Live Online Book Forum 

# Compulsion in Speech: Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan and Beyond 

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Date and Time 

June 1, 2026 11 AM - 12 PM EDT 

Location 

Live Online 

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##### Featuring 

![Husnul Amin](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2026-05/husnul-amin-new-modified.jpg?itok=_vukqes4) 

Husnul Amin 

Director, National Institute of Pakistan Studies

![Muhammad Khalid Masud](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2026-05/muhammad-khalid-masud-modified.jpg?itok=NjywPFSl) 

Muhammad Khalid Masud 

Former Chairman, Council of Islamic Ideology of Pakistan

[![Mustafa Akyol Cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-11/akyol-cropped-new.jpg?itok=VLgHg13I)](/people/mustafa-akyol) 

[Mustafa Akyol](/people/mustafa-akyol)

Senior Fellow, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/AkyolinEnglish) [ 

](mailto:makyol@cato.org) 

In the recently published [*No Compulsion in Religion—No Exceptions: Islamic Arguments for Religious Freedom*](https://www.cato.org/books/no-compulsion-religion-no-exceptions), Cato senior fellow Mustafa Akyol collaborated with a team of international Muslim scholars to articulate a noncoercive vision of Islam. Among the issues addressed in the book are blasphemy laws that restrict free speech in dozens of countries—with Pakistan often regarded as home to some of the most troubling cases.

Akyol will discuss the issue with two Pakistani scholars: Husnul Amin, author of the book’s chapter on blasphemy, and Muhammad Khalid Masud, the book’s academic adviser and a distinguished scholar of Islamic law and theology. The three will also explore how a reformist reading of the Qur’an and other Islamic sources can help build a case against blasphemy laws.

![No Compulsion in Religion No Exceptions: Islamic Arguments for Religious Freedom. Book Cover](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/promo_block_book_cover_1x/public/2025-10/No%20Compulsion%20in%20Religion%20-%20FC_1.jpg?itok=dpCibpFn) 

### *[No Compulsion in Religion—No Exceptions: Islamic Arguments for Religious Freedom](https://www.cato.org/books/no-compulsion-religion-no-exceptions)*

Edited by Cato Institute Senior Fellow Mustafa Akyol, this book brings together a team of prominent Islamic scholars to elucidate the case for individual liberty in Islam. By highlighting insights from Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic jurisprudence, Muslim history, and contemporary trends in the Muslim world, they make the case for full-fledged religious freedom. They argue that the Qur’anic maxim “No compulsion in religion” should be embraced wholeheartedly, with no exceptions.

[Get the Book](/books/no-compulsion-religion-no-exceptions) 

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This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).