Pakistan’s clerics use a verse from the Koran to justify Section 295A. Verse 5:33-34 says: “Those who wage war against God and His Messenger and strive to spread corruption in the land should be punished by death.” Ziauddin Sardar, a London-based author who has written extensively on Islam, says this argument is flawed. “The Koran in fact has no notion of blasphemy. It was only introduced into Islamic law in 8 CE [8 AD], by rulers who used it to punish crimes against the state.”