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.

In non-Islamic countries, Islam has often been cited as a reason for self-censorship. Sometimes this self-censorship is because of threats of violence. Leaders of the member states of the world's largest Islamic organization, known as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), called for a categorical ban on anything that could be deemed as denigration of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 2012.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the world's second largest intergovernmental organization, comprising fifty-seven Islamic states, has actively lobbied for a global ban on what it perceives as anti-Islamic blasphemy, especially after the publication of Innocence of Muslims — a "low-quality film" depicting Muhammad as a madman, philanderer, and paedophile, — triggered protests and demonstrations in over a dozen Islamic countries. The OIC actions constituted a major step to criminalize speech critical of religion.

Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, a Turkish citizen and the Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, also called for a ban on insults against the Islamic prophet. He said, "If the Western world fails to understand the sensitivity of the Muslim world, then we are in trouble". He asserted provocative insults are "a threat to international peace and security and the sanctity of life."

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