Beheading in Islam
Beheading was a standard method of execution in pre-modern Islamic law. Its use had been abandoned in most countries by the end of the 20th century. Beheading is a legal method of execution in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, and was reportedly used in 2001 in Iran according to Amnesty International, where it is no longer in use. In recent times, extremist Jihadist organizations such as ISIS and Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad have used beheading as a method of killing captives. Since 2002, ISIS have circulated beheading videos as a form of terror and propaganda. Their  actions have been condemned by militant and other terrorist groups, as well as by mainstream Islamic scholars and organizations. Beheading: background and context. The use of beheading for punishment continued well into the 20th century in both Islamic and non-Islamic nations. When done properly, it was once considered a humane and honorable method of execution. Beheading in Islamic scripture. There is a debate as to whether the Quran discusses beheading. Two surahs could potentially be used to provide a justification for beheading in the context of war: When the Lord inspired the angels (saying) I am with you. So  make those who believe stand firm. I will throw fear into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Then smite the necks and smite of them each finger. (8:12) Now when ye meet in battle those who disbelieve, then it is smiting of the necks until, when ye have routed them, making fast of bonds; and afterward either grace or ransom 'til the war lay down its burdens. (47:4) Among classical commentators, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi interprets the last sentence of 8:12 to mean striking at the enemies in any way possible, from their head to the tips of their  extremities. Al-Qurtubi reads the reference to striking at the necks as conveying the gravity and severity of the fighting. For al-Qurtubi, al-Tabari, and Ibn Kathir, the expression indicates the brevity of the act, as it is confined to battle and is not a continuous command. Some commentators have suggested that terrorists use alternative interpretations of these surahs to justify beheading captives, however there is agreement among scholars that they have a different meaning. Furthermore, according to Rachel Saloom, surah 47:4 goes on to recommend generosity or ransom when waging war, and it refers to a period when  Muslims were persecuted and had to fight for their survival. Beheading in Islamic law. Beheading was the normal method of executing the death penalty under classical Islamic law. It was also, together with hanging, one of the ordinary methods of execution in the Ottoman Empire. Currently, Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world which uses decapitation within its Islamic legal system. The majority of executions carried out by the Wahhabi government of Saudi Arabia are public beheadings, which usually cause mass gatherings but are not allowed to be photographed or filmed. According to Amnesty, beheading have been carried  out by state authorities in Iran as recently as 2001, but as of 2014 is no longer in use. It is also a legal form of execution in Qatar and Yemen, but the punishment has been suspended in those countries. Modern use by non-state actors. Modern instances of Islamist beheading date at least to the 1990s. In First Chechen War (1994–96), the beheading of Yevgeny Rodionov, a Russian soldier who refused to convert to Islam, led some within the Russian Orthodox Church to venerate him as a martyr. In 1997, the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria beheaded 80-200  villagers in Benthalia. The 2002 beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl by Al-Qaeda member Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Pakistan drew international attention enhanced by the release of a beheading video. Revulsion in the Muslim community led al Qaeda to abandon video beheadings. Groups in Iraq led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Tawhid and Jihad and later ISIL, continued the practice. Since 2002, they have been mass circulating beheading videos as a form of terror and propaganda. One of al-Zarqawi's most publicized murders was that of American Nick Berg. Since 2004 insurgents in South Thailand began to sow  fear in attacks where men and women of the local Buddhist minority were beheaded. On 18 July 2005 two terrorists entered a teashop in South Thailand, shot Lek Pongpla, a Buddhist cloth vendor, beheaded him and left the head outside of the shop. The founder of Bridges TV, a Muslim cable channel in originally based in Buffalo, NY that aimed to combat negative perceptions of Muslims that were allegedly dominating mainstream media coverage, beheaded his wife in 2009 in the offices of Bridges TV. According to Peter R. Neumann, Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and  Political Violence at King's College London, viral beheading videos are intended, and are at least somewhat effective, as a recruiting tool for jihad among both Western and Middle Eastern youth. Other observers argue that while Al Qaeda initially used beheading as a publicity tool, it later decided that they caused Muslims to recoil from Islamism and that although ISIS/IS is enthusiastically deploying beheading as a tactic in 2014, it, too, may find that the tactic backfires. Timothy R. Furnish, as Assistant Professor of Islamic History, contrasts the Saudi government executions, conforming to standards that minimize pain, with the  non-state actors who have "chosen a slow, torturous sawing method to terrorize the Western audience." In 2020 a teacher was murdered and beheaded in France, apparently for showing his students cartoons of Muhammad. Over fifty people were beheaded by Islamic terrorists in the Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique in early November 2020. ISIL beheading incidents. In January 2015, a copy of an ISIL penal code surfaced describing the penalties it enforces in areas under its control, including beheadings. Beheading videos have been frequently posted by ISIL members to social media. Several of the videoed beheadings were conducted by Mohammed  Emwazi, whom the media had referred to as "Jihadi John" before his identification. The beheadings received wide coverage around the world and attracted international condemnation. Political scientist Max Abrahms posited that ISIL may be using well-publicized beheadings as a means of differentiating itself from Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), and identifying itself with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the al-Qaeda member who beheaded Daniel Pearl. Beheadings represent a small proportion of a larger total of people killed following capture by ISIL. Condemnation by Muslims. Mainstream Islamic scholars and organizations around the world, as well as other organizations such as Hezbollah , Hamas, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban have condemned the practice. Impact on war coverage. Some analysts have argued that the beheadings of journalists and aid workers, along with other abductions and executions of independent observers in Syrian war zones, have forced international media to rely exclusively on reporting which is directly or indirectly influenced by rebel and opposition groups and in this way allowed the latter to dictate the coverage of events in areas under their control. In Khutbah, sermons and protest sloganeering. Gul Bukhari in 'The Nation (Pakistan)' says that, taking benefit of average Pakistanis not having expertise in  the Arabic language, fanatic clergy regularly quote other ayat of the Qur’an that had nothing whatsoever to do with blasphemy. They translate them to the unsuspecting believers to mislead them that ‘sar tan se juda’ (head cut off from body) is the prescribed Islamic punishment for blasphemy. In the TRT World, author Umer Bin Ajmal narrates own school experience in Pakistan, where in one of Urdu couplet for regular school assembly prayer was (Urdu:) “"Sadarat mein, sifarat mein, wazarat mein, adalat mein; jo dekho deen ke dushman tou sar tan se juda kar do;" (In presidency, in embassy, in ministry , in court; if you come across enemies of the faith, behead them).” According to Sohail Khattak and Noman Ahmed of "'The Express Tribune," Pakistan', in 2014 Professor Dr Muhammad Shakil Auj, the then officiating dean of Islamic Studies Faculty at the University of Karachi was gunned down. Police investigators suspected likely involvement of his own colleagues in texting and circulating blasphemy charges with message 'sar tan se juda (Beheading is the punishment)' against Auj, being not happy with the orientation of his research. According to Naila Inayat not only French President Emmanuel Macron’s defaced photos were pasted on the  floors of a bazaars for people to step on, a female teacher in Islamabad based Islamic seminary Jamia Hafsa madrassa (of Lal Masjid) was recorded beheading an effigy of President Macron as teenage female students chanted ‘"Ghustak-e-Nabi ki aik hi saza, sar tan se juda" (Beheading is the only punishment for those who blaspheme the Prophet)’. According to Safdar Sial of Pak Institute for Peace Studies, traditional narratives of the Barelvis being followers of Sufism, peace-loving and moderate stands negated when it comes blasphemy-related issues. Pakistan Sunni Tehreek, came into being in 1990 to contest take  over of the mosques and madrasas of the Barelvi school of thought by Deobandi and Ahle Hadith groups, then there slogan was “Jawaniyan lutaain gai, masjidain bachayein gai [We will sacrifice our lives to protect our mosques]” with anti blasphemy protest newer radical slogan adopted by them is "Tauheen rasalat ki ek saza, sar tan se juda (There’s only one punishment for a blasphemer and that is beheading). According to Zia Ur Rehman's geo.tv news report, Barelvi groups are politically exploiting the issue of blasphemy to exhibit their strength to counter the growing influence of Deobandi and Ahle  Hadith groups. They tarted a trend of radicalisation, making it difficult to differentiate between them and jihadist groups. According to a Pakistani law enforcement official, they are a network of criminals mainly involved in extortion cases and targeted killings. turned into Minister for Parliamentary Affairs of Pakistan, Ali Muhammad Khan defended a later-deleted Tweet post in which he said: “There is only one punishment for insulting the Prophet - chopping off the head”, Ali Khan insisted that, he believed in “legal procedures and court proceedings” for anyone accused of blasphemy and said he deleted post since Twitter had asked him  to delete the post. Subsequently in April 2021 European Parliament specifically expressed displeasure over the minister Ali's remarks saying, "..strongly rejects the reported statement by Pakistan’s Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Khan, calling for people who commit blasphemy to be beheaded..", the EU parliament adopted resolution also stated that, it is concerned by the fact that blasphemy laws in Pakistan are frequently abused to make false accusations having various incentives, including settling personal disputes or seeking economic gain; and called on the Government of Pakistan, therefore, to take due heed of the resolution and to repeal  the blasphemy laws accordingly. In another incident in Karnataka India, in November 2020, a inflammatory graffiti using similar text "“Gustak-e-Rasool ki ek hi Saza, Sar Tan se Juda" (There is only one punishment for offending the Prophet, severing the head from the body)” was observed on walls of a building at a township, intending to cause a social strife.