Power, Islam, and the Quest for Pakistan in Late Colonial North India-Cambridge University Press (2015) 414